How to Add Subtitles in iMovie 11/10/9/8

iMovie comes with many subtitle styles for you to make professional-looking title effects. There are many reasons why you want to add subtitles to your videos and movies, for example, you have downloaded a video from YouTube that is in German and want to add English subtitles to it so that your friends can understand it. Or you have made a home movie and want to add subtitles to add some special feeling and illustration to your movies. Or just want to add some closing credits.

Anyway, subtitles are sometimes necessary and important for a good movie. And adding subtitles to movies in iMovie is very simple. Now follow the steps to add subtitles/captions in iMovie.

• Part 1: An Easier Way to Add Subtitles to Videos on Mac
• Part 2: How to Add Subtitles to Videos in iMovie 11/10/9/8 [4 Steps]

Part 1: An Easier Way to Add Subtitles to Videos on Mac

You may have already known that the supported video formats are limited in iMovie, so you may meet compatible issues with iMovie when your video format is MKV, WMV, AVI, FLV, VOB, etc.

So, if you want to easily and quickly put subtitles on video files, another powerful video editing tool - Wondershare Filmora is recommended.

It supports various video formats such as MP4, FLV, AVI, VOB, 3GP, ASF, MOV, F4V, M4V, MPG, and more, so you don't need to convert them to iMovie supported formats.

For people who are looking for some more special effects for video editing, Filmora also provides some titles and text special effect packs and sets in Filmora Effects Store.

Now have a quick read about how to add subtitles within 3 steps using this tool.

Step 1. Import Your Media Files

After running this software, click "Create new project". After importing your video files into the program, directly drag-n-drop your photos or videos to the corresponding track. Here a media browser is for you to conveniently get files from your iTunes library, iMovie, etc..

Step 2. Add and Customize Subtitles

After that, hit the "Edit" button and go to the "Text" tab to preview the provided title style.

Choose the one you like and double-click to add it to the video file. Then double-click the text box to enter your words or change the font, size, and color of your texts.

Step 3. Export Your Video File with Subtitles

After adding the subtitles to your video clips, you can export them to save your file if there is nothing else to edit. Click “Export” and the export window will appear.

Currently, there are 5 ways for you to choose: save the video to the desired formats, export it to the device, upload it to YouTube or Vimeo directly, or burn it to DVD.

Select the way you want to save or share your videos and click "Export".

If you are finding some more ways to add more titles and texts, you can try some other iMovie Alternatives for Mac, or iMovie Alternatives for Windows.

Part 2: How to Add Subtitles to Videos in iMovie

The specific steps of adding subtitles to video clips in iMovie are different depending on the iMovie version you are using. However, we will try our best to show you how to put the subtitles and titles in iMovie. First, let’s check how to add subtitles to videos in iMovie 11/9/8.

Section 1: How to Add Subtitles to Videos in iMovie 11/9/8

Here are the detailed steps for your information.

Step 1. Open Your iMovie Project

Please make sure you have started an iMovie project. Go to File > New Project to add a new project. Drag video clips from the event browser to the project.

Step 2. Select a Title Style and Apply It

Select T for Titles from the menu bar. You can preview a title style by moving your mouse over it. Choose the one you'd like to apply and drag it over to your project where you want to add a title.

If you want to add subtitles between video clips, drag the style until a green bar appears before the clip. After you release your mouse, a Choose Background window will pop up, asking you to choose the background for your subtitles.

Select the background you like, and you will see the subtitles displayed in the Project.

If you want to add subtitles to a video as a caption, you can just drag the style to the place where you want to add subtitles. You don't need to choose a background color, as the title will be laid over the clip.

Step 3. Enter Text for Your Titles

Your text will be highlighted now in the Viewer and you can change it to whatever you'd like. For example, if you want to change the font style of the subtitles, you can go to Show Fonts > Change Fonts to change the font color, style, size, face, etc.

For subtitles between video clips, you can preview it, and it will be shown like this:

For subtitles on video clips, you will see it like this:

4. Change the Duration

Now you have added subtitles to the iMovie project and videos. If you want to change the duration of your iMovie subtitles, you can double-click on the title clip and change the Duration in the Inspector or just drag the slider in the project to change its position and duration.

Check this video for more details:

You May Also Need: Add Transitions Between Video Clips in iMovie

Section 2: How to Add Subtitles to Videos in iMovie 10

Since iMovie 10 has a different operating interface from that of iMovie 11/9/8, so you will find the title tab under the Content Library in the left corner of the main screen.

Step 1. After importing your video footage to the timeline, place the playhead cursor in the timeline where you want to put the subtitle overlay in the video.

Step 2. Click the T Symbol (Titles) and the title styles will be displayed accordingly. Then you can choose the desired title style and drag and drop it to the video clips in the timeline.

Step 3. Now, you can enter and edit the text in the preview window by changing the font size and elements.

Check this video to know more details about how to add subtitles in iMovie 10.

Those are the steps of adding titles and subtitles to your iMovie videos on Mac with iMovie 11/10/9/8, if you want to know how to use or add subtitles on iMovie on iPad or iPhone, you can check this article here. If you have any alternative ways of placing the subtitles over the iMovie video, share them in the comment below.