Subtitle Converter

SRT and VTT are nearly the same file

The two formats differ in about four ways, which is why converting between them is lossless for ordinary subtitles.

SRT numbers each cue, separates the milliseconds with a comma, and has no header. WebVTT starts with a `WEBVTT` line, uses a full stop for milliseconds, makes the cue numbers optional, and allows positioning settings after the timestamp.

WebVTT is the format HTML5 video wants. SRT is what most desktop players, editing tools and social platforms expect. Converting is usually a matter of which side you are feeding.

When subtitles run early or late

A constant offset — everything consistently a second behind — is the common case, and the timing shift here fixes it. It usually happens when subtitles were written against a cut that had a different intro length.

What a shift cannot fix is drift, where the gap grows as the video goes on. That is a frame-rate mismatch, typically 23.976 against 25, and it needs the timings rescaled rather than moved. If the first subtitle lines up and the last one is ten seconds out, you have drift, not offset.

Transcripts and why the line breaks go

Subtitles wrap to fit the screen, so one spoken sentence is frequently split across two lines. Exporting a transcript that keeps those breaks produces something that reads as fragments.

The plain-text export joins the wrapped lines back into one line per cue. It is not a perfect reconstruction of sentences — a cue boundary can still fall mid-sentence — but it reads far closer to prose than the raw file does.

Why this one does not upload your file

Subtitles are text, and text from a video project often contains things worth not handing to a stranger: unreleased product names, client scripts, internal references. There is no reason a format conversion should require any of that to leave your machine.

This runs entirely in the browser, and unlike the other tools here it needs no encoder at all — the conversion is instant and works offline once the page has loaded.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my subtitle file uploaded anywhere?

No. The conversion happens in JavaScript in this tab. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it still works.

Do I need an account?

No. No sign-up, no email, no watermark.

What is the difference between SRT and VTT?

Very little. VTT starts with a WEBVTT header, uses a full stop rather than a comma before the milliseconds, makes cue numbers optional, and allows positioning settings after the timestamp. VTT is what HTML5 video expects; SRT is what most players and social platforms expect.

My subtitles are a second behind. Can this fix it?

Yes, if the offset is constant. Use the timing shift. If the gap grows through the video, that is frame-rate drift rather than an offset, and it needs rescaling instead — this tool does not do that.

Will converting lose my formatting?

Basic cue text and timings survive intact. VTT positioning settings and styling blocks are dropped, since SRT has no equivalent for them.

Can I get a transcript without timestamps?

Yes — choose plain text. Wrapped lines are joined back together so it reads as prose rather than as fragments.

Does it handle non-English subtitles?

Yes. Files are read as UTF-8, which covers every language. A byte order mark at the start of the file is handled too.

Why is this instant when the other tools take a while?

The video tools have to download a 30 MB WebAssembly encoder before they can start. Subtitles are text, so this one needs nothing but the page itself.