Subtitling · Arabic
Arabic subtitling services
Native Arabic subtitlers for film, corporate video, eLearning, streaming content and advertising. Modern Standard Arabic and regional dialects, delivered in any format your platform requires. Part of a full Arabic language service: subtitles, voice over scripts, and translation of any content you need.
About Arabic subtitling
Arabic subtitles built for the market you are reaching
Arabic is spoken natively by over 310 million people across the Middle East and North Africa, and subtitling into it involves a decision other languages do not force.
Modern Standard Arabic reads as neutral and formal and travels across the whole region. A regional dialect such as Egyptian, Gulf, Levantine or Maghrebi reads as local and familiar to one audience and slightly foreign to the rest.
At GoLocalise, we work with native Arabic subtitlers who handle both the linguistic and the technical side of that. We manage every stage, from the source file review through translation, timing, and quality checks to final delivery.
Which do you need?
Open captions, closed captions or SDH
Three different deliverables that people often ask for by the wrong name. Here is the short version.
Open captions
Burnt inSubtitles burnt permanently into the picture. Nobody can switch them off, which is exactly what you want for social feeds that autoplay muted — and in Arabic it also settles the bidirectional question for good.
- Always visible
- Right-to-left rendering fixed at delivery
- Delivered as a finished video file
Closed captions
SwitchableA separate file the viewer can turn on and off, and that can carry several languages at once. The standard for YouTube, Vimeo and the streaming platforms.
- Viewer controls them
- Multiple languages from one video
- Indexed by search engines
SDH
AccessibilitySubtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing: dialogue plus speaker IDs and the sound effects and music cues that carry meaning.
- Speaker identification
- Non-dialogue audio described
- Meets accessibility requirements
What we subtitle
Arabic subtitling for every kind of content
Arabic subtitling runs from pan-regional broadcast to corporate and social, each with its own decisions on dialect, RTL layout and on-screen text. These are the formats we subtitle most.
Corporate & training video
Internal comms, onboarding and product training subtitled for global teams and LMS delivery.
eLearning & online courses
Timed, readable subtitles for course platforms, MOOCs and instructional video.
Documentary & factual
Festival, broadcast and streaming documentaries, including interview clean-up and on-screen text.
Advertising & social
Burnt-in captions for muted autoplay on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and paid social.
Streaming & OTT
Platform-spec subtitle and caption files for VOD, OTT and broadcast delivery.
Accessibility (SDH & closed captions)
Same-language SDH and closed captions to meet WCAG and accessibility requirements.
Events, webinars & conferences
Recorded talks, town halls and webinars captioned for on-demand viewing.
E-commerce & product video
Short product and explainer videos captioned to lift conversion and reach.
How can we help you?
Your project manager has everything covered
One point of contact from brief to delivery, and both a linguistic and a technical check on every file.
Brief review
We review your video, your target audience, and confirm whether Modern Standard Arabic or a regional dialect is the right fit.
Template and translation
Where needed we create an English subtitle template first, then send it to a native Arabic subtitler working in the correct variety.
Timing and quality checks
Subtitles are timed against the video and checked for reading speed, line length, right to left handling, and format compliance.
Delivery
Your subtitle files in the format your platform requires, on budget and on time.
Our standards
The specs we work to
Readable subtitles are a matter of measurable limits, not opinion. These are the defaults we apply to Arabic unless your style guide says otherwise.
Maximum per line
37 for broadcast delivery
Maximum on screen
Right-to-left, bottom-weighted
Reading speed
Lower for children's content
Minimum duration
Seven seconds maximum
On top of that, Arabic runs right to left, which affects line breaking, punctuation placement, and how the file behaves once numbers or Latin script appear inside an Arabic line. Players and editing tools vary in how well they handle bidirectional text, and a file that looks correct in one can break in another.
Deliverables
Professional subtitle formats
We adapt your existing translations into subtitle format or create subtitles from scratch, in Arabic, English or any other language. And if the project needs a timed script or a plain document instead, we deliver that too.
Standard text-based
SRT works across most video platforms and editing tools; VTT is the standard for web and streaming.
Broadcast & professional
STL and EBU-STL for broadcast, TTML for streaming and enterprise delivery.
Burnt-in video
A finished file with the subtitles baked into the picture.
Need a different format? Convert SRT, VTT and more with our free subtitle converter →
Arabic specifics
Which Arabic, and what breaks on the way to the screen
Modern Standard Arabic is understood across the entire Arabic-speaking world and is the usual choice for corporate, educational and pan-regional content. A regional dialect connects more directly with one country and suits advertising and entertainment aimed at a single market. We advise on the right fit before the work begins.
The technical half is bidirectional text. Numbers, brand names, and technical terms left in Latin script sit inside a right-to-left line and can display in the wrong order depending on the player. We test files rather than assuming, and flag anything that will not survive a particular platform.
It is also why automatic tools handle Arabic poorly. Diacritics are usually absent from written Arabic, dialect variation confuses recognition, and right-to-left rendering compounds the problem. Beyond accuracy, the timing and line-breaking decisions that make subtitles readable are editorial judgements, so every file we deliver is produced and checked by a native Arabic subtitler.
Since 2008
Subtitling & captioning
100+
Languages covered
ISO 9001 & 14001
Certified processes
In-house
Subtitling team & studios
Subtitling rates
Professional Arabic subtitling
For single videos and straightforward content where accurate, well timed subtitles are what you need.
- Native Arabic subtitler
- Modern Standard or regional dialect
- Frame-accurate timing
For longer content and recurring projects, including transcription, SDH, burned-in subtitles and multiple output formats.
- Everything in Standard
- Transcription and template
- SDH and burnt-in
- Multiple output formats
Every project is quoted individually and backed by our Price Match Promise. Send us your video for an exact, no-obligation quote.
Trusted by global brands
We have used GoLocalise on a regular basis for projects in a number of languages. The service we receive is great. The team is always friendly and professional. The voiceovers we receive are of a very high quality and the turnaround is extremely quick. We are very happy to recommend GoLocalise to other businesses.
It was a pleasure to work with David and the team at GoLocalise. David gave me lots of help and advice, guiding me through my first subtitling project. He really knows his stuff! The experience was completely pain-free. I would not hesitate to recommend GoLocalise – outstanding work at a good price.
They're reliable, adaptive and obsessed with quality. And while you can never be 100% guaranteed of perfection, you can be sure GoLocalise will go the extra mile to get it right every time. We've worked with them now for over 5 years and we are truly thankful to have such a strong localisation partner for our business.
Related services
The rest of your Arabic project
Subtitling & captioning in more languages
Native subtitlers for corporate video, eLearning, streaming, documentary and advertising. Browse another language, or ask us about yours.
Most common questions
Modern Standard Arabic is understood across the entire Arabic speaking world and is the usual choice for corporate, educational, and pan regional content. A regional dialect connects more directly with one country and suits advertising and entertainment aimed at a single market. We advise on the right fit before the work begins.
Ready to subtitle your video in Arabic?
Send us your video and we'll come back with an exact, itemised quote.
Professional voice over services for your audio and video productions
Voice over
- State-of-the-art studios
- Neumann microphones
- On-hand sound engineers
- 1,000+ voice actors
Translation
- 100+ languages covered
- Tailored to your needs
- Stringent quality control
- Dedicated project managers
Subtitling
- Experienced subtitlers
- Industry-standard software
- Burn-in and graphic editing
- Open and closed captions
Transcription
- Improve accessibility
- Reach a wider audience
- Boost SEO and video views
- Maximise video engagement