Karaoke Caption Generator
This karaoke caption generator puts a colored box behind each word the moment you say it, timed to your voice.
Create an account to generate and export your captions.
How karaoke captions work
Karaoke captions borrow the trick from a karaoke screen. The whole line sits on screen, and the word you're saying right now lights up. In Sycamore this style is called Highlight Words.
By default you get three words at a time in bold white Inter, centered in the frame. As you say each word, a rounded purple box appears behind it. The box jumps to the next word the instant you start saying it, and the rest of the line stays plain white.
The box gives the viewer's eye one clear spot to land on. They read at the speed you talk, and they can see what's coming next in the same line. That makes the captions easy to follow with the sound off, which is how a lot of people scroll.
Word-by-word captions in three steps
Drop in your video
Upload an MP4, MOV, WebM or MP3 file. Sycamore transcribes it and gets the timing of every word.
Choose Highlight Words
Pick the Highlight Words style and the box starts following your voice through the whole clip.
Clean up and export
Click any misheard word to fix it, restyle the box if you want, then export with the captions burned in.
Change the box, the text and the timing
Box and text colors
Swap the purple box for your brand color, and set the color of the highlighted word and of the words around it.
Box shape
Make the box wider or taller with padding, and round the corners anywhere from square to pill.
Words per caption
Show 1 to 8 words at a time. Smart chunking breaks captions at natural pauses so a phrase stays together.
Font size, weight and case
Set the size, choose regular, bold or black weight, and switch between your original casing and all caps.
Placement
Put captions at the top, center or bottom, and set how far they sit from the edge of the frame.
Vertical or wide
Export in 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, or in 16:9 and 1:1 for YouTube and feed posts.
Getting the karaoke look right
Keep the line short. Three or four words means the box moves often, and that motion is what holds attention. Long lines make the box crawl across the screen and the viewer loses their place.
The plain words have no outline or shadow, so they need contrast with your footage. White works on most talking-head clips. If you film against a bright wall or outdoors, try a darker text color, or move the captions to a calmer part of the frame.
Pick a box color that stands out from your background and your clothes. A box that blends into your shirt stops doing its job.
Light up every word on your next clip
Frequently
Asked Questions
What are karaoke captions?
Karaoke captions show a short line of text and highlight each word as it's spoken, like the lyrics on a karaoke screen. In Sycamore's Highlight Words style, the spoken word gets a colored box behind it.
How do I make karaoke style captions for my videos?
Upload your video to Sycamore, choose the Highlight Words style and export. The words are timed to your speech automatically, so the box follows your voice without any keyframing.
Can I make the highlight box a different color than purple?
Yes. The box color, the highlighted word's color and the color of the other words are all editable. You can also change the box's padding and corner rounding.
How many words show on screen at once?
Three by default. You can set anywhere from 1 to 8 words per caption, and smart chunking splits captions at natural pauses in your speech.
Are karaoke captions the same as word-by-word captions?
They're a type of word-by-word caption. The full line stays on screen and a box marks the current word, instead of words appearing one at a time.