Subtitle converter for SRT, VTT, ASS and SBV: formats compared
Subtitle formats differ mostly in how they write timestamps and how much styling they carry. Converting between them is mostly reformatting the times and headers — the parts that go wrong are encodings, malformed cues and features that the target format cannot express.
| Format | Timestamp syntax | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SRT (SubRip) | 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,400 | Numbered cues, comma before the milliseconds, plain text with a few basic tags. |
| WebVTT | 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.400 | Starts with a WEBVTT line, a period before the milliseconds, optional cue settings and styling. The format HTML5 video uses. |
| ASS / SSA | 0:00:20.00 | Centiseconds, a [Script Info] header, styles and Dialogue lines. Supports fonts, colours, positioning and effects. |
| SBV (YouTube) | 0:00:20.000,0:00:24.400 | Start and end on one line separated by a comma. YouTube’s older caption format. |
What this tool does
- Convert between SRT, WebVTT, ASS/SSA and SBV, or export plain text.
- Detect and fix text encoding, with a manual override.
- Shift, stretch or two-point sync timings, and preview them against your own video.
- Merge two subtitle files into a bilingual file.
- Edit any cue’s text or timing in the table.
- Find overlapping or inverted cues and report them, without changing anything until you say so.
What can be lost in a conversion
- Converting ASS to SRT or VTT removes colours, fonts, positioning and effects; the text, line breaks, italics, bold and underline remain.
- Converting VTT to SRT removes cue settings, styling blocks, voice tags and comments.
- Converting to SBV or plain text removes all inline formatting.
- Converting up to ASS or VTT adds a default style; there is nothing to recover that was never in the source.
Encoding problems, handled
Most “broken” subtitle files are not broken: they are saved in an encoding other than UTF-8, so accented letters, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic or Asian characters turn into question marks or garbage in tools that assume UTF-8. This converter detects the file’s encoding (from a byte-order mark, a UTF-8 validity check, or statistical detection) and shows you what it chose. If the text looks wrong, choose a different encoding from the list and the file is read again. Whatever the input, the file you download is UTF-8, which every modern player understands.
How to use it
- Drop your subtitle file onto the box.
- Check the detected format and encoding.
- Edit, sync or merge if you need to.
- Choose the output format and download.
Frequently asked questions
Which subtitle formats are supported?
SRT, WebVTT, ASS/SSA and SBV for input, and the same formats plus plain text for output.
How do I convert one subtitle format to another?
Drop the file, choose the format you want from the download list and click download. The tool detects the input format automatically.
Why do accented or non-Latin letters look wrong?
Because the file is not UTF-8. Many subtitle files are saved in Windows-1252, Windows-1251, Shift-JIS, GBK and other encodings, and reading them as UTF-8 produces garbled text. This tool detects the encoding, shows what it chose, and lets you pick another from a list; the file you download is UTF-8.
Will I lose formatting when I convert?
Only what the target format cannot express. Converting ASS to SRT drops colours and positioning; converting VTT to SRT drops cue settings and styling. Text and timing are preserved.
Is my subtitle file uploaded?
No. The file is read and converted in your browser and is never sent to a server. The site records only an anonymous count of the format pair and a rough size bucket, never the subtitle text.