Readability is the single most important factor when choosing a font for subtitles. Clear subtitles are not just a way of identifying content on the screen, they can also go a long way towards improving accessibility.

So, how can you ensure your subtitles are readable? What are the best font colours for subtitles? Let’s find out here!

Different Types Of Video Subtitle Burning

Before we discuss the best font colours for subtitles, let’s find out the different types of video subtitle burning.

1 - Online

Online video subtitle is the usage of timed, coded text as a sidecar file which includes captions. When this is done, viewers have the option to turn on or off the subtitles or switch between languages.

The way subtitles appear on online videos depends on the software you use. For example, VLC has a default look when you turn subtitles on. It can vary from person to person based on the settings.

2 - Broadcast

Broadcast video subtitle is when the subtitles are burned into your videos. In other words, it means adding subtitles to your videos permanently as part of the video image. This makes sure that captions cannot be turned on and off by viewers, but conveniently display as default.

Because it is permanent, you need to ensure that your subtitles are readable. This is when this article comes in handy.

When Do You Use Subtitles?

1 - Social Media Posts

Many social media platforms do not support subtitle files. To create more engaging content, subtitles are added.

In addition, some videos auto-play by default on mute or are played in noisy environments. Therefore, having subtitles allow users to know the context of the content.

2 - Make Your Video More Accessible

Subtitles are really helpful for those who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Oftentimes, videos on social media do not have subtitles, making it difficult for them to watch the videos.

3 - Multilingual Videos

Subtitles can be used when your video is in a foreign language to ensure the translation is tied to the dialogue.

It can also be used when your video is primarily in one language, but there are bits where some dialogues are spoken in a different language.

4 - E-learning

Some people learn by listening, some learn by reading, and some by doing both.

Having a subtitle to your e-learning content will help viewers to better grasp the knowledge. It is also especially important when the content of the video talks about technical terms, such as medical or engineering e-learning videos.

The Best Font Colours For Subtitles

No matter where the subtitle appears on a video, the text should always be readable, regardless of the video’s background.

You can use three rules to help you choose the right font colour for subtitles.

1 - White font with black outline

By setting the font’s fill colour to white and using a thin black outline, your text captions will be readable no matter what colour or brightness the background is.

It’s no secret that memes work best with this combination. Although memes are usually images, the rule also holds true for videos.

It seems so simple, doesn’t it? But it’s so effective!

2 - Bright font colour with dark background

When you use this combination, we recommend you to use white or yellow as the font colour and black or grey as the background colour. This mixture of bright colours and dark backgrounds will make the text easy to read.

If you have watched movies with subtitles on Netflix or any other movie streaming services, you will usually see this combination.

3 - Avoid neon colours

Neon colours are very hard to read.

It is not only eye-straining to use neon colours incessantly in your video, but it can also cause the text to bleed into the contrast, making it hard to read.

Creating Subtitle With VideoTranslator

VideoTranslator is a great place to start if you want to make subtitles. In addition to creating subtitles, VideoTranslator can also help you translate your videos.

VideoTranslator is a platform that currently offers clients 120+ languages and 150+ dialects, including transcription, translation, and synthetic dubbing.

You can try it for free here.

Here is how you can create burned in subtitles with VideoTranslator:

Open your video that’s already transcribed in VideoTranslator.

Click on the action button > auto overlay.

Edit the font style, size, and colour. Make sure that you have followed the rules of:

• using a white font with black outline
• using bright font colour with a dark background, and
• avoiding neon colours

You can choose to add a stripe, highlight, or not put any styling on your text. Click confirm.

You will be redirected to the Root page. Click on your file and press the edit button.

Your video will have embedded captions on it.

Conclusion

In this article, we have talked about different types of video subtitles, when to use them, what is the best font colours for subtitles and how to add subtitles to your video by using VideoTranslator.

We hope this article helps you in your video-creating journey!

For more information regarding VideoTranslator, do not hesitate to contact us at hello@videotranslator.ai.

See you next time for more educational blog posts!