# Podcast to Reels: turn a long Arabic podcast into vertical clips with captions, in the browser

> A Gulf podcast episode is an hour long; the clip that brings new listeners is forty seconds. nutq Studio takes you from one to the other in the browser: captions to find the moment, a vertical frame, bold Arabic captions and a hook title.

- Source: https://nutq.dev/blog/podcast-to-reels-arabic-captions
- Published: 2026-10-25
- Updated: 2026-10-25
- Author: nutq team (https://nutq.dev)

## Short answer

To turn a podcast into Reels, open the episode in nutq Studio, generate captions to find the strongest moment, cut the timeline to 30 to 60 seconds, switch the frame shape to Vertical 9:16 with Fill, style the captions in Bold or Highlight in the middle of the frame, add a hook title and export an MP4. Captioning an hour-long episode costs 15 cents; cutting, reframing and export use no credit.

A Gulf podcast episode runs an hour; the clip that brings in new listeners runs forty seconds. Going from **podcast to Reels** usually means a desktop editor, a captioning app and an afternoon. nutq Studio does it in the browser: captions to find the moment, a vertical frame, bold Arabic captions that keep the dialect, a hook title, and an MP4 ready for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

## How do you find the moments worth clipping?

Start with captions, not with scrubbing. Drop the episode into Studio and choose Generate captions; the whole conversation appears as text on the captions lane, so you can read through an hour in minutes. Look for moments that:

- **Stand on their own.** A listener who has not heard the episode should understand it.
- **Open strong.** The first sentence is the hook; a clip that starts with «زين، وبعدين…» loses people.
- **Land in 30 to 60 seconds.** One idea, one answer, one story.
- **Have energy in the voice.** A laugh, a disagreement or a surprising number travels further than a calm explanation.

## How do you turn a podcast into Reels, step by step?

1. **Import the episode.** Drop it on the [Arabic captions page](/arabic-captions) and sign in, or import it into a project. Files up to 1 GB each work.
2. **Generate captions** and read them to choose the moment.
3. **Cut to the moment.** Put the playhead at the start and press S to split, do the same at the end, and delete the rest.
4. **Go vertical.** Change the frame shape to Vertical 9:16.
5. **Fill the frame.** Select the video clip and choose Fill so the picture covers the frame, or Fit to keep the full shot. Use Scale to zoom in on the speaker.
6. **Style the captions.** Bold or Highlight read best on a phone. Move them to the middle and increase the size.
7. **Add a hook title** at the top for the first few seconds, from the Text tab.
8. **Export** an MP4 at 1080p with the captions burned in.

To make the next clip, undo back to the full episode and cut a different moment, so you do not have to upload the episode again.

## Fill or Fit: which suits a podcast?

| Shot | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One speaker, centred | Fill | The crop keeps the speaker and fills the screen |
| Two speakers in a wide shot | Fit | Fill would crop one of them; keep the full shot and use the space above and below for the title and captions |
| A close-up camera per speaker | Fill, with Scale | Zoom gently to frame the face |

Fill crops from the centre of the picture, so a wide two-person shot loses whoever sits at the edges. If your podcast is filmed for clips, frame each speaker on their own camera.

## How do you make Arabic captions that work on Reels?

- **Keep the dialect.** Studio writes Gulf and Levantine as spoken, so «شلونك» stays «شلونك». Fix any word that was misheard by clicking the line.
- **Two languages for reach.** Add English as a second caption language, choose which one shows on the video, and download either as an SRT file.
- **Short lines.** Press Enter in a caption to split a long line where the speaker breathes.
- **Mind the buttons.** Middle placement keeps captions clear of the like and comment buttons on the right and the caption text at the bottom.

## How do you post it?

Open Export and switch to the Post tab: Studio writes titles, a description and hashtags from the clip's captions, in Gulf Arabic, English or both. See [Arabic hashtags generator](/blog/arabic-hashtags-youtube-titles-generator) for how to use them on each platform, and [how to add Arabic text to a video](/blog/add-arabic-text-to-a-video) for hook titles that read well.

## What does it cost?

Captions are $0.15 per hour of audio, so captioning an hour-long episode costs 15 cents, once, for every clip you cut from it. Cutting, reframing, titles and export use no credit. Studio keeps 2 GB of media per account, so import a compressed copy of a long episode rather than the camera original. New accounts get $5 of credit at [sign-up](/sign-up), with no card.

## FAQ

### How do I turn a podcast into Reels?

Open the episode in nutq Studio, generate captions, find a 30 to 60 second moment that stands on its own, cut the timeline to it, set the frame to Vertical 9:16 with Fill, style the captions and add a hook title, then export an MP4.

### Can it convert a horizontal video to vertical?

Yes. Change the project's frame shape to Vertical 9:16. Fill crops the picture to cover the frame from the centre, and Fit keeps the whole picture with space above and below; Scale zooms in further.

### Do the captions keep Gulf dialect?

Yes. Studio captions keep Gulf and Levantine Arabic as spoken instead of rewriting them in Modern Standard Arabic, and you can add English captions as a second language.

### How long can the podcast episode be?

Files up to 1 GB each can be imported, and each account has 2 GB of Studio storage. For long episodes, import a compressed copy rather than the camera original.

### What does it cost?

Captions are $0.15 per hour of audio, so an hour-long episode costs 15 cents to caption. Cutting, reframing, titles and export use no credit.