SRT file format: what it is, SRT vs VTT, and how to make one free
An SRT file is a plain-text subtitle file: numbered captions, each with a start time, an end time and its words. Drop your video here to make one free, timed to the voice; the video never leaves your browser.
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What is an SRT file?
SRT stands for SubRip Subtitle, after SubRip, the Windows program whose output it was. It is plain text, so any text editor opens it, and for each caption it holds just three things: its number, when it shows and hides, and its words. YouTube and Vimeo both take SRT files for subtitles, and players such as VLC play them beside the video.
SRT has no formal specification. No standards body stands behind it, only the shape SubRip wrote, which players follow by habit. That is why files differ in small ways (a full stop instead of a comma, no numbers, a missing empty line) and why one player can accept a file that another refuses. Here are two captions of an SRT file, line by line:
| Line in the file | What it is |
|---|---|
| 1 | The caption's number. Captions count up from 1. |
| 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500 | When it shows and when it hides: hours, minutes and seconds, then a comma and the milliseconds. The arrow is two hyphens and a greater-than sign, with a space each side. |
| Hello, and welcome back | The words. One or two lines; Netflix's English subtitle guide allows 42 characters a line. |
| to the bakery. | The second line of the same caption. |
| (an empty line) | Ends the caption. Without it, the next caption's number is read as words. |
| 2 | The next caption's number. |
| 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,200 | Its times. This one starts a tenth of a second after the first one ends. |
| <i>Today: our Bakewell tart.</i> | Words in italics. Some players show <i>, <b> and <u> as italics, bold and underline; YouTube reads no styling in an SRT file. |
What is a VTT file?
A VTT file (WebVTT, Web Video Text Tracks) is the subtitle format of the web, written up by the W3C. Web browsers play subtitles through the HTML track element, which reads WebVTT, so a video on a web page wants a VTT file. The spec says a VTT file must be UTF-8; styles go in STYLE blocks that hold CSS, before the first caption, and comments in NOTE blocks. The same two captions as VTT:
| Line in the file | What it is |
|---|---|
| WEBVTT | The first line of every VTT file. A title may follow it after a space. |
| (an empty line) | Ends the header. |
| 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:03.500 | A full stop before the milliseconds, not a comma. Hours may be left out (00:01.000). No number is needed above it; a name may stand there instead. |
| Hello, and welcome back | The words, as in SRT. |
| to the bakery. | The second line. |
| (an empty line) | Ends the caption. |
| 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.200 line:0 | Settings may follow the times: line, position, size, align, vertical and region. line:0 puts this caption on the top line of the picture. |
| <i>Today: our Bakewell tart.</i> | Tags: <i>, <b> and <u>, and also <c> for a class styled with CSS, <v> for who is speaking, <lang>, <ruby> and times inside a caption. |
| NOTE Check this line. | A comment. It is never shown. |
SBV, the simple one YouTube suggests
YouTube's help suggests SRT or SBV (SubViewer) to anyone new to caption files. In an SBV file each caption is its start and end on one line, split by a comma, with a full stop before the milliseconds and no number: 0:00:01.000,0:00:03.500, then the words, then an empty line.
SRT vs VTT: the differences
| What | SRT | VTT |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | SubRip Subtitle | WebVTT, Web Video Text Tracks |
| Specification | None formal: the shape the SubRip program wrote | W3C WebVTT, a Candidate Recommendation Draft dated 20 May 2026 |
| First line | The first caption's number, 1 | WEBVTT |
| Times | 00:01:02,500, a comma before the milliseconds | 00:01:02.500, a full stop; hours may be left out |
| Caption numbers | Expected | Not needed; a name may stand above a caption instead |
| Styling | No standard; some players show <i>, <b> and <u> | <i>, <b>, <u>, classes styled with CSS, voices |
| Position on the picture | None in the format | Settings: line, position, size, align, vertical, region |
| Comments | None | NOTE blocks |
| Text encoding | Not fixed; YouTube and Vimeo ask for UTF-8 | UTF-8, required by the spec |
| File ending and media type | .srt | .vtt, text/vtt (registered by the spec) |
| On a web page (HTML track) | Not played | Played |
| YouTube | Taken; no styling read | Taken; positions read, styling limited to <b>, <i> and <u> |
| Vimeo | Taken | Taken, and recommended |
Read on 2 November 2026: the W3C WebVTT spec, YouTube Help's supported subtitle and closed caption files and Vimeo Help's how to add captions or subtitles to my video. If a page has changed since, it is the authority.
Which should you use?
For a video on your own website, VTT: it is the one browsers play. For YouTube or Vimeo, either: YouTube reads positions from a VTT file but no styling from an SRT, and Vimeo's help recommends WebVTT. For anything else, check the list of files it takes. If you have one and need the other, the free subtitle converter turns SRT into VTT and back in your browser.
How to create an SRT file
By hand, in a text editor
Open Notepad on Windows, or TextEdit on a Mac and choose Format, Make Plain Text. Type each caption as above: its number, its times, its words, an empty line. Save it as UTF-8 with a name ending .srt; in Notepad, set Save as type to All files, or it is saved as .srt.txt.
From a script you already have
Paste the text into the text to SRT converter. It splits it into captions and times each one by reading speed. The times are an estimate, so they will not follow a voice exactly.
From the video, timed to the voice
Drop the video or recording in the box at the top of this page. Burncaps listens, times every word to the voice, lets you correct any word, then exports SRT, VTT, ASS or text. Subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up.
What it costs
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Common SRT errors, and how to fix them
| What you see | The fix | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The site or player will not take the file | Save it from a plain text editor with Save as type set to All files, and turn on file name extensions in File Explorer to check the ending is .srt | It was saved as subtitles.srt.txt (Windows hides the real ending), or a word processor saved it in its own format |
| é or ü show as boxes, question marks or é | Save it as UTF-8 (in Notepad: Encoding, UTF-8), which YouTube and Vimeo ask for, or run it through the subtitle converter, which reads old encodings and writes UTF-8 | The file was saved in one text encoding and is read in another |
| A caption never shows, or two run together | Leave an empty line after every caption; the converter puts missing ones back | An empty line is missing after a caption |
| The file is refused for its times | SRT wants a comma (the converter writes commas); type the arrow again as two hyphens and a greater-than sign | A full stop before the milliseconds in an SRT, or an arrow that autocorrect turned into a long dash |
| Captions flash past or show at the wrong moment | Put them in time order; the converter does it for you | They are out of order in the file |
| The subtitles slide further out of sync as the video plays | Stretch them back with two-point sync in the free SRT editor, or make them from the video itself, which times every word to it (the converter does not move times) | They were timed for another frame rate or another cut of the video |
| A VTT file does not play on a web page | Make WEBVTT the first line and use full stops, or convert the SRT with the converter | The first line is not WEBVTT, or the times use commas |
Questions, answered plainly
What is an SRT file?
An SRT file is a plain-text subtitle file, named after SubRip, the Windows program whose output it was. It lists numbered captions, each with a start and end time (00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500, with a comma before the milliseconds) and one or two lines of words, and an empty line after each. YouTube and Vimeo both take SRT files for subtitles.
What is a VTT file?
A VTT file (WebVTT, Web Video Text Tracks) is the subtitle format of the web, written up by the W3C. It starts with the line WEBVTT, puts a full stop before the milliseconds, needs no caption numbers, must be UTF-8, and can hold positions, styles and comments. Web browsers play it through the HTML track element.
What is the difference between SRT and VTT, and which should I use?
SRT is the simpler: numbers, times with a comma, words. VTT adds the WEBVTT line, a full stop in the times, positions and styling, and it is what web pages play. For a video on your own website, use VTT. For YouTube or Vimeo either works: YouTube reads positions from VTT, and Vimeo's help recommends WebVTT.
How do I create an SRT file?
By hand: in a plain text editor, type each caption's number, its times and its words, leave an empty line, and save the file as UTF-8 with a name ending .srt. From a video: drop it on Burncaps, which listens, times every word to the voice, lets you correct any word, and exports SRT. Subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, and the video never leaves your browser.
How do I open or edit an SRT file?
Any plain text editor opens it, such as Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on a Mac. To watch it with the video, keep the two side by side with the same name, such as bakery.mp4 and bakery.srt: VLC, for one, then loads the subtitles by itself.
How do I convert SRT to VTT?
Drop the SRT file on the free subtitle converter on this site. It writes the VTT file in your browser: the WEBVTT line added, the commas before the milliseconds made full stops, the numbers taken out. It also converts VTT to SRT, and both to SBV and plain text.
Keep reading
Free SRT generator · Subtitle converter: SRT, VTT, SBV and TXT · SRT editor: shift and sync subtitles · MP4 to SRT · Audio to SRT · Text to SRT converter · Add subtitles to video free · Burn subtitles into a video · Podcast transcription · Free tools · DaVinci Resolve subtitles, free · Closed captions vs subtitles
Burncaps facts, checked 2 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.