--- title: "Caption Styles: 17 pro caption looks with presets — AI video effect for captions & subtitles" description: "Karaoke, word pop, pill, glass, neon and 12 more caption looks as exact presets: sizes, safe zones, sync and contrast from subtitle pros. Install in Claude Code, Codex and Grok with one command." url: https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/caption-styles updated: 2026-10-29 --- # Caption Styles: 17 pro caption looks with presets — effect skill for captions & subtitles > **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q="` returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page. From a terminal: `curl -fsSL https://varg.ai/install | sh` installs the vargai CLI (https://varg.ai/how-to/cli.md): `vargai search` and `vargai install ` with no key, every varg model after `vargai login`. Karaoke, word pop, pill, glass, neon and 12 more caption looks as exact presets: sizes, safe zones, sync and contrast from subtitle pros. - **Type:** [Effect](https://varg.ai/how-to/effects.md) · [Captions & subtitles](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/captions.md) - **Slug:** `caption-styles` - **Status:** live - **Publisher:** varg (varg, verified) - **License:** MIT - **Source:** https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/tree/main/caption-styles - **Works in:** Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw, varg Studio - **Requires:** Node 22 + ffmpeg (HyperFrames) or a Remotion 4 project - **Cost:** Free: renders locally with HyperFrames, Remotion or ffmpeg. Generated footage, voice or music is billed in varg credits with an estimate first. - **Runtime:** Minutes per template, mostly render time ## What it does Seventeen caption looks with presets you can apply as numbers, not adjectives. Pick how the words are chunked first (a phrase, a group of words or one word at a time), then the look. Every look ships with a plain version that is accessible, since styled word-tracking captions trade some comprehension for attention. **17 templates, 52 presets.** Every rule in the skill cites its source; every preset is exact values (durations, easing, sizes, colors, fonts) in a JSON file the agent loads. | Template | Presets | |---|---| | **Active word colour captions**: White outlined text, a few words at a time, where only the colour of the spoken word changes: no scale, no box | Blue outline, Yellow outline, Calm phrase (accessible) | | **Active word pop captions**: White outlined words where the word being spoken turns blue and pops a little larger, then settles back | Blue pop, Subtle pop, Spring pop | | **Bouncing single-word pill**: One uppercase word at a time bounces up inside a coloured pill (purple by default) near the centre of the frame | Purple spring, Lime spring, Soft rise (no overshoot) | | **Frosted panel captions**: White text on a blurred, frosted-glass panel; inactive words are dimmed and the spoken word is full white | Clear glass with dim, Thick glass for bright footage, Light glass | | **Gradient-fill word captions**: The spoken word fills with a two-colour gradient (blue to pink by default) inside a dark rounded box while the other words stay white | Blue to pink on dark box, Sunset, Sweep fill | | **Grow-in highlight box captions**: White words inside a dark rounded box; the spoken word turns yellow and grows into place while the box adjusts its width | Yellow grow, Green grow, Reveal grow | | **Karaoke fill captions**: Each word fills with yellow as it is sung or spoken, with a short bar under the current word | Classic yellow sweep, Two-line preview, Speech (instant fill) | | **Line-hugging rounded box captions**: Bold dark text on a white box whose rounded corners follow each line's own width, the native look of in-app text on vertical platforms | White box classic, Black box inverse, Navy pill rise, Brand tint | | **Neon tube captions**: Words glow like neon tubes (hot pink by default) inside a dark box with a glowing border | Hot pink, Cyan ice, Pulse only (no flicker) | | **Outlined spring-word captions**: White words with a thick black outline; the spoken word turns cyan and springs up a few pixels, then settles | Cyan spring, Gaming condensed, Clean outline | | **Serif italic emphasis captions**: Large serif text with a soft shadow and no box; the spoken word flips to italic | Instrument italic, Playfair warm, Fraunces soft | | **Shadow-only minimal captions**: White text with a soft shadow and no box; the spoken word is just a little brighter than the rest | Soft shadow, Cinema lower, Bright-footage guard | | **Sliding pill word tracker**: A coloured pill slides from word to word behind white outlined text, marking the word being spoken while the text stays still | Electric blue, Brand pill, Soft pill | | **Tilted card word pops**: One uppercase word at a time springs in on a slightly rotated sticker-like card, alternating white and lime | White / lime alternating, Sticker with hard shadow, Calm tilt | | **Translucent box subtitles**: Plain white sentence-case text on a semi-transparent dark box, one phrase or sentence at a time, cut on and cut off with no motion | Broadcast 16:9, Vertical 9:16, Soft off-black | | **White card captions**: Dark text on a clean white card with a soft shadow; the spoken word turns a strong blue | Corporate blue, Warm paper, Vertical card | | **Word tile captions**: Every word sits on its own dark rounded tile; the spoken word's tile turns orange | Orange active, Stagger in, Mono tiles | **Rules every template follows** - Choose chunking first: phrase (5–12 words), group (2–5), single word only for hooks/punchlines/≤20 s clips (word-for-word: ~90% gaze on text, lower comprehension — Romero-Fresco; Meryl Evans). - Active word switches 1–2 frames before audio onset (late noticed from ~45 ms, early unnoticed to ~125 ms — ITU-R BT.1359). Karaoke: line leads 10–20 f (≤1.5 s), fill follows voice (\kf). - Per-word motion done within ~6 f at 30 fps; scale via transforms, never font-size. - 9:16 safe box: top 288, bottom 672, left 120, right 192 px on 1080x1920; max width 696 px, block centre ~60% height. - Contrast ≥4.5:1 against what is behind; black box ≥60% opacity on white footage. - Netflix/BBC/DCMP line breaks; 42 cpl 16:9; 2 lines (3 in 9:16); 160–180 wpm; 0.83–7 s per caption; 2-frame gaps. **Built from:** BBC Subtitle Guidelines; Netflix Timed Text Style Guide; Meryl K. Evans (@merylkevans); DCMP Captioning Key; ITU-R BT.1359; Romero-Fresco; WCAG; X: @wayofzorro, @finnardley, @mws, @yt_igm, @tigerjvideo. Renders locally with HyperFrames or Remotion for 0 credits; generated footage, voice or music runs through varg with a cost estimate first. ## Use when - How to add word-by-word captions to a video - How to make TikTok-style highlighted captions - Karaoke subtitles that fill as you speak - Best font size for captions on Reels and Shorts - Caption safe zone for TikTok, Reels and Shorts - How to make captions readable over any background ## Not for - Transcribe this interview to an SRT file (use whisperx or elevenlabs-speech-to-text) - Translate my subtitles into Spanish (use gemini-srt-translator) - Add a lower third with the guest's name (use title-design) ## Install - Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg` - Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill caption-styles -a codex -y` - Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill caption-styles -a cursor -y` - OpenClaw: `npx clawhub@latest install caption-styles` - Gemini CLI: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill caption-styles -a gemini-cli -y` - Any agent, with the vargai CLI: `vargai install caption-styles` ## Example output https://s3.varg.ai/files/72c55813-c0fa-4cf2-9f64-ec4f7ed0e7ae/file_4d3d0dbdc222.mp4 — example (credit: varg) ## More captions & subtitles skills - [3D Camera Captions](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/hyperframes-camera-3d-captions.md): Captions that live in 3D around a talking head: the camera flies through the words, heroes pass behind the speaker. - [Remotion Captions](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/remotion-captions.md): Transcribe speech and burn in animated captions with Remotion, or import an existing SRT file. - [ElevenLabs Speech to Text](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/elevenlabs-speech-to-text.md): Transcribe audio and video with word timestamps, speaker labels and keyterms, ready for subtitles. - [ElevenLabs Speech to Text (inference.sh)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/inference-sh-elevenlabs-stt.md): Transcribe audio with ElevenLabs Scribe, speaker diarization and forced alignment, via inference.sh. - [Speech to Text](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/inference-sh-speech-to-text.md): Transcribe audio with ElevenLabs Scribe v2 or Whisper V3 Large, with timestamps and speaker labels. - [Pretext Text Metrics](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pretext-yaniv-golan.md): Measure and fit text without the DOM using pretext: auto-fit sizes, know line breaks before render, canvas/WebGL text.