How to make auto captions in DaVinci Resolve

Can DaVinci Resolve do auto captions by itself?

Blackmagic confirms that Resolve handles subtitles. It does not publish, on its product pages, an automatic speech-to-caption workflow or which edition has one. On the DaVinci Resolve page, checked on 3 November 2026, the edit page's feature list includes "Subtitles and Closed Captioning". We found no steps for turning speech into captions there, and no mention of free versus Studio for that job.

Here is what Blackmagic does publish about the two editions:

• DaVinci Resolve (free). A free download for Mac, Windows and Linux. It works with virtually all 8-bit video formats at up to 60fps, in resolutions up to Ultra HD 3840 x 2160. It includes multi-user collaboration and HDR grading.
• DaVinci Resolve Studio 21. The page showed $236, marked "Save 20%" from $295. It does not say whether that is a one-time purchase or a subscription. Studio adds the DaVinci AI Neural Engine, text based editing, magic mask, temporal and AI spatial noise reduction, film grain, optical blur and dozens of extra Resolve FX. It also adds 10-bit video up to 120 frames per second and resolutions beyond 4K.
• Studio's audio extras. The Studio page lists AI voice isolation, a music remixer and a dialogue separator, all run by the DaVinci Neural Engine. It also lists multiple-GPU support and hardware H.264 and H.265 decoding and encoding.

If you want to stay inside Resolve's own tools, look up what the manual for your version says about subtitles. Blackmagic's support center carries the instruction manuals and software updates. We only print menu paths we have checked, so this page doesn't guess at Resolve's own menus. For the wider differences, see DaVinci Resolve free vs Studio.

Which auto caption tools work with DaVinci Resolve?

Two tools publish a working Resolve connection: AutoSubs, which runs offline, and FireCut, which needs the internet for transcription. You can also run Whisper yourself. We make mouzeclick, and it has no Resolve panel. It is in the table only so you can see where it stops.

For plugins that do other jobs in Resolve, see our best DaVinci Resolve plugins roundup.

How do I make auto captions in DaVinci Resolve with AutoSubs?

Install AutoSubs and open it from Workspace › Scripts › AutoSubs inside Resolve. Then choose the audio, press Transcribe, fix the text and send the styled subtitles back to Resolve. These steps follow the AutoSubs README as published on GitHub.

1. Use Resolve from Blackmagic, not the Mac App Store. AutoSubs says the Mac App Store version is not supported. Download Resolve from blackmagicdesign.com instead.
2. Download the installer for your system.
   • Windows: AutoSubs-windows-x86_64.exe
   • Mac with Apple Silicon: AutoSubs-Mac-ARM.pkg
   • Intel Mac: AutoSubs-Mac-Intel.pkg
   • Linux: a .deb for Debian and Ubuntu, or an .rpm for Fedora and openSUSE
   On a Mac you can also use Homebrew: brew install --cask auto-subs.
3. Open your project in Resolve.
4. Go to Workspace › Scripts › AutoSubs. This starts the bridge between AutoSubs and Resolve. Do it once per Resolve session. The bridge stays running after you close the AutoSubs window.
5. Select your timeline or audio source and your settings.
6. Click Transcribe. The speech is turned into subtitles on your computer.
7. Edit speakers and subtitles. AutoSubs detects who is speaking and labels each speaker, so each person can get their own style.
8. Send styled subtitles back to Resolve.

AutoSubs also runs as a standalone app. In that mode it exports SRT or text. The README claims 1,000+ languages, transcribed or translated on-device.

Does AutoSubs work in DaVinci Resolve free?

Its integration notes describe the free edition directly, so it appears to. The README itself does not say "free" or "Studio". The Resolve integration document explains that Resolve 21.1 (free edition) sandboxes the Lua state that runs Workspace > Scripts scripts. AutoSubs works around this with a file mailbox bridge.

That is a design note, not a support promise. Test it on a short timeline in your own Resolve version before a deadline.

Check the licence if you caption client work. The AutoSubs code is MIT-licensed. The optional MMS forced-alignment weights download separately and are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0, for noncommercial use. Read that section of the README and decide whether to switch the weights on for paid jobs.

Why doesn't AutoSubs show up or send captions to Resolve?

Start with what the AutoSubs docs cover: where Resolve came from, where Resolve keeps its scripts, and the bridge you start each session. Work down this list:

1. Check where Resolve came from. On a Mac, the App Store version is not supported. Reinstall from blackmagicdesign.com.
2. Check the Scripts folder. The AutoSubs integration notes list Resolve's Scripts folder on each system. If AutoSubs is missing from Workspace › Scripts, look for it here:
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Fusion\Scripts\Utility\
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Fusion/Scripts/Utility/
   • Linux: /opt/resolve/Fusion/Scripts/Utility/ or $HOME/.local/share/DaVinciResolve/Fusion/Scripts/Utility/
3. Start the bridge again. It runs once per Resolve session. After restarting Resolve, open Workspace › Scripts › AutoSubs again before you transcribe.
4. Check the source. If the subtitles come out empty or wrong, confirm you selected the timeline or audio source that holds the dialogue.
5. Finish the last step. In the README, sending the styled subtitles back to Resolve is its own step, after Transcribe and editing. Don't skip it.

AutoSubs says everything runs offline. The optional MMS alignment weights are downloaded separately.

Is FireCut a good captions plugin for DaVinci Resolve?

FireCut suits editors who want silence cutting and filler-word cleanup inside Resolve, with captions on the same feature list, and who are fine with transcription going online. FireCut calls itself an AI video editing plugin for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. It lists silence cutting, captions, zooms, chapters, podcasts and shorts. The Resolve feature pages we checked on 3 November 2026 give steps for silences, filler words and multi-track edits, but not for captions. Try captions during the trial before you rely on them.

• Host and platforms. The Resolve version requires DaVinci Resolve 20+, free and Studio, on Windows, Mac or Linux. It runs inside Resolve and edits your timeline directly, so there is nothing to upload or export.
• Internet. Features that call AI or transcription services need a connection.
• Quota. Transcription uses your plan allowance. Past the quota, you can keep working from an existing subtitle track.
• Price. Every plan has a 7-day free trial and can be cancelled at any time. The plan prices were not on the pages we checked on 3 November 2026, so we list them as Not published.

FireCut's Resolve pages describe three jobs step by step:

• Remove silences. Pick loose, default or tight and click Go!. Advanced mode adds a dB threshold, minimum duration, padding, J-cuts, and a review of each silence.
• Remove filler words. Click Analyze audio and review the results. Left-click jumps to a word and right-click toggles its deletion. Then cut them all or add markers.
• Multi-track. Tag each video and audio track to its speaker and click Analyze. FireCut then suggests the cuts.

Best for: talking-head and podcast editors who want cleanup inside Resolve. If you edit in Premiere instead, see our FireCut alternative comparison. For other ways to cut pauses in Resolve, see removing silence in DaVinci Resolve.

Can I run Whisper myself to caption a Resolve timeline?

You can, if you are comfortable with a command line. Whisper's page does not describe a Resolve integration, so getting the text onto your timeline is up to you. Whisper is OpenAI's open speech recognition model. It handles multilingual recognition, translation into English and language identification. Its code and model weights are MIT-licensed.

Speeds are relative to the large model, measured on an A100.

1. Install Python and Whisper, following the setup section of Whisper's README. Whisper was trained and tested on Python 3.9.9 and is expected to work on 3.8 to 3.11.
2. Export your dialogue from Resolve as an audio file.
3. Transcribe it with whisper audio.flac audio.mp3 audio.wav --model turbo. Turbo is the command-line default and works well for English.
4. For other languages, name the language: whisper japanese.wav --language Japanese.
5. To translate into English, use a multilingual model, not turbo, which isn't trained for translation. For example: whisper japanese.wav --model medium --language Japanese --task translate. Medium or large give the best translations.
6. Run whisper --help to see every option.

For English-only work, the .en models tend to do better, especially tiny.en and base.en. Whisper's page notes that performance varies widely by language, so proof-read before you deliver.

Where mouzeclick fits (we make it)

mouzeclick does not make captions in DaVinci Resolve. It has no Resolve panel, and its captions run only in Premiere Pro and After Effects, on Windows:

• Studio's Captions tab in Premiere Pro. Captions are written on your computer by Whisper, with three models: Fast 60 MB, Accurate 190 MB and Best 574 MB, each downloaded once. It covers 47 languages plus automatic detection, with Translate to English. The output is Premiere's own caption track, or 289 styled looks in 27 families. Hinglish in Roman letters is one of the options. See auto captions in Premiere Pro and Hinglish captions.
• Caption studio in the workspaces. The Windows workspaces each have their own: 101 language options and 8 engines in After Effects, and 40 language options and 8 models in Premiere Pro. See After Effects auto captions.

The Mac app does not include captions, Retakes or the workspaces.

In Resolve, mouzeclick is a mouse app, on Windows and Mac:

• Buttons, gestures and hold-and-scroll actions are set per app, so a side button can do one job in Resolve and another everywhere else.
• The Options wheel (F8) holds 48 favourites per app.
• The built-in shortcut library holds 309 shortcuts on Windows, 41 of them for DaVinci Resolve. On a Mac, record your own Resolve shortcuts instead.
• Newer betas add ready-made wheels for Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop and CapCut.

Resolve's own keyboard shortcuts are fully customisable on the edit page, and mouzeclick puts them on your mouse. Our guide to editing faster in DaVinci Resolve covers that setup. The trial is 3 days with no card. Plans are in the pricing section, and Mac setup is on the Mac install page.

Which DaVinci Resolve caption route should I pick?

Pick the tool that matches where your audio is allowed to go and how much you want to set up.

• You want offline captions inside Resolve, on Windows, Mac or Linux: AutoSubs. Check the licence on the optional alignment weights if the job is paid.
• You want silence and filler-word cleanup in the same plugin that lists captions: FireCut, on Resolve 20+. Transcription goes online and draws on a plan allowance, so test captions in the 7-day trial.
• You own Studio and want to stay native: look up the subtitle steps for your version in Blackmagic's manual before buying anything else.
• You like scripts and want full control of models: Whisper from the command line, with your own route back into Resolve.
• You edit caption-heavy work in Premiere Pro on Windows: that is where mouzeclick's captions run. Compare the two editors in Premiere Pro vs DaVinci Resolve, or see every option in our auto caption generator roundup.

Questions people ask

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve product page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
2. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve Studio
3. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve and Fusion support center
4. Blackmagic Design UK support (MSRP note)
5. Blackmagic Design Chinese Taipei support (MSRP note)
6. AutoSubs README on GitHub
7. AutoSubs Resolve integration notes
8. FireCut home page and FAQ
9. FireCut: remove silences in DaVinci Resolve
10. FireCut: remove filler words in DaVinci Resolve
11. FireCut: multi-track editing in DaVinci Resolve
12. OpenAI Whisper on GitHub

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