# How to Translate End Credits and On-Screen Text | Vitra.ai

> Credits, chyrons, signs and inserts are pictures of words. Which must be translated, which are contractual, and how to avoid a rebuild per language.

**Canonical URL**: https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/translate-end-credits
**Source**: This is the Markdown rendering of https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/translate-end-credits, generated at build time from that page.

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4 min read

# How to Translate End Credits and On-Screen Text

Credits, chyrons, signs and inserts are pictures of words. Which must be translated, which are contractual, and how to avoid a rebuild per language.

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Senior Product Manager , Vitra.ai
Updated Aug 17, 2026

![How to Translate End Credits and On-Screen Text](https://www.vitra.ai/static/images/blog/translate-end-credits.jpg)

Table of contents

[Three kinds, three rules](#three-kinds-three-rules)

[Narrative text is not optional](#narrative-text-is-not-optional)

[The end crawl is a contract](#the-end-crawl-is-a-contract)

[Producing it without a rebuild](#producing-it-without-a-rebuild)

[FAQ](#faq)

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[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Senior Product Manager

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> **Quick answer —** On-screen text divides into three: narrative text that must be translated, credits that are contractually fixed in order, and branding that usually stays. Only the first is a straightforward translation job.[Vitra.ai Universe](https://www.vitra.ai/platform) handles the dub, the captions and the artwork around them.

## Three kinds, three rules

Kind

Examples

Rule

Narrative text

Signs, letters, phone screens, location cards

Translate — it carries plot

Credits

Opening titles, end crawl

Order is contractual; language varies by market

Branding

Studio idents, logos

Almost always left alone

Getting these mixed up produces the two classic errors: a translated studio logo, which looks wrong, and an untranslated location card, which loses the viewer.

## Narrative text is not optional

A character reads a note. The note is in English. The audience is not.

Subtitling it is the cheap answer and it works, though it competes with dialogue subtitles for the same screen space and the same reading time. Replacing the text in the picture is better and costs more, and for anything where the shot lingers it is worth it. Decide per shot rather than per programme. A sign glimpsed in passing can be subtitled; a letter the plot turns on should be readable.

## The end crawl is a contract

Credit order and job titles are negotiated, and the crawl is where that negotiation is rendered.

Job titles can be translated. Names are not. The order does not change. And a crawl retimed for a longer language must not scroll faster than it can be read just to hit the original duration — extend it instead.

Some territories add their own credits, particularly the dubbing cast and the localization studio, which is both convention and in places a requirement.

## Producing it without a rebuild

Everything above is text inside pictures, which makes the source format the whole question.

If the titles exist as layered compositions, [image translation](https://www.vitra.ai/features/image-translation) re-renders the type per language and a new market is a batch. If they exist only as flattened renders, every language is a compositor rebuilding a sequence from scratch.

That decision is made in post-production, usually by someone who has not been told the programme will sell abroad. Ask for the project files.

Keep the localized versions with the rest of the language deliverables in an [asset manager](https://www.vitra.ai/features/asset-manager), and run a [check against the picture](https://www.vitra.ai/features/quality-control) — the common failure is a card correct in isolation that now overlaps action it did not overlap in English.

The same layered-source argument decides the poster too, in [key art localization](https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/key-art-localization).

## FAQ

**Which on-screen text has to be translated?** Narrative text that carries plot — signs, letters, phone screens, location cards. Credits follow contractual rules and only some elements change, and studio branding is almost always left in the original.

**Should on-screen text be subtitled or replaced in the picture?** Decide per shot. A sign glimpsed in passing can be subtitled, though it competes with dialogue subtitles for screen space. Text the plot turns on, or a shot that lingers, is worth replacing in the image.

**Can end credits be reordered when translated?** No. Credit order and relative prominence are contractual. Job titles can be translated and names are not, and a crawl that runs longer in another language should be extended rather than scrolled faster.

**What makes on-screen text expensive to localize?** Flattened renders. If title sequences survive only as finished video rather than project files, every language means a compositor rebuilding the sequence, whereas layered sources make it a re-render.

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