How to Add English Subtitles in Final Cut Pro for Free

Final Cut Pro is a great editing app, but it has one frustrating gap: it can’t auto-generate subtitles. Its built-in speech-to-text doesn’t cover every language well, so many creators end up typing subtitles by hand and losing hours in the process.

There’s a faster way. This guide walks through the whole workflow: exporting your video from Final Cut Pro, generating subtitles automatically in GoCap, and importing the finished subtitles back into FCP. All free, all local on your Mac, no uploading your video anywhere.

What is GoCap? A free native macOS app that turns your video into precisely timed subtitles and exports them as an SRT file for Final Cut Pro. Transcription runs fully offline on your Mac.

What you’ll need

A Mac running macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
Final Cut Pro with your edit finished
The GoCap app, free to download at gocap.cz

For a typical video the whole process takes just a few minutes. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Export your video from Final Cut Pro

GoCap needs a video (or audio) file to transcribe.

Open your project in Final Cut Pro with the edit finished on the timeline.
Important: make sure your project starts at the very beginning of the timeline. Subtitle timing is calculated from the start of the video, so if this lines up, the subtitles will land exactly right back in FCP.
From the top menu, choose File → Share → Export File (Master File).
Default settings are fine. Quality doesn’t matter here since it’s only used for transcription; a lower resolution export finishes faster.
Save the file somewhere easy to find, like your desktop.

Tip: You don’t need a high-quality export. As long as the audio is clear, that’s all GoCap needs. A smaller file also means a faster export and a faster load in GoCap.

Step 2: Generate subtitles in GoCap

Now let’s turn that video into subtitles.

Launch GoCap.
Drag your exported video into the app window, or click Open Video (⌘O).
GoCap starts transcribing automatically. Transcription runs locally through Whisper (CoreML), so your video never leaves your Mac.

First run takes a moment: the first time you use it, GoCap downloads the speech model automatically. Depending on your connection, that can take up to a minute. After that, it’s ready instantly.

Choosing the audio language

In the toolbar, next to the model picker, there’s an audio language switcher. If your video isn’t in the default language, switch it there. GoCap supports over 20 languages. For a known language, picking it manually is always more reliable than automatic detection.

Step 3: Review and edit the subtitles

After transcription, your subtitles show up in a clean table. This is where GoCap really pays off: it enforces subtitle readability rules, something manual typing in FCP simply doesn’t do.

The CPS column (characters per second) shows how fast a subtitle is. A red number means the subtitle is on screen too briefly for a viewer to read comfortably.
Click any row and the video preview jumps straight to that moment, so checking the transcript is quick.
Subtitle text is editable directly in the table. Transcripts are never perfect, so small fixes are normal.
Timing (Start / End) can also be typed in manually.

Readability rules

The sidebar has segmentation rules: maximum characters per line (42 by default), maximum CPS, minimum and maximum subtitle duration, and more. Change any rule and the subtitles recalculate instantly, no re-transcription needed.

GoCap also automatically ends subtitles at sentence boundaries, breaks lines in a balanced way that favors punctuation, and avoids leaving short connecting words stranded at the end of a line.

Manual edits

Below the table there’s a toolbar for fine-tuning:

Add subtitle inserts a new subtitle at the current playback position.
Duplicate subtitle creates a copy of the selected subtitle right after it.
Delete subtitle.
Start here / End here sets the subtitle’s time to the current playback position.

Tip — save your project: Save in-progress work as a .gocap project (⌘S). You can return to it any time without re-running the transcription.

Step 4: Export the subtitles as SRT

Once you’re happy with the subtitles:

Click Export SRT in the toolbar (or press ⌘E).
Save the .srt file, ideally next to the original video.

SRT is a universal subtitle format that Final Cut Pro and most other editors understand.

Step 5: Import the subtitles back into Final Cut Pro

Last step: getting the subtitles into FCP as real subtitles.

Open the same project in Final Cut Pro that you exported the video from.
Move the playhead to the very start of the timeline (Home key). Subtitles import starting at the playhead position, so this keeps everything lined up correctly.
From the menu, choose File → Import → Captions… and select your .srt file.
The subtitles appear as captions in a new lane above the video.

Converting to subtitles (optional)

Captions in Final Cut Pro are meant as closed captions. If you want to burn the subtitles permanently into the picture as regular on-screen text:

Select all the imported captions.
Choose Edit → Captions → Duplicate Captions to Subtitles.
You’ll get a subtitle track you can freely style — font, color, position.

And that’s it. You now have precisely timed subtitles in your video, in a fraction of the time it would take to type them by hand.

FAQ

Is GoCap really free?
Yes. The app is free and will stay that way. If it saves you time, you can optionally support the developer on Ko-fi, but it’s never required.

Does my video get uploaded anywhere?
No. Transcription runs entirely locally on your Mac through Whisper. Your video and audio never leave your machine.

Does it work for languages other than English?
Yes. GoCap supports over 20 languages — just switch the audio language in the toolbar.

Do I need to export in full HD?
No. Any quality works for transcription, even a lower resolution. All that matters is clear audio.

My subtitles are out of sync. What happened?
The most common cause is the playhead not being at the very start of the timeline during import in Final Cut Pro, or the exported video not starting at the beginning of the project. Check both and re-import.

Summary

Export the video from Final Cut Pro (File → Share → Export File).
Drag the video into GoCap — it transcribes automatically.
Review and edit the subtitles (watch for red CPS values).
Export as SRT (⌘E).
Import into FCP (File → Import → Captions) and convert to subtitles if needed.

You’ll save hours of manual work, and the subtitles will meet readability standards that viewers actually notice.

Download GoCap for free at gocap.cz →