Descript embedded SRT toggle vs Sume burned-in captions

Descript's changelog for September 17 says exports have a toggle for the embedded SRT track, which was previously always included. An embedded track is a caption stream the viewer's player can switch off. Sume's POST /v1/video-captions does the other thing: it burns captions into the video frames, and its docs state that SRT uploads are not supported. Pick on whether the platform should be able to hide, restyle or translate the captions.

What each product does

The Descript line is from its public changelog entry; the Sume lines are from the Sume video-captions docs.

Burned-in with your own text

If you already have timed text, pass it as cues (phrase-level text, start, end) or words. That skips speech recognition and burns your lines as given. Only one of script_text, words, cues or segments can be sent.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.sume.com/v1/video-captions",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SUME_API_KEY']}",
             "Idempotency-Key": "cap-cues-001"},
    json={"video_url": "https://example.com/clip.mp4",
          "style": "highlight",
          "cues": [{"text": "Free shipping today", "start": 0.0, "end": 2.2}]},
)
print(r.status_code, r.json())

Choosing

Use an embedded track when platforms or accessibility checks want a separate, toggleable stream. Use burned-in when the platform strips tracks (many short-form feeds) or the caption style is part of the look. If you need both, produce the SRT in your editor and the burned-in version through Sume.

Worked example

The question is usually where the video will be posted.

• A platform that reads sidecar or embedded tracks: an embedded SRT can help, and Descript now lets you leave it off.
• A feed that strips tracks: only burned-in captions will be seen.
• A mix of both: export the track from your editor and run the burned-in version through Sume.

Checklist before you commit

Sume's caption styles all render into the video. If you need to switch captions off for viewers, burned-in is the wrong choice; if you need them to always show, it is the right one.

• Check the host's caption-track support.
• Check Korean or other non-Latin copy against the style you choose; some styles error on mismatched text.
• Keep the source text file for future edits.