ParrotNotes

Subtitle Editor

Open an SRT or VTT file and fix it line by line: correct the words, type new times, add, delete, split or merge lines. Play your video or audio next to the list to set a line's start and end by ear. Checks point out overlaps, long lines and lines that go by too fast. Free, no account, and nothing is uploaded.

Drop an .srt or .vtt file here or click to browse

One SRT or WebVTT file up to 5 MB.

Your subtitle file and your video or audio are read in your browser and are not uploaded.

How to edit subtitles in three steps

This is the quick online SRT editor: open the file, fix it, download it. Nothing to install.

  1. 1

    Open the subtitle file

    Drop an .srt or .vtt file on the box, pick it, or paste its text. No file yet? Start with an empty one and add lines as you go. To check timing, add the video or audio as well; it plays from your device.

  2. 2

    Fix the lines

    Type in any line's text, start or end. A time can be entered as 00:01:02,500, 00:01:02.500 or 1:02.5 and is tidied when you leave the box. Under each line are the buttons to add a line, split at the cursor, merge with the next line or delete. Undo takes back any step.

  3. 3

    Check and download

    Look at the warnings, turn on the filter to see only the lines that have one, and fix what matters. Then save as SRT or VTT, or copy the text. The download has -edited in its name, so your original stays as it was.

What the checks mean

The editor checks every line after each change and marks the ones that may give trouble. A warning never blocks the download: you decide what to fix.

CheckDefaultWhy it matters
Overlaps the next lineEnd is after the next line's startTwo lines are on screen at once. Players stack them or show only one. Sometimes that is wanted, for two people talking at once.
Ends before it startsAlways checkedWebVTT requires a line to end after it starts. Players skip a line like this, and so does this page when it reads the file again.
No durationStart and end are the sameThe line is never on screen.
On screen too brieflyUnder 0.7 secondsThe line flashes by before anyone can read it.
Line too long42 charactersLong lines wrap in odd places or cover too much of the picture, above all on phones.
Too fast to read17 characters per secondThere is more text than a viewer can read in the time the line is shown. Shorten the text or give it more time.
No textAlways checkedAn empty line is usually left over from a split or an insert. Fill it or delete it.
42 characters a line and 17 characters a second are common subtitle guidelines for English. Broadcasters and streaming services publish their own limits, some stricter and some looser, so set both numbers to the ones you have to meet. Formatting tags such as <i> are not counted.

SRT or VTT?

SRT (SubRip) is the plain one: a number, a time line such as 00:01:02,500 --> 00:01:05,000 with a comma before the milliseconds, the text and a blank line. It has no formal standard, but nearly every video player, editor and upload form reads it. Pick SRT when you do not know what the other side expects.

VTT (WebVTT) is the web's format and the one the HTML track element reads. The file starts with WEBVTT, times use a full stop, and it can carry more: cue names, position settings, speaker tags, comments and styles. This editor keeps those when you save a VTT file as VTT, with comments and styles placed at the top. Saving it as SRT removes what SRT cannot hold.

Only need the other format, with no edits? The SRT to VTT Converter converts several files at once and fixes encoding and line endings.

Fixing the most common subtitle problems

Most broken subtitle files have one of these problems. Some are fixed here in a minute, and for the rest there is a tool built for the job.

  • Typos and a word that is wrong everywhere

    Fix a single typo in its line. For a name spelled wrong forty times, use Find and Replace all: it shows how many matches there are first, and Match case keeps it from changing words you did not mean.

  • Lines that overlap

    Fix overlaps ends each line at the moment the next one starts and leaves the later line alone. If lines are out of order, sort by start time first. Check the result where two people really do speak at once.

  • Lines that are too long or too fast

    Put the cursor where the line should break and press Split: the time is shared by the number of characters on each side. Or press Enter in the text to make two rows in the same line. If a line is still too fast, cut words or move its end later.

  • One line that comes early or late

    Add the video or audio, click the line's number, pause where the line should begin and press Set start to current time. Do the same for the end. You can also type the times by hand.

  • The whole file is early, late or drifts

    A fixed gap is quick here: shift all lines by a number of milliseconds. A gap that grows over the video is a speed or frame-rate difference and needs a stretch. The Subtitle Sync Tool does that from two lines you match to the video, or from a frame-rate preset.

  • The subtitles are in the wrong language

    Retyping every line here would take hours. The Subtitle Translator translates the text and keeps every time (free with a ParrotNotes account). Bring the result back here to polish it.

  • There is no subtitle file yet

    Starting from an empty file works for a short clip. For anything longer, start from a transcript. The TXT to SRT Converter spreads a script or transcript over the video's length as a first draft to correct here. If you only have the video, the Video to Text Converter makes a transcript of a clip up to 10 minutes, saved to a free ParrotNotes account.

  • You only want the words

    For quotes, notes or a blog post you do not need times at all. The VTT and SRT to Text Converter turns an SRT or VTT file into clean, readable text.

Sources

Subtitles start from a transcript

Editing is the last step. The first is getting the words down. For your own meetings, calls and voice notes, ParrotNotes records on your phone and gives you the transcript and a summary, free for 100 minutes of recording a month. The app does not make subtitle files.

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Related tools

Subtitle Editor FAQ