[Detailed Guide] How to Add Text/Subtitles to GIF animation (2024)

Last Updated on October 9, 2023 by Peter Wood

In today's digital age, animated GIFs have become a universal language of expression to share emotions, humor, and other messages on the web. Refinement and looping make animated GIFs a powerful communication tool on social platforms. But if you need to make your GIF animation, convey a specific message without ambiguity, you can do so by adding subtitles or text to the GIF animation. In this guide, we will dive into the world of GIF animation editing and show you step-by-step how to add text and captions to GIF animations.

• Part 1: How to Make a GIF Animation with Text
• Part 2: How to Put Subtitles/Word to GIF Animation
• Part 3: How to Add a Caption to GIFs by the Caption Maker

Part 1: How to Make a GIF Animation with Text

What attracts people to GIF animation is not only its visual art but also the story you tell and the core content you express using it. The meaning of the same GIF animation for different people can be understood differently by the appreciators. If you want to express your specific thoughts in GIF animation, then you can use WidsMob GIF's custom add text tool to help you. WidsMob GIF is a comprehensive GIF animation creation and editing software, which is able to make several basic edits to GIF animation.

1. Support importing videos and images to create GIF animations and edit them.

2. Add text to GIF animation and adjust the font size and color.

3. Freely choose where to place the text on the GIF animation.

4. Export high-quality GIF animation by adjusting the quality tool.

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Step 1: Finish installing WidsMob GIF on your computer, then launch it, click the GIF Editor button on the homepage, select the GIF animation that needs to add text in the pop-up dialogue box, and upload it to the software. After uploading successfully, the GIF animation will start playing in the preview box automatically.

Step 2: Add text to the GIF animation to explain the GIF animation to a certain extent, so you can delete part of the GIF animation content to achieve the purpose of streamlining. In the selection box at the bottom of the GIF animation preview box, enter the start world and end time of the GIF animation in the time boxes at both ends and then you can cut the content of the GIF animation.

Step 3: Click the Add Text button on the top of the GIF animation preview box to call out the dialogue box for adding text. Input the text you need to add to it, and you can set the font size, color, and size of the GIF animation at the same time. After you finish the selection, click the OK button to add the text to the GIF animation successfully.

Step 4: Select the text box on the GIF animation, drag and drop it directly to place the text box in any position of the GIF animation, so that it can play the best role. At this time, the right toolbar is full of setting tools for the text box. Set the border color of the text in Shape, which can increase the readability of the text.

Step 5: Here the GIF animation will successfully add the text, and increase the export quality of the GIF animation, which can prevent over-compression when sharing. Adjust the slider of Quality in GIF Settings to get a high-quality GIF animation. After all the editing is done, click the Export GIF button, and the GIF animation will be exported successfully.

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Part 2: How to Put Subtitles/Word to GIF Animation

When adding captions and content to GIF animations, it is worth noting that most of the time, captions and content cannot stay in the same frame. So in this case, a tool that can add text to animated GIFs frame by frame, which is exactly what EZGIF has, is EZGIF’s user-friendly online GIF editor, which offers a wide range of features to customize and enhance GIFs, including adding text or captions.

Step 1: Search for EZGIF in your browser and go to its official website directly, switch to the Add Text tab on the homepage of the website, click the Choose File button, and import the animated GIF you need to add text to the website. After importing successfully, click the Upload button to enter the editing page of GIF animation.

Step 2: After entering the Add Text page of GIF animation, you will see all the GIF animation will be broken down into single frames because EZGIF allows you to add different text to each frame. At the same time, you can also modify the font format and color of the text, click the Set button, and the text will be applied to the GIF animation.

Step 3: After all the frames are added with text, click the Create GIF button and a preview of the GIF animation will appear. After confirming that there is no error, click the Save button to save the animated GIF with added text on your computer.

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Part 3: How to Add a Caption to GIFs by the Caption Maker

When your GIF animation is made from a large section of video, especially the GIF animation of character narration and communication, it involves a lot of content. It is difficult to add captions manually, and you need a caption maker's automatic caption recognition feature to help you. although Kapwing is an online editing website for videos and animated GIFs, Kapwing's automatic captioning feature usually uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology to transcribe the spoken words in the video. This can save you a lot of time compared to manual transcription. You'll also be able to customize the appearance of the subtitles, including text size, font color, and position, etc. to ensure that it matches the style of the animated GIF.

Step 1: Open a browser on your computer, type https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles, and directly enter the auto-add caption function page in Kapwing. Click the Add Subtitles button, enter the editing page, and upload the GIF animation to the website.

Step 2: After the GIF animation is uploaded successfully, click the Open Timeline button below the preview box to display the timeline of the GIF animation. In the timeline, you can select and preview the content of the GIF animation.

Step 3: Click the Auto Subtitles button to start Kapwing's automatic recognition and adding function. After successful recognition, the subtitle file will be added to the GIF animation automatically. Select the subtitle, you can change the color, font, and position of the subtitle to make it more prominent.

Step 4: After the subtitles of GIF animation are added, click the Export GIF button to call out the export options of GIF animation. Choose the export format as GIF, and you can also determine the video size, quality, and size, finally, click the Export as GIF button, and you can export the GIF animation after adding a caption.

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Conclusion

Adding text and captions to animated GIFs may seem like a small and insignificant detail, but it opens up a world of possibilities for narrating, branding, and interacting with animated GIFs. Adding text to an animated GIF allows you to communicate more effectively on the visual web. Whether it's automatic caption recognition or adding text frame by frame, it's a very quick option. But for maximum customization of animated GIF text, then WidsMob GIF will be your best quality choice.

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