Text that works in every language
Text is drawn into the video frames, not laid on top as a separate track, so it looks exactly the same everywhere the video is played. Arabic script is shaped and joined correctly and reads right to left, Devanagari (Hindi, Marathi, Nepali) renders with its proper conjuncts, and emoji are drawn in color. Fonts for these scripts are built in, so the result doesn’t depend on what’s installed on the viewer’s device.
Readable text on a phone
- Size: on a 1080×1920 video, body captions under about 40 px are hard to read on a phone. Titles work at 80–120 px.
- Contrast: a box or outline keeps text readable over busy footage; a soft shadow is enough over dark scenes.
- Safe zones: on TikTok, Reels and Shorts, the bottom fifth is covered by captions and buttons and the right edge by icons. Keep important text in the middle band.
- Timing: give each line at least as long as it takes to read twice — roughly 1 second per 3–4 words.
- Length: two short lines beat one long one.
Captions, titles and lyrics
| Type | Typical style | When it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Large, top or center | First 2–3 seconds |
| Caption | Boxed, lower middle | While someone speaks |
| Lyric line | Medium, centered | In time with the vocal |
| Credit | Small, corner | Whole video or the end |