Word by word

Word-by-Word Captions: One Word on Screen at a Time

The punchy, one-word-at-a-time look of short-form lyric videos. Each word appears the moment it is sung, timed to the song itself, not spread evenly across the line.

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wild
VizWord by wordKaraoke · off
How it works

Three steps. That's the whole thing.

  1. Get the words right — Transcribe the song, paste your lyrics with lyrics sync, or import it from a song link. Each gives CaptionFit the timing of every word.
  2. Click Word by word — It sits in the caption toolbar, right after Viz. The preview switches to one word at a time as the song plays.
  3. Export — Export a 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 MP4 with the words burned in, or download SRT, WebVTT, TTML or ASS with one cue per word.
In detail

What you get

One word, right on time

Each word appears when it is sung and stays until the next one starts. The last word of a line holds until the line ends. Punctuation stays with its word.

Timed to the song

Words follow the song's own word timings, so quick verses flick by fast and long notes stay on screen as long as they are held.

Every caption setting

Your font, including fonts you uploaded, plus size, colour, position and UPPER or lower case all carry over. Nothing to restyle.

All three formats

Works in 16:9 widescreen, 9:16 vertical and 1:1 square, so the same project serves YouTube, TikTok, Reels, Shorts and the feed.

One cue per word in downloads

SRT, WebVTT, TTML and ASS downloads match the video: one cue for every word, with the same timing.

Saved as your default

The choice is saved with the project and used for your new projects, like your other caption settings.

Why it matters

On a phone screen, a single big word is easier to follow than a full line. That is why so many TikTok, Reels and Shorts lyric videos flash the lyrics one word at a time. Word by word gives you that look from the song's real timing, without placing every word by hand.

It is an alternative to karaoke captions, not an add-on: karaoke shows the whole line and highlights the sung word, Word by word shows only the sung word. Turning Word by word on switches karaoke off. Pick whichever suits the track, and style the words with caption styles.

Because only one word is on screen, every word has to be right. Start from lyrics sync if you have the lyrics. Word by word is not available for imported SRT files or translated captions, which carry line timing only.

Goes well with

Related features

FAQ

Common questions

How do I turn on word-by-word captions?
Open your project in the editor and click Word by word in the caption toolbar, right after Viz. The preview switches to one word at a time straight away. Click it again to go back to whole lines.
Can I use word by word and karaoke together?
No. Turning on Word by word turns Karaoke off, because highlighting the only word on screen would change nothing. Turn Word by word off and you can switch Karaoke back on.
How long does each word stay on screen?
Each word appears when it is sung and stays until the next word starts. The last word of a line stays until the line ends, so the screen never flashes empty mid-line.
Why is the Word by word button greyed out?
Word by word needs the timing of every single word. Captions made by transcription, lyrics sync or a song link have it. Imported SRT files and translated captions only have line timing, so the button is unavailable for them.
Does it work in caption downloads?
Yes. With Word by word on, SRT, WebVTT, TTML and ASS downloads contain one cue per word, with the same timing as the video.
Does it work in every video format?
Yes. Word by word works in 16:9 widescreen, 9:16 vertical and 1:1 square, with every caption setting: any font including your uploaded ones, size, colour, position and UPPER or lower case.

One word at a time, right on the beat.

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