French Subtitle Generator
Upload a video and the AI detects the French and times every word. Accents, cedillas and œ render correctly. Fix any cue, style it, then burn the subtitles in free or download an SRT on a paid plan.
French Subtitle Generator Features
EchoWave's French subtitle generator is used by creators, teachers and localization teams around the world.
Français, done right
Captions that get the French details right
A French subtitle generator is only useful if it survives real French: liaisons that blur word boundaries, homophones like ou and où, and typography like guillemets. EchoWave handles those, then goes further than a plain caption generator because it sits inside a full video editor. Working across languages? See the subtitle translator and bilingual subtitles tools too. Related: French to English subtitles, English to French subtitles and transcribe French audio.
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176
caption presets
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86
Pro translation languages
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4
subtitle file formats
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20
video formats accepted
Built for French
What this French subtitle tool actually does
Speech recognition that copes with real French audio, plus the editing tools to fix, style and ship the result.
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A French subtitle generator that detects the language itself
Upload your video and the AI recognizes the audio is French without you picking anything from a list. Recognition is Whisper-class, so liaisons, elisions like j'ai and l'école, and quick conversational speech come through with word-level timestamps. If detection ever guesses wrong, a From-language override lets you correct it after transcription.
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Proper French characters and typography
Cues render é, è, ê, ç, ù, ï and the œ ligature in words like cœur exactly as typed, in any font from the style picker, including uploaded brand fonts. Guillemets and the French habit of spacing before ? and ! survive too. Nothing gets flattened to plain ASCII.
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176 caption presets, including karaoke styles
Pick from 176 named presets, from clean broadcast-style lines to word-by-word karaoke fills like hormozi and Beast Mode. Every preset stays editable with per-word color, emphasis, size and position. French sentences often run longer than their English equivalents, so line wrapping is adjustable cue by cue.
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Translate between French and 85 other languages
Turn the French track into English, Arabic, Spanish or any of the 86 supported languages, or go the other way and give an English video French subtitles for a VOSTFR cut. Translation is a Pro feature and rewrites the subtitle text only, the voice track stays untouched. The subtitle translator page covers this in depth.
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Bilingual French subtitles
Show French and a translation together, stacked in the same frame. Language teachers use it for comprehension practice, and creators use it to serve two audiences with one upload. See bilingual subtitles for the full workflow.
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Fix cues and cut the video by its transcript
Click any cue and retype it, split it, or nudge its timing on the timeline. Because the transcript is linked to the footage, deleting a sentence of text can also cut that section of video, and silences get trimmed automatically.
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Burn in, or download SRT, VTT, TXT and JSON
Hardcode the French subtitles into the video so they show everywhere, including feeds that strip caption tracks. On a paid plan you can also download the subtitle file on its own as SRT, VTT, TXT or JSON and upload the SRT straight to YouTube. Existing SRT and VTT files import cleanly, free.
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A full editor around the captions
Subtitling happens inside a multi-track editor, so you can trim clips, add music you own, drop in a logo and resize to 9:16 without switching apps. For the general-purpose version of this workflow, start at add subtitles to video or the SRT generator if you need a caption file.
How it works
How to generate French subtitles
Four steps, all in your browser, nothing to install.
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Upload your video
Drag in any common format: MP4, MOV, WebM, AVI, MKV and 15 more.
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Generate the subtitles
Open the captions panel and hit generate. The AI detects French automatically and returns cues with word-level timing, usually in under a minute for short clips.
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Edit and style the cues
Read through and correct anything the model misheard. Homophones like ces, ses and c'est are the usual suspects. Then pick one of 176 presets and adjust font, color and position to match your brand.
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Export or download the file
Render an MP4 with the subtitles burned in, free at 720p with a small watermark badge. Or, on a paid plan, download the subtitle track alone as SRT, VTT, TXT or JSON for use anywhere else.
Who it helps
Where French subtitles earn their keep
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French TikTok and Reels creators
Most short-form video plays muted, so word-timed captions decide who keeps watching. Karaoke presets keep the active word popping without any manual keyframing.
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Reaching the wider francophone world
French is an official language in 29 countries, and cities like Kinshasa and Abidjan hold some of the largest French-speaking audiences online. Subtitles keep your videos legible across accents from Paris to Montreal to Dakar.
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French teachers and learners
Pair French audio with French text for listening practice, or stack French and English lines using bilingual subtitles. Learners can pause on a cue and see exactly which words map to which sounds.
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VOSTFR cuts for the French market
France has a strong culture of watching originals with French subtitles. Translate an English video's captions into French and ship a VOSTFR version without re-recording a thing.
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Accessibility and quiet environments
Burned-in French subtitles serve deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, known in France as SME subtitling, plus anyone watching on a commute. One export widens who can actually follow your video.
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Courses, onboarding and product demos
Teams with offices in France or Quebec subtitle training videos so one recording works company-wide. On a paid plan, download the TXT or JSON track when the localization team wants the raw text.
Compare
How EchoWave compares
| Feature | EchoWave | Kapwing | VEED | HappyScribe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic French speech-to-text | yes (auto-detects) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Word-by-word karaoke presets | yes (176 presets) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Subtitle translation (Pro in EchoWave) | yes (86 languages) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bilingual (dual-language) subtitles | Yes | No | No | No |
| Edit video by transcript | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Download SRT, VTT, TXT and JSON | yes (paid plans) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VTT file import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Human-made French subtitle service | No | No | No | Yes |
| Import video from a YouTube link | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free video export | yes (720p, watermark badge) | yes (watermark) | yes (watermark) | no (trial minutes) |
| AI voice over | yes (63 voices) | Yes | Yes | No |
| 4K export | yes (Pro) | yes (paid) | yes (paid) | No |
Based on each tool's public pages as of July 2026. Free tiers, language counts and prices change often, so check current pages before deciding.
Generate French subtitles in your browser
Upload a video, let the AI find the French, fix the odd cue and pick a style. Export a 720p MP4 free with a small watermark badge, or upgrade to remove the badge and go up to 1080p, 4K and beyond.
How creators use EchoWave in real projects
About the EchoWave team
EchoWave is a browser-based video and audio editor built by Lemon Vault LLC since 2018. The people who build the editor write these guides and test every step in the production app before publishing.
French Subtitle Generator FAQ
How does the French subtitle generator know my video is in French?
It listens. The speech-to-text engine auto-detects the spoken language, so there is no dropdown to set before transcribing. If a mixed-language video gets detected wrong, use the From-language override after transcription to force French and regenerate.
How accurate are AI-generated French subtitles?
On clear speech, accuracy is strong enough that most cues need no edits, including liaison-heavy phrases and elisions. Expect to fix homophones the model can only guess from context, like a and à, ou and où, or ces, ses and c'est, plus names and slang. Every cue is editable in place, so a read-through catches these quickly.
Does it work with Quebec, Belgian, Swiss or African French?
Yes. The recognition model was trained on a wide range of French accents, so québécois, Belgian and West African speech all transcribe. Regional vocabulary may need a manual pass, for example Quebec terms like magasiner that the model might render as a near-sounding standard word.
Will accented characters and French punctuation render correctly?
Yes, cues display é, è, ç, ù, œ and every other French glyph in the preview and in the final render. One practical tip: if you upload a custom brand font, check it actually contains accented glyphs, since some display fonts ship without them. EchoWave's built-in fonts all cover French.
Can I translate the French subtitles into English or other languages?
Yes, subtitle translation is a Pro feature that covers 86 languages, so a French track can become English, Spanish, Arabic or German in one click. This changes the subtitle text only, the audio keeps its original French voice. There is no dubbing or voice translation.
Can I add French subtitles to an English video?
Yes. Transcribe the English audio first, then translate the subtitle track into French. Give the result a quick review for register, machine translation sometimes picks tu where your audience expects vous, and French lines run longer, so rewrap any cue that crowds the frame.
Can I download just the French subtitle file?
Yes, on a paid plan you can download the track as SRT, VTT, TXT or JSON without rendering the video at all. The SRT uploads directly to YouTube as a caption track. You can also import an existing SRT or VTT file to restyle it, free.
Is EchoWave's French subtitle generator free?
The free plan lets you transcribe, edit, style and export a video with the subtitles burned in. Free exports are HD MP4 up to 720p with a small removable EchoWave badge and a short end card. Paid plans remove both and add 1080p on Creator, then 4K, MOV and GIF on Pro.
Can I burn the French subtitles permanently into the video?
Yes, burned-in (hardcoded) subtitles are the default export path. The text becomes part of the picture, so it displays on every platform and player, including ones that ignore caption files. On a paid plan, download the SRT or VTT file instead when a platform supports toggleable captions.
Ready to caption your French video?
Free to start in your browser, with HD exports that carry a small removable watermark badge.
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