Subtitling Rates and FAQs

Subtitling Rates – a full breakdown on costs

SERVICE

English Transcription and Time-Coding

English Transcription, Cueing, Condensing and SRT file

Foreign Transcription and Time-Coding

Translation costs per language, this assumes translation from English into a foreign language.

As above and including review by 2nd translator

Sync subtitles to video in low res version for customer approval

Final Sync and Burn-in to high quality video file delivery by FTP

Create Subtitle Document (.srt .stl .xml or similar)

Costs & Further Information

£4.50/min, minimum fee £60. Transcribe English spoken video and add time code cue points to each paragraph

£7 per minute, minimum fee £150. As above and with condensing of the script to fit available space on the screen, and conversion to SRT format (limited to 32–38 characters per line)

£6-8/min, minimum fee £80. Transcribe foreign spoken video and add time code cue point to each paragraph. Costs will vary depending on the language spoken

£12-18/min, minimum fee £110. The specialist translator will condense the spoken word to fit the restricted space allowed for subtitles at the bottom of the video. (limited to 32–38 characters per line)

£15/18/min. Some projects require a final QA check by a second translator to pick up any errors or nuances from the original translation, not usually required

£5 per video minute, (£60 minimum) + £30 per video file. Create a low-res approval video so the customer can check the subtitles against the video, then implement any amendments required in one round

£15 per video file/per language. Create a low-res approval video so the customer can check the subtitles against the video, then implement any amendments required in one round

£15 per document, per video £30 minimum. Some production companies will want to insert the subtitles into the video themselves. They simply need the subtitles translated and returned in a format they can work with

QUICK QUOTE (sent in 1 hour)

Frequently Asked Questions For Subtitling

In what languages do you offer subtitling & closed captioning services? + –

We offer subtitling translation in over 80 languages, and you will will find the full list below. You can access separate pages for each of these languages including examples and case studies, under the Subtitling button in the naviagation at the top of the screen.

The languages we translate and caption in are: Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, Estonian, English, Farsi, Filipino, Finnish, Flemish, French, French Canadian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Kurdish, LA Spanish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malaysian, Marathi, Mexican Spanish, Moldovian, Nepalese, Norwegian, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sanskrit, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh

Can you create subtitled videos from my own translations? + –

We welcome this, particularly if your client is already happy with the style of your translations. However translating for subtitles does require some specialist knowledge. To guide you through the process, we’ll create a time-coded subtitle document template for your translation team to work from, along with detailed instructions.

Once you’ve delivered the translations to us, we’ll check that they are formatted correctly, and then do the necessary video work to sync and burn-in your translations to your video.

Can you supply subtitling for youtube video content? + –

Yes, we can prepare everything you need from your translations, and we’ll return your subtitles in the .SBV format required for YouTube. This is also a great way to make your video content searchable in the Google search engine.

How will the subtitles be delivered? + –

It’s totally up to you. We can deliver the subtitles in a text file, or in over 30 different subtitle document formats. We can burn-in the subtitles to any video file format, or we can deliver the subtitles as an alpha channel to drop into your own video edit.

What video formats can you subtitle? + –

We can subtitle into all file formats, and in any size required.
Common file formats include: .mov, .flv, .mp4, .wmv, .mpg, and .avi.

What subtitle document formats can you provide? + –

We can deliver subtitles in over 30 subtitle document formats including:

.stl / .pac / .scc / .sif / .rtf / .das / .dar / .mtl / .cip / .sbv / .vtt / .usf / .fdx / .html / .fpc / .aqt / .asc / .ass / .dat / .dks / .js / .jss / .lrc / .mpl / .ovr / .pan / .pjs / .rt / .s2k / .sami / .sbt / .smi / .son / .srf / .srt / .ssa / .sst / .ssts / .stl / .stp / .sub / .tts / .vkt / .vsf / .zeg / .txt / .xml

Can you use my own audio transcript for the subtitles? + –

Creating an audio transcript which is correctly formatted for subtitles requires specialist training and software.

The audio transcription must be time-coded with the hours:minutes:seconds:frames for both the time that the subtitle is displayed, and the time it turns off e.g.

00:00:07:00 00:00:08:00 안녕하세요!

00:00:08:00 00:00:14:00 Amway Global 세일즈팀 밸러리 베튼입니다. 여러분께
ARTISTRY 최고신뢰 캠페인을 소개하게되어 기쁩니다.

If you already have an audio transcript, we can use this to reference things like places, product or people’s names etc. to ensure spelling is correct. But it won’t decrease the time involved in time-coding the transcript for subtitle purposes.

Our subtitle transcribers have to edit the transcription, and reduce the word count so that it fits in the available screen area, at a legible size. We will also take into consideration the speed of the subtitles, so that the viewer has time to read them at a natural pace.

If you are confident you can supply the transcription in the format we require, and you just require translation or video editing work, please tell us so that we can factor this in at the quoting stage.

How do you cope with on-screen text and captions? + –

If your video has on-screen text and captions, and they are positioned in the centre-bottom of the screen (where the subtitles normally sit), then we’ll either have to move the subtitles or the on-screen captions. If this is a concern, then we can either move the subtitles to a different position on the screen, or if you have the video source files, then we can move the on-screen captions.

We can also translate all on-screen text, captions and animations if required. There is no set price for this service as every project is different, so please send us your files for review, and we’ll prepare a costing based upon how much work is involved.

Need Full Service? We can help with that.

TRANSLATION

Starting with transcription we then translate for audio and video

VOICE-OVER

Extensive archive of voice artists in over
80 languages

TRANSCRIPTION

Translating your transcription into timecodes ready for voice-over and subtitles

Testimonials

Matinée Multilingual

4.9

Based on 80 reviews

review us on

Tom Hart

17:10 12 Jan 26

I used Matinée Multilingual for an important and time sensitive project that was needed for a new business launch.

The team were great at keeping us updated on the progress and everything was delivered on time.

Would definitely recommend!

Lilli Murphy

11:49 09 Jan 26

Great experience with Matinee, really quick responses and accurate QC-ing. Will be in touch for our next project!

Riccardo Piccinini

11:18 30 Oct 25

Super positive experience working with the team! very professional yet approachable and friendly. We will work with them again in the future for sure! 100% recommended

Tracy Nampala

14:19 12 Sep 25

We had the pleasure of recording with Matinée linking up from London for an animation project. Everything went brilliantly with our voice actor in the studio, whilst we connected from London. I highly recommend the engineers and professional expertise of Matinée. Great technical session with smooth communication. We hope to work with the studio in the near future.

LEXXIKA Translations

15:35 28 May 25

We’ve had a great experience working with Matinée Multilingual on both AI and human voice projects. The team are super responsive, explain everything clearly, and deliver quality on time. Thank you Callum and team!

Jon Essex

07:16 02 May 25

Matinée Multilingual recently wrapped up a voice-over recording project in nine languages for a health and safety film intended for engineering sites worldwide. Their service was outstanding, collaborating with us every step of the way to ensure a successful, timely completion within our budget. They kept us well-informed throughout the process and delivered finished audio files promptly in our requested format and numbering. Matinée Multilingual is our trusted partner for foreign language translations and voice-over recordings.

Thanks,
Jon Essex
Managing Director
Squareye Television Limited

Frankie Price

09:44 16 Jan 25

We (Westhill Communications) recently worked with Matinee Multilingual on a Portuguese voiceover recording for an animation, and the experience was nothing short of amazing. They came recommended by a colleague, and it’s easy to see why. Even with our modest budget, they went above and beyond to deliver a result that blew us away.
Kayleigh, who managed our project, was an absolute star. She was so friendly and professional, always keeping us in the loop without overwhelming us with too much information. We got regular updates, a great selection of voiceover artists to choose from, and all the key details we needed, it was just the right balance of communication.
The whole process was smooth, easy, and completely stress-free. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for better service. If you need translations, editing, or voiceover recordings, we’d recommend Matinee in a heartbeat. Huge thanks to Kayleigh and the team for doing such a brilliant job!

Willie McDowell

09:51 09 Jan 25

Really accommodating team. Super professional and very flexible with a scheduling change. 10/10 service and recording

Tamsyn Seimon

10:59 11 Sep 24

Matinée Multilingual has done an outstanding job sourcing voice talent and recording voiceovers for 20 language versions of an animated health education video. I’ve particularly appreciated their persistence in identifying voice actors for some less common languages (Rohingya, Karen, Khmer) that they originally thought they would not be able to deliver. They have been responsive, flexible, patient throughout a long process. And most importantly, Matinée has consistently provided top quality voice recordings. I would not hesitate to work with Matinée again on future projects.

Greg Flynn

08:30 15 Aug 24

Matinée have excellent communication from initial enquiry to project close. They delivered on time after we had changed our requirements and the quality of the narrations we asked for was exceptional in both English and Cymraeg. If we have future audio recording needs we would ask for their services again.

Lucy Hamill

10:39 10 Jun 24

Worked with Matinee Multilingual for the first time recently and will definitely be using them for any of our translation and VO needs in the future. Callum and Ulrike were incredibly helpful and delivered exactly what we needed with a super fast turnaround! A friendly team with quick & great quality service!!

Merkez Production

10:29 11 Jan 24

Daniel Gwynne

17:30 23 Oct 23

We’ve been using Matinee Multilingual for a long time now for our International VO services. Prompt, professional and high quality, well sourced voices. Always when we need it.

Karis Jones-Hogg

11:07 17 Oct 23

Matinee always provides an excellent service and is our go-to company for all our subtitling and translation needs. The team are friendly, efficient and deliver on time. We have never been let down.

Simon Powers

12:36 18 Jul 23

Excellent service and very helpful throughout. Great end result for our project.

Subtitling Rates & FAQs