Premiere Pro Export Captions: Text Panel vs Export Mode

Adobe documents two separate ways to export captions out of Premiere, and the two menus offer different file formats. One sits in the Text panel. The other sits in the Captions section of Export mode. They are not two doors into the same dialog, and the format list you see depends entirely on which one you opened.

That is why a format can look "unsupported" when it is simply on the other menu. Below is what each route actually offers, quoted from Adobe's help pages, plus the one format that appears on both.

The two routes at a glance

The overlap is exactly one format: SRT. Everything else on either list is unique to that route.

Route 1: the Text panel

Adobe's caption export page gives the path in two lines:

"Navigate to the Captions tab > Ellipsis menu icon."

"Select Captions and the desired file format:"

The three choices it then lists, verbatim:

Export to text file: Plain text file.
Export to CSV file: Comma-separated values file.
Export to SRT file: SubRip subtitle file for adding captions to videos.

Two of the three are not subtitle formats at all. A plain text file and a CSV are what you reach for when a client wants the script, a translator wants a spreadsheet, or you need to paste the spoken content somewhere. Only the SRT option produces a timed subtitle file.

Note also that captions and transcripts are separate exports in Premiere. The transcript export is documented on its own page with its own list:

Export transcript : Native transcript format of Premiere
Export to text file : Plain text file
Export to CSV file : Comma-separated values file

If you went looking for SRT and found only those three, you were on the transcript menu, not the caption menu.

Route 2: the Captions section of Export mode

The export settings reference describes four options in the Captions section, and the wording matters because two of them sound similar but behave very differently:

"None : Premiere will not include captions"

"Create Sidecar File : caption information will be exported as a separate text file alongside the video file."

"Burn Captions Into Video : Premiere will add captions to the exported video as subtitles. The text will be graphically “burned in” to the video and cannot be disabled on playback."

"Embed In Output File : Captions will be embedded in the video file as a separate stream. The caption text can be disabled or enabled when playing back the video on supported devices."

Burned-in captions are pixels; embedded captions are a stream the viewer can switch off. Once you have burned them in, they cannot be removed from that export.

Choosing Create Sidecar File gives you a format list that has nothing in common with the Text panel except SRT:

Scenarist Closed Caption File (.scc)
MacCaption VANC File (.mcc)
W3C/SMPTE/EBU Timed Text File (.xml)
EBU N19 Subtitle File (.stl)
SubRip Subtitle Format (.srt)

Two caveats Adobe states on the same page. First: "The active subtitle track type determines what formats are available in the menu." So a shorter list than the one above is expected behaviour, not a bug. Second: "The Captions section is disabled if the source sequence does not contain any caption tracks." A greyed-out Captions section almost always means the sequence has no caption track, not that the export preset is wrong.

For the embed option, the note is narrow: "Embedded captions are only available for certain formats such as QuickTime and MXF OP1a." Adobe's caption format reference lists the embedding formats as MOV, DNxHD MXF Op1a, and MXF Op1a. If you need a different container, check the official documentation rather than assuming.

The sidecar formats carry different track limits

This is the part that surprises people who picked a format by name. Adobe's caption track page spells out how many tracks each extension can carry:

• .scc — "only supports 608 tracks, so the list will only show the available 608 tracks in the sequence."
• .mcc — supports 608 and 708, and "You can export 608 and 708 tracks all at once."
• .xml — "only supports 608, 708, Teletext, EBU Subtitle, and Australian OP-47," and "This configuration allows you to export only one track at a time."
• .stl — "only supports Teletext, EBU Subtitle, and Australian OP-47. It supports one stream at a time."
• .srt — "While the .srt extension only supports one stream per file, it can support multiple formats, such as 608, 708, Teletext, EBU, Australian, and Subtitle."

So .mcc is the only one of the five documented as exporting multiple tracks in a single pass. For a bilingual deliverable as SRT, that means one export per language, not one export with two tracks.

Which track gets used when you do not choose? Adobe: "The track that is active in the timeline is automatically selected as a default. If there are two or more tracks enabled, the one with the lowest number of tracks is selected."

If you need WebVTT

WebVTT does not appear in the caption format lists on any of these Adobe pages — not in the Text panel's three options, not in the export mode sidecar list, and not in the caption format reference. The practical route is to export SRT from either menu and convert it, which is a pure text transformation: same cues, same timings, different header and timestamp punctuation.

The same converter runs the other direction, which matters more often than you would think. If a VTT arrived from a meeting recording or a web player and you want it in your timeline, converting it to SRT first puts it in a format Adobe's own import page covers: "Import the SRT file into your Premiere project just like any piece of media," then "Drag the SRT from the Project panel into your sequence and drop it anywhere in the sequence." Premiere then "creates a new caption track, and the captions are placed on the track."

If you want the format differences in detail before picking one, see subtitle formats compared, or open SRT to VTT for the reverse conversion.

Which route to pick

• Broadcast or compliance delivery (.scc, .mcc, .stl, .xml) — export mode. Those four are on no other menu.
• A quick subtitle file for the web or a social upload — either route; the Text panel is fewer clicks.
• The script as text, or a spreadsheet of caption text — Text panel. Text and CSV are not on the export mode list.
• Captions baked into the picture, or carried inside the video file — export mode, since burn-in and embed are options in that Captions section.

One piece of workflow advice Adobe gives is worth repeating: "Add captions when your edit is finished or close to finished. Although, you can fine-tune and edit along with a caption track, if you delete caption segments, you'll need to recreate them manually to restore a part of a clip to your final edit."

FAQ

Why is the Captions section greyed out in Premiere's export settings? Adobe states it directly: "The Captions section is disabled if the source sequence does not contain any caption tracks." Add a caption track to the sequence and the section becomes available.

Why does the sidecar format dropdown show fewer formats than expected? Because "The active subtitle track type determines what formats are available in the menu." The list is filtered by what is on your active caption track, so it varies by sequence.

Can Premiere export WebVTT captions? WebVTT is not listed on the Adobe caption pages covered here. Export SRT instead and convert it — see all Clapr tools for the converter, which runs in your browser.

What is the difference between exporting captions and exporting a transcript? They are different menus. The transcript export offers Premiere's native transcript format, a plain text file, and a CSV. The caption export offers text, CSV, and SRT. Only the caption side produces a timed subtitle file.

Why did my .srt export contain only one caption track? By design. Adobe notes that ".srt extension only supports one stream per file." Run one export per track, or use .mcc, which is documented as exporting 608 and 708 tracks together.

Quotes from Adobe's Premiere help pages on exporting captions, caption tracks, transcripts, export settings, and supported caption file formats, checked 16 September 2026. More Premiere troubleshooting: error compiling movie, or browse the guides hub.