Subtitling · Italian
Italian subtitling services
Native Italian subtitlers for corporate video, eLearning, streaming content, documentary, and advertising. Delivered in the format your platform requires.
About Italian subtitling
Italian subtitles for a market that mostly watches dubbed
Italy is one of Europe's traditional dubbing markets, which shapes what subtitling is used for there. Italian subtitles tend to serve corporate communication, eLearning, accessibility, festival and documentary work, and streaming platforms offering both options.
Where subtitles sit alongside a dubbed track, consistency between the two matters, and viewers switching between them notice when terminology or register diverges.
At GoLocalise, we work with native Italian subtitlers and every file passes linguistic and technical QA before 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.
- Always visible
- Font, size, colour and position to match your brand
- 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
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 audience, and whether the subtitles need to sit alongside an existing dubbed version.
Template and translation
Where needed, we create an English subtitle template first, then send it to a native Italian subtitler.
Timing and quality checks
Subtitles are timed against the video and checked for reading speed, line length, break points, 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 Italian unless your style guide says otherwise.
Maximum per line
37 for broadcast delivery
Maximum on screen
Bottom-weighted, centred
Reading speed
Lower for children's content
Minimum duration
Seven seconds maximum
Italian generally runs longer than English, which affects how much fits in a line. Rather than raising reading speed or letting lines overflow, the subtitler condenses to preserve meaning and tone inside the character limit. This is standard practice, and it is why subtitling experience matters more here than general translation ability.
Deliverables
Professional subtitle formats
We adapt your existing translations into subtitle format or create subtitles from scratch, in Italian, English or any other language.
Standard text-based
Compatible with most platforms and players.
Broadcast & professional
For broadcasters, post houses and streaming delivery specs.
Burnt-in video
A finished file with the subtitles baked into the picture.
Italian specifics
What Italian asks of a subtitler
Around 67 million people speak Italian natively, with another 13 million learning it as a second language, across Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, and Vatican City.
Because Italy is a dubbing market, a good share of projects end up needing both a dubbed track and a subtitle file. When that happens the two have to agree: same terminology, same register, same names. We can produce them together so a viewer switching between them does not notice the seam.
And because Italian runs longer than English, line breaks cannot fall wherever the character count runs out. We break at natural syntactic points, which is what keeps subtitles readable at speed.
Subtitling rates
Professional Italian subtitling
For single videos and straightforward content where accurate, well-timed subtitles are needed.
- Native Italian subtitler
- Frame-accurate timing
- One output format
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 Italian project
Italian voice over
Native Italian voice actors, recorded in broadcast-quality studios.
Learn moreItalian translation
Scripts, subtitles and on-screen text, at the register the material calls for.
Learn moreAll subtitling services
Our full subtitling and captioning offer across 100+ languages.
Learn moreMost common questions
It depends on the content and the audience. Italy has a long dubbing tradition, and for entertainment aimed at a general audience dubbing is still expected. Subtitles work well for corporate, instructional, and documentary content, for accessibility, and for platforms where viewers choose. Many projects use both, and we can produce them together so the terminology stays aligned.
Ready to subtitle your video in Italian?
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