You don't type the lyrics. It hears them
Most free lyric video tools are really text editors: you paste your words in, then drag each line around a timeline until it roughly matches the vocal. On a three-minute song that is an evening's work, and it never quite lands on the beat.
This works the other way round. The vocal is transcribed on your own machine with a separate timestamp on every single word, so the highlight is already locked to the performance before you touch anything. You correct the handful of words it mishears, usually proper nouns and slang, and the timings stay attached.
Lyric mode vs caption mode
Same engine, two looks. Captions are built for short-form video: one to three words at a time, big, bottom of frame, each word punching as it lands. Lyric mode gives you longer lines centred in the frame, in sentence case, with the highlight gliding along the line instead of popping, so it reads as a song rather than as subtitles.
You can switch between them at any point from the style panel, and every other control stays available in both: colour, font, size, outline and position.
How to make a lyric video
- Drop your file in. A video, or a still image with your audio over it. Vertical or landscape.
- Wait for the timing. The vocal is transcribed locally, word by word. Nothing uploads, so there is no queue.
- Fix what it misheard. Edit the transcript directly; the timings follow the words you keep.
- Style it. Accent colour, font, size, outline and position. The highlight colour is the one that matters most.
- Export. Download an MP4 with the lyrics burned in, or take the SRT and VTT into your own editor.
Why not upload to one of the paid ones?
If your track is unreleased, uploading it to a web service means handing an unfinished master to a company whose retention policy you have not read. That is a real consideration for a lot of musicians, and it is the main reason this tool runs entirely in the browser: there is no server copy, because there is no server.
The other reason is the watermark. Free tiers elsewhere generally stamp the export, which makes them useless for the thing you actually wanted. Nothing here is stamped, and there is no export limit to run into.
What you'll need
A desktop browser, ideally Chrome or Edge, because the MP4 export uses WebCodecs and those support it. The SRT and VTT exports work anywhere. The first run downloads the speech model once and then caches it, so every song after the first starts instantly and works offline.
Lyric video FAQ
Is it really free?
Yes. No watermark, no export limit, no account and no card. It runs in your browser.
Does my music get uploaded?
No. Transcription happens on your own device, so an unreleased track never reaches a server.
Do I have to type the lyrics?
No. Every word is transcribed and timed automatically. You only correct what it mishears.
Will it get the words right?
Usually, on a clear vocal. Heavy production, layered harmonies and unusual proper nouns are where it slips, which is why the transcript is fully editable.
Can I use a song I didn't write?
The tool will process anything you give it, but publishing a lyric video for someone else's song needs the rights holder's permission. That part is on you.
Related
- Karaoke songs, filtered by range, difficulty and length
- Karaoke captions, explained
- How word-by-word captions work
Make one now
Drop in your track and watch every word light up in time. Free, private, no watermark.
Open the lyric video maker →