What Do Auto Captions in Mouzz Pro Do?
Mouzz Pro transcribes speech with Apple's on-device speech model and gives you captions in two forms: live captions that appear on screen as you talk, and post-production captions — an editable, word-timed transcript you can style and burn permanently into a new .mp4, or export as a .srt subtitle file.
The transcription runs with word-level timestamps, which is what makes the animated styles possible: Mouzz knows exactly when each word is spoken, so a caption can fill, pop, or slide in perfect sync with your voice — the look viewers know from short-form video, produced on your own machine.
Everything happens locally. Your audio never leaves the Mac, captioning works offline, and there is no per-minute metering or monthly plan — captioning is simply part of the Mouzz Pro one-time license.
How Do Live Captions Work During Presentations and Recordings?
Flip on Live Captions from the menu bar (or a hotkey) and a caption band transcribes your microphone in real time. It works standalone as an accessibility aid during presentations and calls — and because it renders on screen, it is captured straight into any screen recording automatically.
The band is tunable: caption size, distance from the bottom, how long a caption lingers after you stop talking, and how it fades. It pairs naturally with the one-take Screen Recorder — arm live captions before a take and the finished video comes out captioned, no post work at all.
Live captions make demos easier to follow for viewers watching without sound, non-native speakers, and anyone in a loud room — the same reasons the major social platforms caption nearly everything.
How Do Burned-In Captions and the Editor Work?
After a recording (or for any video you import), Mouzz transcribes the audio into short, word-timed captions. A review window plays the video with the captions overlaid live: fix any word in place, click a timestamp to jump there, then pick a style and export — either a new .mp4 with the captions rendered in permanently, or a .srt sidecar file.
Six styles cover the spectrum: Clean Bar, Bold Outline, and Minimal for classic subtitles, plus three animated styles — Word Fill (color sweeps across each word exactly as it is spoken, as in the visual above), Word Pop (each word bounces as you say it), and Slide Up (words fly in one by one).
Layout is fully controllable: words per caption, one to three balanced lines, text size, an optional background bar, and free horizontal and vertical placement — with a live preview that matches the export exactly, fullscreen included. Two caption-grade typefaces, Oswald and Montserrat, ship inside the app, alongside any heavy fonts you have installed.
Prefer soft subtitles? Export a standard .srt file and upload it to YouTube, drop it next to the video for VLC, or import it into Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.
How Is This Different from Subscription Caption Tools?
Cloud caption services upload your footage, meter you by the minute, and bill monthly. Mouzz Pro captions on your own hardware: private by construction, works offline, no usage limits, and included in a one-time $14.99 license alongside the recorder, zoom, and the rest of Mouzz Pro.
For creators publishing to YouTube or short-form platforms, the workflow collapses to: record with Mouzz, fix the odd word, pick Word Fill, export. The result is the same animated-caption look the subscription tools produce — without a render farm in the loop or footage on someone else's server.
Captioning requires macOS 26 or later, which introduced Apple's on-device speech engine with word-level timing. On earlier macOS versions, the rest of Mouzz Pro works normally and the caption pages explain the requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are auto captions available in the free Mac App Store version?
No. Captions & Subtitles are a Mouzz Pro feature. Pro is the notarized direct-download edition, available with a 7-day free trial and a one-time $14.99 unlock. The free app includes spotlight, ring, trail, click feedback, click sounds, shake-to-locate, and screen annotations.
Is my audio uploaded to a server for transcription?
No. Transcription runs entirely on your Mac using Apple's on-device speech model. It works offline, nothing is uploaded, and there are no usage limits or per-minute fees.
Can I edit the transcript before burning captions in?
Yes. The review window shows every caption with word-level timing — click any caption to edit its text in place, click a timestamp to play from that moment, and nudge start and end times. Your corrections carry into both the burned-in export and the .srt file.
Which caption styles are included?
Clean Bar, Bold Outline, and Minimal for classic subtitles, plus three animated styles synced to word timestamps: Word Fill (color fills each word as it is spoken), Word Pop, and Slide Up. Layout, size, lines, background, and position are all adjustable, with a live preview.
What are the system requirements for captions?
Captions require macOS 26 or later, which provides Apple's on-device speech recognition with word-level timestamps. The rest of Mouzz Pro runs on macOS 13.0 and up.
Can I caption videos that were not recorded with Mouzz?
Yes. 'Caption a Video…' opens any video file — transcribe it, edit the transcript, and export a burned-in .mp4 or a .srt subtitle file, exactly as with Mouzz recordings.
Explore More Mouzz Features
Captions & Subtitles ship in Mouzz Pro, available now — download it at mouzz.dev/pro/download with a 7-day free trial, then a one-time $14.99 unlock. The free Mouzz app on the Mac App Store gives you spotlight, ring, trails, click effects, and screen annotations.
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