How to put lyrics on a TikTok video
TikTok has no lyrics button in its help center: the ways it documents to get words on screen are the Text tool and Captions. Here is how to use each one to put the lyrics of a song on your video (steps checked in TikTok's Help Center on 17 October 2026), how to time every line to the singing, and a faster way when the song is yours.
Before you start
- The lyrics of the part you will use, in a note on your phone, split into short lines the way they are sung.
- The video with the song already on it. If you use a sound from TikTok's library, add it first from Sound in the editing screen, so you can time the lines against it.
- A short section. A chorus or a hook of 15 to 30 seconds is enough lines to time by hand.
With the Text tool, line by line
These are the steps in TikTok's Help Center (checked 17 October 2026). Open the editing tools first: tap + at the bottom, record or Upload your video, and tap Edit in the side panel.
- Tap Text at the bottom of the editing screen.
- Type the first line of the lyrics and tap ✓.
- On the track under the video, hold and drag the arrows on either side of the text to make it last exactly while that line is sung. Hold the text and drag it to move it along the track.
- Tap the text and choose Copy: the duplicate appears right under the original with the same font and color. Change the words to the next line and move it to where that line starts.
- Repeat until the section is done, then play it back once from the start.
Tip: keep each line to one or two short rows. If a line crosses the whole screen, split it in two texts.
With Captions
TikTok has two kinds of captions, and both come from speech recognition:
| Option | Where | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Creator captions | Captions button in the side panel, before posting | Transcribes the voice audio; you preview and edit it line by line, and can change font and color |
| Auto-generated captions | Added after posting to eligible videos | Pick the language in More options → Select video language; edit later with Edit captions |
They are made for speech. With a song, the beat and the effects on the voice can change what the recognition hears, so compare every line with the official lyrics and fix it before saving.
Check before you post
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Every line against the official lyrics | Slang, names and ad-libs are where mistakes appear |
| Each line appears as it is sung | A line that arrives late feels out of sync |
| Away from the right side and the bottom | TikTok's buttons, caption and sound name cover those areas |
| Contrast | White text with a soft shadow reads on almost any background |
Lyrics on screen also help people who watch without sound. To get the song itself onto TikTok as an official sound, see how to promote a song on TikTok. If you post the same clip as a Reel, Instagram has its own lyrics: how to add lyrics to an Instagram Story or Reel.
The faster way for your own song
Timing text by hand works for a chorus. For a full verse, or for several clips of the same song, the TONTRIA karaoke and lyric video editor does the syncing for you: upload the video or paste a YouTube link, ask Milo for the lyrics, and every word lights up as it is sung. You fix any word, pick the font and colors, and export in 9:16 with the lyrics in the safe zone. Then you post it from the TikTok app as usual. For a lyric video of the whole song from its Spotify link, use the lyric video maker.
Sources
checked October 17, 2026