How to fix wrong words in auto captions
Short answer
In Vireeli, open the Captions tab and click the wrong word to retype it. For a word that's wrong every time, like a name or brand, use Find & replace. If most of the captions are wrong, the speech language was probably off: choose Optimize and transcribe again in the right language, for free.
On this page
Why automatic captions get words wrong
Speech recognition guesses each word from the sound. It does well with clear, common words and struggles with the rest. The usual causes:
- Names, brands and slang it has rarely heard, like your channel name or a new app.
- The wrong speech language, for example Auto picking English for a Hindi video with English words in it.
- Noise: music, wind, traffic, a fan or a second person talking over you.
- Fast or mumbled speech and words that sound alike ("their" and "there").
Fix one word
- 1Open the short and go to the Captions tab. The captions are listed line by line with the time each one shows.
- 2Click the wrong word and type the right one. Press Enter to keep it.
- 3To split a word that came out joined ("alot"), type a space in it. Each part keeps its share of the timing.
- 4Play that part of the video to check it. Your edits save as you go, and Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) undoes a change.
Fix a word everywhere with Find & replace
When the same word is wrong all through the video, open Find & replace in the Captions tab. Type what to find, step through the matches with the arrows, type the replacement and replace it. This is the quickest way to fix a brand name, a person's name or a spelling you prefer ("accha" instead of "acha" in Hinglish captions).
Transcribe again when most words are wrong
If whole sentences are wrong, fixing them one by one is slow. Choose Optimize at the bottom of the Captions tab, set Speech language to the language actually spoken, and start it. Vireeli transcribes the video again and replaces the caption text when it's done.
Other ways to tidy captions
| You want to | Do this in the Captions tab |
|---|---|
| Keep a word in the audio but not on screen | Click the word and delete it from the captions |
| Rewrite many lines at once | More → Edit all text (keep the same number of words, so the timing still fits) |
| Remove highlights you didn't want | More → Clear all highlights |
| Get the text for a description or blog post | More → Copy transcript |
| Show no captions at all | Switch Captions off; the export has none either |
To cut a word out of the video itself, sound and all, use the Trim tab instead; see how to remove silences and bad takes.
Get fewer mistakes next time
- Pick the speech language on the upload form instead of Auto; see supported languages.
- Record close to the microphone in a quiet room, without music playing.
- Say names and brand words clearly the first time; then one Find & replace fixes the rest.
Questions and answers
Does editing captions cost credits?
No. Editing captions, Optimize and exporting again are all free.
Will my subtitle files include my corrections?
Yes. SRT, VTT and TXT downloads are made from the captions as they are now, with your fixes and cuts. See how to download subtitle files.
Why are my captions in the wrong script?
Hindi comes out in Devanagari unless you pick Hinglish (Roman). Use Optimize with Hinglish (Roman) to switch an existing video to English letters.
Try it on your next video
Upload a clip and get captions, cut pauses, zooms and a hook back in one pass. Plans from $12 a month.