Inky ClipsAdd text to video, written stroke by stroke.
Open your own clip, type a title, and it is drawn onto the video the way a pen would write it, exactly where and when you want it. Most tools add text to a video as a static box or a fade; here every letter is a handwritten stroke. Then export the finished video. Free to use, nothing uploaded.
The clip shows “The dot always wins” written in Cursive.
Ink: White
How to add text to a video
Open your video
Sign in with Google and choose a clip from your computer, or turn a photo into a video. Nothing is uploaded.
Add a text
Move the playhead to where the words should start and click Add text. Type the words and pick a font.
Place and time it
Drag the text on the preview, then set when it starts, how long the pen takes and how long it stays.
Export the MP4
Download the finished video at its own size, with every title drawn in.
On your footage, not a template
Most handwriting effects are made in a separate tool and laid over your video afterwards. In Inky Clips you add the text to the video itself. Drag the words where they belong on the preview, scrub to the moment they should appear, and see the result in place before you export.
Add as many texts as you like. Each gets its own lane on the timeline, so a title can write in, fade, and hand over to the next line.
Captions in the same hand
Click Auto captions and the speech in your video becomes captions that write themselves word by word, in any of the same fonts. Use bold subtitle type for the captions and handwriting for the title, or handwriting for both.
How auto captions work23 fonts, and a pen to lead the line
20 are single-line fonts: each letter is one pen path, so it draws the way you would write it. The rest are outline fonts that trace their edges, then fill in. They are grouped as handwriting, subtitles, clean, titles and decorative.
Cursive
with the comet tip
Allure
with the pencil
Gothic
with the spark
TikTok Sans
outline, then fill
Every stroke, on your terms
Select a text and its settings are in the panel beside the preview, under Text, Style and Timing.
- Start and Draw time
- When the words begin to write, and how long the pen takes. Each text has its own lane on the timeline, so titles can follow one another.
- Draw
- One by one writes the letters in order, like a hand. All at once draws every letter together, for a quicker reveal.
- Easing
- Linear keeps an even pace. Smooth starts and ends gently. Ease out slows down as the last letters land.
- Pointer
- Glowing dot, Spark, Comet or Pencil at the tip of the line, or Off for plain ink.
- Hold and fade
- Keep the words on screen until the end of the video, or fade them out at the moment you choose.
- Colour and shape
- Line colour and width, fill, outline and a background behind the text, with size and position by dragging on the preview.
The editor or the free generator?
Use the editor when
- the words belong on a particular video
- you want several titles, timed one after another
- you also want captions from the speech
- you want one finished MP4 to post
Use the generator when
- you need a quick overlay for CapCut, Premiere or DaVinci
- you want a transparent WebM, a GIF or a PNG
- you’d rather not sign in
Write on your first video.
Open a clip from your computer and type a title. It stays on your machine the whole time, and the MP4 you export is yours.
Write on your videoQuestions
How is this different from the animated text generator?
The generator makes a standalone clip of your words on a plain, green or transparent background, without signing in, to drop into another editor. The Inky Clips editor writes directly onto your own video, with a timeline for several titles, captions, and an MP4 export of the finished video.
Is it free to add text to a video?
Yes. Sign in with Google and use every font, pen tip and setting. Free exports carry a small inkyclips.com in the corner; a paid plan from €7.99 a month removes it.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The video is opened, animated and exported inside your browser and stays on your computer.
What do I need to start?
A video on your computer and a current Chrome, Edge or Safari. You can also turn a photo into a video, or start a blank 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9 video up to 60 seconds long.
Can I add plain text instead of handwriting?
Yes. Pick a subtitle, clean or title font, such as TikTok Sans or Montserrat, and the text traces its outline and fills in. Set Pointer to Off and the draw time short for a quick, plain reveal.
Can I use my own font?
Not at the moment. There are 23 built-in fonts, 20 of them single-line fonts that draw each letter as a pen stroke.
What size is the export?
An MP4 at your video's own size, so a vertical phone clip comes out 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
Does the handwriting work with accented letters?
Yes. Letters such as é, ü, ą, š and ā are drawn letter first, accent second, the way a hand writes them. A few letters with no accent to add, such as ß and ł, are missing from some handwriting fonts; the subtitle fonts have them.