Turn a podcast clip into a captioned vertical video

A podcast episode runs long, but the moment worth sharing is a few sentences. This recipe cuts that moment out, frames it for a phone, and adds captions a viewer can follow at a glance.

Frame the clip for a phone

1. Create a project, open the Media tab and press Upload. Pick the video of the episode. It lands on the timeline.
2. Open the Aspect ratio tab and choose Vertical, the 9:16 shape used by TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
3. Select the clip and open Framing in the right panel. Choose Fill in the Fit and Fill toggle, then drag the picture in the preview until the speaker sits in the middle of the frame. Center puts the picture back where it started.

An audio-only episode needs a picture. Put a cover photo on the timeline, lengthen it with Trim end until it covers the clip, and add the audio file. Subtitles are generated from whatever plays in the mix.

Cut to the moment

Play the episode and pause where the moment begins. Click Split and drop the left side in the timeline toolbar. It splits at the playhead (or at the pointer when it hovers over the timeline) and removes everything before it. Move to the end of the moment and click Split and drop the right side.

Start on the first word of a sentence and end just after the last word finishes. The left and right arrow keys step one frame while the video is paused, and Shift with an arrow steps one second, which makes it easy to land on the edge of a word.

Add the captions

1. Open the Subtitles tab. Keep Detect language or choose the spoken language.
2. Press Generate subtitles. Transcription runs on a hosted service and spends account credits. It works in the background, so you can keep editing.
3. Open the Content tab and read the transcript against the clip. Click a timestamp to jump to that caption. Edit text in place, press Enter to split a caption, or press Backspace at the start of one to merge it into the caption before it. Check names and technical terms first.
4. Open Styles and click a preset. Every tile is a live preview, so you can judge contrast on your own footage. Clean, Big & punchy and Highlighter are good places to start.
5. Open Options to change the font and size. Turn on Highlight spoken word to mark each word as it is said, and pick Color, Underline or Highlight for the marker.

Drag the captions on the video if they sit over a face or a title. Reset next to Position sends them back to the style's own place.

Write the post and export

Open Details. Write the Caption, add a few focused Tags, and press Copy caption + tags when you are ready to post.

Open Export, choose Quick share · 1080p and press Export video. The render runs in the background, so you can keep working. The finished file appears under Exports in the Media tab. Click it to preview the clip as a post in the TikTok, Instagram or YouTube layout, and check that the captions clear the interface drawn over the video.

Start a project

Open DepCut, upload a recording and caption your first clip.