Auto-captions
Also known as: captions, subtitles
Auto-captions are AI-generated subtitles that transcribe spoken audio into on-screen text in real time during video playback. In short-form video, auto-captions are mandatory — roughly 85% of social feed playback happens with sound off, and uncaptioned clips lose retention immediately. Modern auto-caption quality on English audio runs 95%+ accurate.
Caption styles vary in two dimensions: rendering (per-word vs per-line) and emphasis (static vs animated). Per-word captions where each word appears as it's spoken consistently outperform per-line captions on retention because each new word is a small attention reset. Animated emphasis (color highlight, scale-up on emphasized words, beat-aware timing) outperforms static captions further.
Auto-caption accuracy degrades on three inputs: heavy accents, technical jargon, and proper nouns. Whisper-style transcription handles common English well but mishears uncommon names, brand-specific terms, and theological or scientific vocabulary. The reliable workflow is: AI generates the captions, human edits per-word for terms the AI missed, then export.
Clipzing.com ships 12 caption presets (different fonts, colors, positions, animation styles) plus per-word editing. Captions integrate with brand kits — your brand colors and fonts apply automatically across every clip exported.
Related terms
Transcription
Transcription is the process of converting spoken audio into written text. In AI clip generators, transcription is the foundation step — every other feature (auto-captions, viral-clip scoring, semantic search across the source) depends on accurate transcription. Modern speech-to-text models hit 95%+ accuracy on clear English audio with native speakers.
Short-form video
Short-form video is the category of video content typically 15 to 90 seconds long, formatted in 9:16 vertical aspect ratio, designed for thumb-scrollable mobile feeds. The dominant short-form platforms in 2026 are TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlight. Long-form video (3+ minutes) lives on YouTube and traditional video platforms.
Viral hook
A viral hook is the first 1–3 seconds of a short-form video clip — the line, image, or question designed to stop the thumb-scroll and earn the next 5 seconds of attention. In 2026, hooks that lead with a specific number, a stand-alone declarative sentence, or a contradiction outperform vague openers by an order of magnitude in retention.
B-roll
B-roll is supplementary footage cut into a video to support or illustrate the main A-roll (the speaker on camera). In short-form video, B-roll is typically 1–4 second inserts of relevant imagery, gameplay, screen recordings, or stock footage that visualize what the speaker is describing. Used well, B-roll boosts retention; used to cover the punchline, it kills replay.