Subtitling · Urdu
Urdu subtitling services
Native Urdu subtitlers for corporate video, eLearning, documentary, broadcast, and advertising. Nastaliq rendering handled, delivered to platform specification. Part of a full Urdu language service: subtitles, voice over scripts, and translation of any content you need.
About Urdu subtitling
Urdu subtitles that render the way Urdu is meant to look
Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script, right to left, using an extended character set that adds letters for sounds Arabic and Persian do not have.
Urdu is conventionally rendered in Nastaliq, a flowing, steeply slanted calligraphic style in which words cascade downward, and letters join into ligatures rather than sitting on a level baseline. Naskh, the upright style used for Arabic, is technically usable and looks wrong to Urdu readers.
At GoLocalise, we work with native Urdu subtitlers and test files in the setting they are going to play in.
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 Urdu it also settles the font question for good.
- Always visible
- Nastaliq 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
Urdu subtitling for every kind of content
Urdu subtitling spans broadcast, development, education and diaspora media, each with its own RTL and Nastaʿlīq considerations. These are the project types we handle 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 audience, and the player or platform the file has to work in.
Template and translation
We create an English subtitle template first, then send it to a native Urdu subtitler.
Timing and quality checks
Subtitles are timed against the video and checked for reading speed, line length, right-to-left handling, and rendering.
Delivery and display check
Files are delivered in the format you need, confirmed to display correctly.
Our standards
The specs we work to
Readable subtitles are a matter of measurable limits, not opinion. These are the defaults we apply to Urdu 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
The limits matter, but in Urdu the thing that usually goes wrong is the font. Where a player falls back to a Naskh face, the text is correct while the rendering is not, and the result reads as Arabic rather than Urdu. Where the playback environment cannot be relied on, burned-in subtitles remove the dependency entirely.
Deliverables
Professional subtitle formats
We adapt your existing translations into subtitle format or create subtitles from scratch, in Urdu, 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
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, Nastaliq included.
Need a different format? Convert SRT, VTT and more with our free subtitle converter →
Urdu specifics
Where Urdu subtitles go wrong
Nastaliq is far harder to render than Naskh, support outside dedicated fonts is limited, and players falling back to a default frequently produce something legible but visibly not Urdu.
Being right-to-left brings the usual complications on top of that. Numbers, brand names, and technical terms left in Latin script make the line bidirectional, and players differ in how they order it. We set the ordering explicitly and test the output rather than leaving it to the player.
And Urdu is its own language, not a variant of Arabic or of Hindi. It shares a script family with Arabic and shares a great deal of grammar and everyday vocabulary with Hindi, to the point of being largely mutually intelligible in speech — but it is written in a different script from Hindi and draws its formal vocabulary from Persian and Arabic rather than Sanskrit. Content for a Hindi audience is its own Hindi file, and we produce both where a project needs to reach the two.
Since 2008
Subtitling & captioning
100+
Languages covered
ISO 9001 & 14001
Certified processes
In-house
Subtitling team & studios
Subtitling rates
Professional Urdu subtitling
For single videos and straightforward content where accurate, well-timed subtitles are what you need.
- Native Urdu subtitler
- Nastaliq rendering checked
- 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 Urdu 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
Because the player has fallen back to a Naskh font. Urdu uses the Perso-Arabic script, but it is conventionally set in Nastaliq, a slanted calligraphic style that looks quite different, and Nastaliq support is far less widespread than Naskh. The text is correct while the rendering is not. Where the playback environment cannot be relied on, burned-in subtitles remove the dependency entirely.
Ready to subtitle your video in Urdu?
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