[Fixed] Captions burning into video even when not selected to

[JTW Jr]

When I export a video ( h.264 ) I am selecting to create a sidecar file ( SRT ) on the captions tab , when I export, it does create the SRT file, but it also burns the closed captions into the video. When I select NONE for Caption Export options when exporting, it is still burning the closed captions into the MP4 file.

This is happening on all 23 sequences inside my project file. The only way I can get the captions to not burn in, is to turn off the eyeball on the Subtitle track. Which then requires me to re-render the entire timeline.

This is using Premiere v15.4.1 build 6 . Any thoughts ?

[Stan Jones]

@Kevin-Monahan,

Before responding to John, reviewed this whole thread, including the screenshots, and then ran a group of basic tests. Subtitle captions, exported H.264, all from PR (not AME), with and without using Previews and with and without an AE linked composition, and varying the order of plain export, export sidecar only, etc. I could not get a burned-in export with captions off in the export setting.

Barry's situation is very different, and I commented in that post.

I noted that ESTLL was different from all others because captions were disabled in the track header and still showed in the Program Monitor. I don't think there's any other report of that problem.

Many users reported too little information to attempt replication.

Stan

[JTW_Jr_702]

Happy to report that even though this issue drove me crazy for what seemed like forever, I have not ran into the issue again in many months. 

[JTW Jr]

Oops, no idea how it keeps logging me into my old account. 🙂

[Kevin-Monahan]

Cheers, @JTW_Jr_702. Thanks for letting the community know.

Kevin

[digital.nomad624]

Hi @Kevin-Monahan We are still having this issue with Premiere 24.2.1

[Stan Jones]

@digital.nomad624,

As you can see, this thread is long (and mostly old), and there was confusion regarding whether the captions were actually burned in. I have never been able to replicate the problem once those issues were ruled out. But it is marked as fixed, so some bug was identified in an earlier version. Thanks for reporting you are in 24.2.1.

So first, just report your testing method.

I recommend reimporting the file to PR - are the captions burned in?

Or, in PR export settings with the Captions setting as None or Sidecar, before exporting, look at the preview window. Are the captions visible? If so, they will burn in.

Also, disable the captions (turn off visibility with the eyeball in the caption track header), and confirm that they do not burn in.

If they are indeed burning in, then let us know the caption format (Subtitle/608/etc), the export format (H.264/mxf/etc), and and what export settings (Other than burn-in) result in the captions burning in (embed/sidecar/none).

Edit to add:

Reading through this thread, I'd also like to know Mac (version?) vs PC and whether you have linked AE comps.

Stan

[ghuff]

I am on a 2020 i9 iMac with maximum specs (2TB SSD) and macOS Ventura 13.6.6. This has not been an issue for me for the most part anymore, but it did happen with a ProRes HQ encode out of Premiere 24.3.0  where I had toggled Captions to be rendered as a sidecar file, and instead it burned them in to the ProRes render (and I confirmed they were indeed burned in and not just referencing the sidecar file).

[r5dsign · Accepted solution]

Hello Folks,
Any permanent solution to this issue? I just ran into this issue on Pr 24.3 (Build 59) as of May 16, 2024. Using MacStudio 2023 macOS Ventura 13.5. I even tried deleting cache to no avail. The only workaround I figured out is to turn off caption track, export the video; then turn on the caption track and export as a SRT file from the captions panel. Not very helpful if I have longer videos. Any other guidance to solve this issue once and for all would be most appreciated.

[Van Erik P]

First time I've experienced this today. Issue is just as described. Only way to export without burnt-in subs is to turn off caption track. Tried several times rendering with the captions turned off in export page thinking I might have missed the option to turn it off. Wasted hours re-rendering an hour long webinar.

Using Premiere Pro Version 24.5.0 (Build 57)

[hopem6029704]

Ever since I updated Premiere and Media Encoder, when I send my finished sequences to Media Encoder, for some reason the captions won't export with the video.  They will only export through Premiere.  I have my "Burn subtitles into video" option on and everything.  Help.

[Kevin-Monahan]

I apologize that this is still a problem for some people. @Alexander Riss, @EckiAME, or another team member might be able to comment on the bug report. The bug is marked as fixed, but people see it in current builds. If people have the issue, the bug should be reopened. 

I hope a product team member will respond to the bug shortly. I apologize for the frustration. 

Thanks,
Kevin