SubtitleMedic

What is an SRT file, and how do you use one?

Updated October 18, 2026

An .srt file is a SubRip subtitle file: plain text that lists each subtitle of a video with a number, the time it appears and disappears, and the words to show. It is the most widely supported subtitle format there is. VLC, Plex, Kodi, almost every smart TV, YouTube and video editors such as Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve all read it.

The name comes from SubRip, a Windows program from around 2000 that read the subtitles off DVDs and saved them as text. The program is long gone, but its simple file format became the standard.

What is inside an SRT file

Here is a short, complete SRT file:

1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500
Is this seat taken?

2
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,800
Only by my coat.
<i>Please, sit down.</i>

That is all there is to it. Each subtitle is a block of four parts:

  1. A number, counting up from 1.
  2. A timing line: the start and end time, separated by -->. Times are hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds, with a comma before the milliseconds.
  3. One or more lines of text. Two lines is the usual maximum, so the subtitle doesn’t cover too much of the picture.
  4. A blank line, which ends the block.

There is no header, no style sheet and no official way to place text. Over the years players agreed on a few extras:

  • Tags <i>, <b> and <u> for italics, bold and underline, and <font color="#ffff00"> for colour.
  • Position codes borrowed from the ASS format: {\an8} at the start of a line puts it at the top of the screen.

Most players honour italics. Colours and position codes depend on the player, and some TVs show them as text.

How to open an SRT file

To read or edit it, open it in a text editor: Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on a Mac (in plain text mode), or any code editor. Change a word, save, and the subtitle changes. Keep the blank lines and the timing lines exactly as they are.

To watch it with a video, give the .srt file the same name as the video and put both in the same folder: movie.mkv and movie.srt. VLC, MPV, Plex, Kodi and most TVs then load it by themselves. Adding a language code also works and helps when you have several: movie.en.srt, movie.vi.srt. In VLC you can also drag the .srt onto the playing video.

Common problems, and how to fix them

The subtitles are early or late

If every line is off by the same amount, the file was made for a slightly different cut of the video, for example with a longer intro. Move every line by that many seconds with Shift Subtitle Timing.

If the subtitles start right and drift further off as the film goes on, the file was timed for another frame rate, such as 23.976 instead of 25 fps. Shifting won’t fix that; Change Subtitle Frame Rate will.

If you have another subtitle that is already in sync with your video, Sync Two Subtitles lines the broken one up with it.

Letters show up as é, đ or question marks

SRT has no rule about text encoding. Older files, especially in Vietnamese, Eastern European, Arabic or Asian languages, were saved in a legacy code page such as Windows-1258 or Windows-1252, and a player that expects UTF-8 shows rubbish instead of accents. Fix Subtitle Encoding detects the right encoding, shows you the repaired letters and saves the file as UTF-8.

The TV doesn’t show the subtitles

Check three things: the .srt has exactly the same name as the video, it is in the same folder or USB stick, and it is saved as UTF-8. Some older TVs also need a byte order mark at the start of the file, which Fix Subtitle Encoding can add.

Strange codes appear on screen

A player that doesn’t understand tags may print <i>, <font color=...> or {\an8} as text. Remove them with Remove Formatting from Subtitles, which can keep italics if you want.

SRT compared with other formats

  • VTT (WebVTT) looks almost the same but starts with WEBVTT and uses a period in timestamps. It is the format web players need. See What is a VTT file?
  • ASS/SSA carries fonts, colours, positions and karaoke effects. It is common for anime and styled fansubs, and is read by computer players more than by TVs.
  • SUB (MicroDVD) counts frames instead of time, so it only works at the right frame rate.

When a player or website wants another format, convert the file: Convert SRT to VTT for web players and HTML5 video, or Convert SRT to TXT to get the dialogue as plain text. In the other direction, ASS, VTT, SBV and SUB files can all be turned into SRT on this site.

Every tool here runs in your browser. Your subtitle file is read on your device and never uploaded.

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