Why do movies have subtitles?
Short answer
Subtitles put dialogue and other useful audio information into text. They can translate dialogue into another language, help people who cannot hear all the audio, and make a movie understandable when sound cannot be played.
How it works
Subtitles appear in time with the movie. Translation subtitles replace spoken dialogue with text in another language. Captions in the same language can also identify important sounds such as music, effects, or laughter.
Viewers have only a limited time to read each line, so subtitle writers often shorten speech while preserving its meaning and timing it with the picture.
Key point
The words “subtitles” and “captions” are used differently by different services and regions. Translation subtitles do not always describe important sounds. Both can add information that helps viewers understand the story.