You do not need a captioning service to caption a Facebook video. Facebook can generate captions itself on a Page video posted from a computer, it accepts an SRT file you upload, and a caption tool can burn captions into the video before you post it, for Reels as well as the feed. Captioning services such as Rev and 3Play Media still have a place, mainly when you need a person to check every word for a legal, broadcast or compliance reason, and that is what you pay for.
This guide covers what Facebook does on its own as of 18 October 2026, including the SRT filename rule that trips most people up, what the services charge and when they are worth it, and how a caption tool fits for the videos most Pages actually post.
Three ways to get captions on a Facebook video
| Route | Cost | Where the captions live | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook's own captions (auto-generated or your SRT) | Free | A closed-caption track on Facebook's player | Feed videos posted from a computer |
| Captioning service (Rev, 3Play Media) | Rev human captions from $1.99 per minute; 3Play English from $2.50 per minute | An SRT or other file you upload to Facebook | Compliance, legal, broadcast, long archives |
| Caption tool with burned-in captions (CapsAI) | From $4 for a 20-minute pack, 3 free minutes to start | Inside the video frames | Reels, feed video, anything reposted elsewhere |
Prices read 18 October 2026 from each company's pricing page.
Facebook's own captions
Auto-generated captions on a Page video
Facebook Help's page on posting a video to a Page, read 18 October 2026, says that if you are on Facebook on a computer you can open Video Options while creating the post. The captions choices there are Add Auto-generated Captions, which "turns on computer-generated captions for your video", and Upload Captions, which lets you upload your own caption file in .srt format.
The flow: switch into your Page, start a post from the top of the Feed, attach the video, open Video Options, choose auto-generated captions or upload a file, and publish. If you manage the Page with task access rather than Facebook access, the help page says to post through Meta Business Suite instead.
For a video you have already posted, open the post's Options menu in the top right, choose Edit post, click Edit next to the closed captions, audio descriptions or text transcripts option, make your changes and click Done, then Save.
Two limits to know. The help page frames the Video Options route as a computer feature, so plan to post Page videos from a desktop browser when you want Facebook's captions. And auto-generated captions are generated text: read them before you publish, because names, product terms and numbers are what speech recognition gets wrong.
Uploading an SRT to a profile video
For a video on a personal profile, Facebook Help's page on adding or removing captions gives this path: find the video on your timeline, click Options then Edit post, click Edit then Add captions, click Upload next to "Upload captions", select an .srt file and click Save. To offer more than one language, repeat with a second file. To remove a file, click Delete next to it in the same screen.
The filename rule
This is where most SRT uploads to Facebook fail. Facebook Help's page on the naming convention for SubRip files, read 18 October 2026, says the file must be named filename.[language code]_[country code].srt. The language code is lowercase, the country code is uppercase, and both are case sensitive. Facebook's own example is filename.en_US.srt for United States English.
So a file called captions.srt will not be accepted. Rename it to something like webinar.en_US.srt for US English or webinar.en_GB.srt for British English, and use Facebook's list of valid codes for other languages. If you typed a transcript and need to turn it into an SRT, the TXT to SRT generator builds the timed cues; SRT vs VTT vs TXT explains the format if you have never looked inside one, and the VTT to SRT converter handles a VTT from another platform.
How viewers see Facebook's captions
Facebook's captions are closed captions: a track the viewer can switch on and off. Facebook Help's viewer page says that on a computer you go to Settings, then Media, and use the toggle next to Always Show Captions, and adds that "Your caption settings will only apply to videos you watch on a computer". On iPhone, the same page points to the device's own accessibility setting, Settings, Accessibility, Subtitles & Captioning, Closed Captions + SDH. It also notes that "not all videos on Facebook have captions".
The practical point: a viewer who has not set this up may see your video with no words on it, and the captions never leave Facebook. Download the video or post it on Instagram or WhatsApp and the track is gone.
Captioning services: what Rev and 3Play charge, and when they earn it
"Facebook captioning services" usually means a company that produces a caption file for you, often with a human checking the text. Two of the best known, with prices read from their own pages on 18 October 2026:
- Rev. Human captions "Starting at $1.99 /min", "delivered in 12 hours or less". Foreign-language subtitles run from $6.49 to $15.99 per minute depending on the language. Rev's AI transcription and captions are sold through plans rather than per minute: a Free plan with 45 AI minutes a month for one user, Essentials at $25.49 per seat per month billed annually (shown as $29.99 month to month), and Pro at $47.99 per seat per month annually ($59.99 month to month).
- 3Play Media. English captioning and transcription at $2.50 per minute at the standard four-business-day turnaround, Spanish at $4.50. Faster turnaround costs more: expedited two business days adds $0.75 per minute, rush one business day adds $1.50. 3Play says "All charges are rounded up to the nearest minute of each file" with a one-minute minimum. Its automatic options are cheaper: ASR Only at $0.25 per minute, and a "Launch" captions package at $0.10 per minute. Live professional captioning is $2.50 per minute and live automatic captioning $0.60.
At those prices, a 10-minute Facebook video costs about $20 at Rev's human rate or $25 at 3Play's standard English rate, and you receive a file to upload to Facebook yourself, following the filename rule above.
When a service is the right call:
- Compliance or legal exposure. Public-sector, education and healthcare Pages often need a documented accuracy standard and a human sign-off.
- Broadcast or advertising review. If a lawyer or a network has to approve the words, pay for a human pass.
- A large back catalog. Hundreds of hours of archive video is a project for a vendor, not an afternoon.
- Live events. Neither Facebook's auto captions nor a caption tool captions a live stream; a live captioning service does.
When it is not: a weekly Page video, a Reel, a product clip, a customer story. For those, the turnaround and per-minute cost buy you little that reading your own draft does not.
A caption tool for Reels and feed video
Facebook's captions are a closed-caption track, which is fine for a feed video watched on a computer with captions enabled. For Reels, and for any video that will also be posted to Instagram, WhatsApp or your website, you want the words burned into the video so they show everywhere, in your own style, and cannot be switched off. The difference is covered in burned-in captions vs closed captions.
The CapsAI Facebook subtitle generator does this in a phone or desktop browser:
- Export the video as an MP4 or MOV, up to 10 minutes long. Free accounts can upload files up to 500 MB; paid packs take files up to 10 GB.
- Upload it and choose the spoken language. CapsAI offers 11: English, Hinglish, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada and Punjabi. Captions come out in the language spoken; there is no translation.
- Read the timed draft against the audio and fix names, numbers and product terms.
- Pick one of 37 caption styles. For a Page video, a plain two-line style in the lower third; for a Reel, a bolder centered style positioned in the middle band, clear of the Reels interface. The Instagram Reels subtitle safe zone shows the overlay, and the same vertical frame works for Facebook Reels.
- Export the MP4 with the captions burned in, at 1080p on Starter or up to 4K on Creator and Pro, and post it to Facebook from any device.
CapsAI does not take a Facebook link, so upload the file. The caption tool does not export an SRT or VTT file, so it is not a way to make Facebook's closed-caption track; the TXT to SRT generator covers that if you have a transcript. It does not translate and does not post to Facebook. New accounts get 3 free minutes to start; one-time packs start from $4 (₹49 in India, €4 in the euro area), with Starter at 20 minutes, Creator at 60 and Pro at 180, nothing renews, and watermark-free export comes with every paid pack.
You can also combine routes: burn the captions in for everyone, and from a computer add Facebook's auto-generated captions as a toggleable track for viewers who have Always Show Captions on. Keep the burned-in captions a little above the bottom edge so the two do not stack.
Which route for which Facebook video
- A Page video posted from a desktop, watched in the feed: Facebook's auto-generated captions, read before publishing. Free.
- A video you already have a transcript for: build the SRT with the TXT to SRT generator, name it filename.en_US.srt or the right codes, upload it.
- A Reel, or a video going to Instagram and WhatsApp too: burn the captions in with a caption tool.
- A Hinglish or other mixed-language video: burn in with the mix selected as the language, rather than relying on a per-language auto track.
- A regulated Page, a legal review or a large archive: a captioning service, then upload the file with the correct filename.
- A live stream: a live captioning service; neither Facebook's post-upload captions nor a caption tool covers live.
What to do next
For most Pages, the answer to "do I need a Facebook captioning service" is no. Use Facebook's auto-generated captions on feed videos posted from a computer, follow the filename rule if you upload an SRT, and for Reels and anything you will repost, caption the MP4 with the Facebook subtitle generator so the words travel with the video.
