How to Add English Subtitles to an Urdu Video

English subtitles let your Urdu videos reach viewers who do not speak Urdu, and they help people watching on mute in public. Here is how to get accurate, readable English subtitles without retyping everything.

Lafzaly Guides · Updated 19 October 2026 · 5 min read

Roman Urdu or English: which should you choose?

Pick the language your viewers read most comfortably, not the language you speak.

• Roman Urdu suits Pakistani audiences who speak Urdu but find Urdu script slow to read on a phone. It keeps your own words and tone.
• English suits international viewers, mixed audiences, brand pages and anything you want to be searchable in English.

Many creators publish the same video twice, once with Roman Urdu subtitles for home audiences and once with English subtitles for everyone else.

Step by step

1. Record clear audio. Background music and echo are the main reasons a transcript goes wrong. A quiet room and a phone held close beats any editing later.
2. Upload the video. In Lafzaly, open Video Captions, set the subtitle language to English, and upload your MP4, MOV or WebM file (or an MP3 or WAV voiceover).
3. Let it transcribe and translate. Lafzaly listens to your voice, writes what was said and translates the meaning into natural English, line by line, with timing.
4. Read every line once. Check names, places, numbers and brand names. These are the words a translation is most likely to get wrong.
5. Fix timing if needed. Each line has editable start and end times. A line should appear when the speaker starts the phrase and leave when it ends.
6. Export. Download an SRT or VTT file for YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn, or export the video with captions burned in for Reels, TikTok and Shorts.

Translate the meaning, not every word

Urdu idioms rarely survive a word-for-word translation. "Dil khush ho gaya" is better as "That made my day" than "My heart became happy". Good English subtitles read like something an English speaker would say.

Keep subtitles easy to read

• Aim for about 42 characters per line and no more than two lines.
• Keep each subtitle on screen long enough to read, roughly 1 second for every 15 to 17 characters.
• Split lines at natural pauses, not in the middle of a phrase.
• Keep names and brand names in their normal English spelling.

The subtitle readability guide explains these rules in more detail.

Mixed Urdu and English speech

If you switch between Urdu and English mid-sentence, that is fine. English words you spoke stay as they are and the Urdu parts are translated, so the subtitle reads as one clean English sentence.

Common problems

• A wrong number or name. Always check these by ear before you post.
• A line that sounds odd in English. Edit it directly. Shorter and simpler almost always reads better.
• Subtitles that drift. Adjust the start and end time of that line instead of retyping it.