How Much Does it Cost to Subtitle a Film?

Adding Closed Captioning or subtitling to your foreign language film can be both costly, and necessary. Many amateur filmmakers are shocked to find out the average English subtitling rates when they ask, “how much does it cost to subtitle a film?” Average rates for the addition of English Closed Captioning or subtitling can range generally between $3 and $10 per minute, but a film without subtitling becomes inaccessible to your foreign audience. So what’s a filmmaker to do?

Benefits of Captioning

Adding in subtitles to help your foreign audience connect with your film is really a matter of deciding first whether the benefits are worth the addition to the budget. Subtitling does make a film more accessible by a wider audience, which can lead to significantly higher revenue for the film over time. Additionally, there are several benefits that come from adding captions to a film (think, making the film more accessible to those who are hearing impaired).

Benefits include:

● Reaching the 5% of the world’s population that have hearing loss.

● Reaching the 20% of the American population that are deaf or hard of hearing.

● Making a film easier to find on the internet. Captions increase SEO value.

Cost to Subtitle a Film

Translations can add to the subtitling cost associated with adding captions to a film. Keep in mind that most vendors charge per minute and that their rates can vary based on several factors including the amount of work that you provide for them (many provide lower rates for increased work). Also important is to consider the accuracy of the vendor that you choose to add your subtitles. Many vendors promise 99% accuracy but fail to deliver. 

The average cost to subtitle a film comes in around $7 per minute. At this rate, a full-feature film that is 90 minutes long will cost about $630. Before you budget for the subtitling of your film, make sure that you are considering all of your needs and that you formulate a plan that is best for your budget. Keeping in mind that lower price rarely equates to better quality. If you’re subtitling a film that requires perfect captioning for an understanding of the information delivered, you may not want to take the risk of shaving costs!

Still wondering, how much does it cost to subtitle a film? Give Beverly Boy Productions a call to get a free subtitling quote for your film project.