Adding Text Overlay Captions to Videos with FFMPEGAPI.net

What is FFMPEGAPI.net?

FFMPEGAPI.net is a hosted REST API designed for seamless video and audio processing. It eliminates the need for server setup or FFmpeg infrastructure management, allowing developers to focus on building their applications.

With API-key authentication, you can easily integrate powerful video processing capabilities into your workflows, making it an ideal solution for automation, SaaS apps, content pipelines, and AI agents.

Using the Text Overlay Captions Endpoint

One of the standout features of FFMPEGAPI.net is the ability to add text overlays to your videos. The endpoint for this functionality is '/api/videos/add-text-overlay-captions'. This POST request allows you to render supplied text lines as timed caption overlays on your video.

You can specify various parameters such as video URL, text content, subtitle style, aspect ratio, position, and duration per line. This flexibility allows you to customize the appearance and timing of your captions.

import requests

url = 'https://ffmpegapi.net/api/videos/add-text-overlay-captions'
data = {
    'video_url': 'https://example.com/video.mp4',
    'text': 'First line\nSecond line',
    'duration_per_line': 4
}

response = requests.post(url, json=data, headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'})
print(response.json())

Parameters Explained

When using the text overlay captions endpoint, you'll need to pass several parameters to customize your video output. Here's a breakdown of the parameters you can use:

1. **video_url**: The URL of the video to which you want to add captions. This parameter is required.

2. **text**: The caption lines you wish to overlay, separated by newlines. This is also a required parameter.

3. **subtitle_style**: Choose from styles like plain-white, yellow-bg, pink-bg, blue-bg, or red-bg. Default is plain-white.

4. **aspect_ratio**: Set the video aspect ratio (16:9, 9:16, 4:3, or 3:4). Default is 9:16.