Karaoke captions, free and made in your browser
Karaoke captions highlight the single word being spoken and leave the rest of the line dimmed. That is the reason short-form captions hold attention: the eye is pulled along the sentence at the speed of the voice, instead of reading ahead and losing interest.
SING IT WITH ME
Why the timing is the whole style
Karaoke needs word-level timing, not sentence timing, and the difference is the difference between the style working and looking broken. Sentence timing gives a caption one start and one end; the highlight then has to be spread evenly across the words inside it, which drifts out of sync the moment someone pauses, stumbles or stresses a word.
Speech-to-text here returns a start and an end for every individual word, and the line is repainted on each one. A long word holds longer because it was spoken longer. Nothing is interpolated, so the highlight stays on the syllable being said rather than sliding a beat ahead of the voice.
That is also why karaoke survives edits. Trim a clip or delete a sentence and each remaining word keeps its own timestamp, so the highlight does not need re-syncing by hand.
Picking a highlight colour that survives the footage
The dimmed words are doing as much work as the lit one. If the unhighlighted text is too bright the effect disappears; too dim and the sentence becomes unreadable the instant the viewer looks away. Somewhere around 60–70% opacity on the inactive words is where it reads properly.
For the highlight itself, pick a colour that is not already in your footage. A yellow highlight over a sunset does nothing. If your clips are visually busy, the safer choice is a highlight that changes the background behind the word rather than the word itself — the contrast then comes from the box, not from a colour that may or may not clash.
When not to use it
Karaoke is built for speech at conversational pace. Over fast rapping or heavily overlapping dialogue the highlight moves faster than the eye can follow and the whole line turns into flicker — plain captions read better there.
It also fights a busy edit. If you are cutting every second, the caption is being rebuilt at the same time the picture changes, and the two compete. Karaoke earns its keep on a steady talking-head shot, which is exactly the shot most short-form advice tells you is boring — the captions are what stop it being boring.
Questions
What is the difference between karaoke captions and word-by-word captions?
Karaoke keeps the whole line on screen and lights up one word at a time, so the viewer can read ahead if they want to. Word-by-word shows only the current word and clears the rest. Karaoke suits explanation and storytelling, where context helps; word-by-word suits punchy, high-energy delivery.
Will the highlight stay in sync if I edit the video afterwards?
Yes. Every word carries its own timestamp rather than being spaced evenly inside a sentence, so trimming a clip or deleting a caption leaves the remaining words landing exactly where they did before.
Can I change which word is emphasised?
Yes. Tap any word in the caption list to make it the accent word, and it takes the highlight styling regardless of the automatic choice. Font, size, colour and position are all editable too, previewed on your own footage rather than a stock clip.
Are karaoke captions free?
Yes, and there is no account. Free exports are unlimited at 480p with a small watermark; a one-off payment for that video removes it, at full 1080p. Captions also download as .srt or .vtt.
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