How to convert SRT to VTT and back

Two formats that do the same job, plus the timing fixes you usually need at the same moment.

Subtitle files are plain text listing cues: a start time, an end time and some words. SubRip (.srt) and WebVTT (.vtt) both do this, and the differences between them are small — but players are unforgiving about which one they accept.

The actual differences

SRT numbers each cue and separates seconds from milliseconds with a comma: 00:00:01,500. It is what most desktop players and upload forms expect.

WebVTT begins with a WEBVTT header, uses a full stop: 00:00:01.500, and additionally supports positioning settings, styling and comment blocks. It is the format HTML5 video requires, so anything embedded on a web page needs it.

Converting between them is mostly punctuation. Going from VTT to SRT drops cue positioning and comments, because SRT has nowhere to put them.

Step-by-step

1. Open the converter. Go to the SRT ⇄ VTT converter.
2. Drop the file in, or paste the subtitles straight into the box.
3. Choose the output — SRT, VTT, plain text, timestamped text or JSON.
4. Fix the timing while you're here if it needs it.
5. Download or copy the result.

Fixing subtitles that are out of sync

There are two distinct problems, and they need different fixes.

A constant offset — subtitles are always two seconds early, from beginning to end — is corrected with the shift field. Enter a negative number to move them earlier.

Progressive drift — fine at the start, badly out by the end — is almost always a frame-rate mismatch, typically between 25 fps and 23.976 fps versions of the same film. A shift cannot fix this because the error grows with time; the frame-rate presets rescale every timestamp instead.

"Fix overlaps" nudges any cue that runs into the next one, which stops players showing two lines at once.

Frequently asked questions

Will my accented or non-Latin text survive?

Yes. Text is passed through exactly as written, including accents, CJK characters and emoji.

Is my file uploaded?

No. Parsing and conversion happen in your browser — worth knowing when the subtitles belong to unreleased footage.

What if my file has errors in it?

Malformed cues are skipped rather than failing the whole file, and you are told how many were dropped. To fix them properly, use the subtitle editor.