Subtitle Editor

How to edit a subtitle file

1. Open your subtitle file

   Drop one file into the box above, or click to browse: .srt, .vtt, .ass, .sbv or .sub. It’s read by your browser and never uploaded.

2. Edit the lines

   Every line has a start time, an end time and its text. Click into any of them and type. The + button adds an empty line below, the bin deletes the line. Undo and Redo take back any step, also with Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z.

3. Check and download

   Open your video to watch the lines as you edit them. When the summary shows your changes, download the file. It is saved in the format it came in.

When a full subtitle program is too much

Most subtitle files only need a few small fixes. A name is spelled wrong all through a film, a line stays on screen long after the actor stops talking, or the translator left a note in the middle of the dialogue. Installing a desktop subtitle program for that takes longer than the fix itself, and a plain text editor makes it easy to break the file: one missing arrow or blank line, and the player skips every subtitle after it. How to edit an SRT file shows both routes, and Subtitle Edit on Mac compares the desktop programs.

The editor keeps the structure of the file safe. You only ever change the parts that are meant to be changed: the two times and the text of each line. The numbering, the blank lines and the time format are written for you when you download, in the exact way the format expects.

What the warnings mean

Each line is checked as you type, and a red label says what is wrong with it.

Never shows. The line ends at the same moment it starts, so players skip it. It usually comes from a typo in the end time.

Overlaps the next line. The line is still on screen when the next one starts. Some players show both at once, stacked; others drop one. Two people talking over each other is the one case where you may want it.

Empty. Nothing would be shown, once formatting tags are left out. Delete the line or give it text.

Too fast to read. The line has more than 20 characters per second. Shorten the text, split the sentence over two lines, or give it more time if the next line allows. Subtitle reading speed explains the limit and how to meet it.

Editing on your video

Times on paper are hard to judge. Open the film with “Open a video to check” and the subtitles appear on it as you edit them, including lines you have not saved yet. The target button on a line jumps the video to it. To time a line by ear, pause where the speech starts and press “Start here”, then pause where it ends and press “End here”. The file stays on your disk; the browser plays it directly. MP4 and WebM files play best.

What the editor keeps as it was

The format and its extras. An .ass file keeps its styles, positions and comment lines, and a .vtt file keeps its cue settings. Only the text and times you edit are rewritten.

The order of the lines. Lines stay in the order you see them. If you move a line’s time past its neighbour, it is flagged as overlapping rather than moved without telling you.

Your original file. The download is a new file with .edited in its name, such as movie.edited.en.srt.

Tips

Fix the encoding first. If letters show as é or ?, the file was saved in an old encoding. Repair it with Fix Subtitle Encoding, then edit it.

Moving every line? Use the right tool. When all subtitles are early or late by the same amount, Shift Subtitle Timing moves them in one step. For files that drift further out of sync as the film goes on, read how to fix subtitles out of sync.

Lots of [sound descriptions] or ads? Remove them all at once with the Subtitle Cleaner and keep the editor for what is left.

New to the format? What is an SRT file explains how a subtitle file is built and why a small mistake can hide every line after it.