ParrotNotes

Subtitle Translator

Upload an SRT or VTT subtitle file, choose a language and download the same file translated. The timestamps, the numbering, the line breaks inside each subtitle and VTT styling stay exactly as they were. Free with a ParrotNotes account, 5 files a month.

Your subtitle file

One file at a time, up to 300 subtitles and 8,000 characters of text: about 10 minutes of steady dialogue, often more for a film with pauses.

Drop an SRT or VTT file here or choose a file

This is machine translation. Read it before you publish: check names, idioms and whether each subtitle is still short enough to read in its time on screen.

The file is read in your browser. When you press Translate, only the text of each subtitle goes to ParrotNotes' server; the timestamps stay here.

    How to translate an SRT or VTT file

    One file at a time. The page splits the file in your browser and only sends the words.

    1. 1

      Add the subtitle file

      Drop the .srt or .vtt file on the box, or paste its text. The page reads it in your browser, counts the subtitles and tells you at once if the file is too long for one translation.

    2. 2

      Pick the language and translate

      Choose one of 20 languages and press Translate subtitles. The first time, you sign in with Google, Apple or an email code. Only the text of each subtitle, in order, is sent; the times stay on the page.

    3. 3

      Check it and download

      Compare the first subtitles side by side, read any notes on idioms, then download the file. It keeps your format and gets the language code in its name, such as movie.es.srt.

    What is translated and what stays the same

    A subtitle file is mostly structure. Only the words change; everything that tells a player when and where to show them is put back as it was.

    Part of the fileSRTWebVTT (.vtt)
    Subtitle textTranslatedTranslated
    Line breaks inside a subtitleKept (two lines stay two lines)Kept
    Start and end timesUnchangedUnchanged
    Numbers or cue identifiersKept in orderKept as written
    Italics and bold<i>, <b>, <u> kept around the translated words<i>, <b>, <u>, voice and class tags kept
    Position codes and settings{\an8}-style codes keptCue settings such as align: and line: unchanged
    Header, STYLE and NOTE blocksNot part of SRTKept; a Language: line gets the new language code
    File encodingWritten as UTF-8UTF-8, as the format requires
    If the translated file comes back with a different number of subtitles than yours, the page refuses it and makes no file, so a line can never end up under the wrong timestamp.

    What to check before you publish

    Machine translation of subtitles is fast and usually understandable. These are the places where it goes wrong most often.

    • Names and terms

      Names of people and products are kept as written, but a name the captions misheard stays misheard in every language. Fix the original first, or search the translation for each name.

    • Idioms and jokes

      A saying is translated by meaning, and a note under the result tells you what was changed. Wordplay rarely survives; decide whether the line still works on screen.

    • Sentences split across subtitles

      Each subtitle is translated in its own slot, so a sentence that runs over two subtitles may read oddly where the languages order words differently. Read those pairs aloud.

    • Line length and reading time

      The times are not changed, so a translation that came out longer gets the same seconds on screen. Watch the busy scenes and shorten any line viewers cannot finish.

    Subtitle formats and reading speed

    SRT and WebVTT are both plain text: a list of subtitles, each with a start time, an end time and one or two lines of words. SRT numbers every subtitle and writes times with a comma (00:00:01,000); the Library of Congress calls it a very simple format that is not well standardized and has no character encoding standard. WebVTT is a W3C specification: the file starts with WEBVTT, is UTF-8, may carry cue settings for position and STYLE blocks, and its cue text may not contain the arrow -->.

    Translation makes reading speed the thing to watch. Netflix's English (USA) Timed Text Style Guide sets at most 42 characters per line and two lines per subtitle, and a reading speed of up to 20 characters per second for adult programs and 17 for children's programs. A 2-second subtitle at 20 characters per second fits about 40 characters. If your platform has a style guide for the target language, its numbers are the ones to use.

    When a translated line runs over, the usual fixes are a shorter wording, splitting a long subtitle into two in a subtitle editor, or merging two short ones. This page does not re-time anything; it gives you the translated text in the original timing to edit from.

    Need the other format? The SRT to VTT Converter turns the translated SRT into VTT or back, in your browser.Want the words without times, for reading or quoting? The VTT and SRT to Text Converter turns a subtitle file into paragraphs.No subtitle file yet, only a recording? The Audio File Translator transcribes a recording and translates the transcript.Have a translated script with no times? The TXT to SRT Converter spreads plain text over your video's length as an SRT.

    Sources

    For video and interviews in other languages: how to transcribe a YouTube video, translating audio to English, transcribing a foreign-language interview.

    When the words start as your own recording

    This page translates subtitles you already have. If you record your own meetings, interviews or talks (with the consent of the people in them), ParrotNotes records on your phone and gives you the transcript and a summary, free for 100 minutes a month; on Pro it transcribes in 99+ languages and gives you the transcript in the language you choose. The app does not make subtitle files.

    Get ParrotNotes free

    Related tools

    Subtitle Translator FAQ