Subtitle Editor
Edit subtitles beside the video and its waveform: times, text, checks and fixes.
Try before you buy.
- Free preview: every edit and check on your own subtitles, and the first words of the saved file (up to 100, never more than half of it).
- Locked until you unlock it: download and copy.
- Unlock: Pro pass, ₹179 for 30 days, a one-time payment that never renews.
Ways to unlock shows how to get the full result.
Printing this result is locked in the free preview.
Open subtitles, a video, or both
Paste subtitle text instead
Video and playback
Open the video or audio to play it with the subtitles and see its waveform.
Subtitle
Choose a subtitle in the list or on the timeline, or add one.
Type a time like 1:02.5 or 00:01:02,500, then press Enter.
Timeline
Click or drag to move the player; drag a subtitle or its edges to change its times; double-click empty space to add one. Keys: arrows move 1 second (with Shift 5), + and − zoom.
Subtitles
No subtitles yet. Add one with Add, or double-click the timeline.
Fixing timing ends each subtitle 2 frames before the next one where they overlap (unless that would leave it too short to read: those are left for you to merge or move), closes gaps that are too short and lengthens subtitles that are too short where the next one leaves room. Re-wrapping breaks lines again within the limit, after punctuation where it can. Both can be undone.
The search covers the text with its tags, so <i> can be found too. With a regular expression, $1 in the replacement inserts the first group.
Locked in the free preview. Opens the ways to unlock this result.
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About the Subtitle Editor
Open a subtitle file — SubRip (.srt), WebVTT (.vtt), ASS/SSA, YouTube SBV, TTML/DFXP, MicroDVD, SubViewer or LRC — and the video or audio it belongs to, and edit them side by side: the video plays with the subtitles drawn over it, the timeline shows the sound as a waveform with every subtitle as a block you can drag, and the list shows every subtitle with its times and problems.
Type new text, set a start or end from the player, add, split, merge and delete subtitles, find and replace (also with regular expressions), strip hearing-impaired tags, music lines, speaker names and styling, fix overlaps and gaps, re-wrap long lines, move or re-time everything (frame-rate change and two-point drift correction), add the next part of a film, or merge a second language into bilingual subtitles. Every change can be undone, up to 300 steps back. Checks follow the published Netflix and BBC subtitle guidelines, and, with a pass, the result saves to any of 10 formats. Your files stay on your device: nothing is uploaded. Without a pass, Save shows a free preview of the file: its first part (up to 100 words, never more than half of it).
How to use it
- Choose the subtitle file (or paste its text), and the video or audio file if you have it. Either one is enough to start; Start new subtitles from scratch opens an empty editor.
- Pick a subtitle in the list or on the timeline. Change its Start, End and Text in the box beside the video; Set to player takes the time where the video is now, and Play this subtitle plays just that part.
- Use the toolbar to Add, Split (at the text cursor and the player position), Merge with next or Delete subtitles, and Undo or Redo any step (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z outside the text boxes).
- Open Checks to compare every subtitle with Netflix’s limits for its language (it starts with your browser’s language), the BBC’s limits or your own; Fix timing problems and Re-wrap long lines repair most of what it finds.
- Use Find & replace, Clean up, Timing and Join & languages for changes to the whole file.
- Open Save, choose the format and file name, and press Download or Copy, with a pass or after unlocking this result. Without a pass Save shows a free preview instead: the first part of the file.
Examples
-JOHN: [door slams] Are you coming? -[Kimmy] In a minute. ♪ Gentle piano music ♪
-Are you coming? -In a minute. (the music-only subtitle is removed)
Clean up with square brackets, speaker names and song lyrics ticked. The dialogue dashes keep their style; a subtitle left without text is removed.
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,500 I told you already, I am not going to the party tonight.
56 characters in 1.5 s = 37.3 characters a second (Netflix’s limit for adult programmes in English: 20). Line 1 has 56 characters (at most 42).
Re-wrap long lines breaks it into “I told you already,” / “I am not going to the party tonight.”; lengthen the subtitle (drag its end on the timeline) or shorten the text for the speed.
Subtitle at 01:00:00.000, made for 25 frames a second
01:02:33.750 for the 23.976 fps video
Timing → Change the frame rate: every time is multiplied by 25 ÷ 23.976 (exactly 25 × 1001 ÷ 24000); the 25 fps version plays about 4% faster.
English: “Good morning.” (00:01–00:03) Spanish: “Buenos días.” (00:01.1–00:02.9)
Good morning. <i>Buenos días.</i>
Join & languages → Merge the two languages: each Spanish subtitle joins the English one it overlaps most.
Common uses
- Correcting the words and timing of subtitles made by speech recognition before publishing a video.
- Re-syncing downloaded or ripped subtitles that start early, drift, or were made for another frame rate.
- Turning SDH (subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing) into plain dialogue subtitles, or checking SDH against a style guide.
- Checking a subtitle file against Netflix or BBC limits for line length, reading speed and gaps before delivery.
- Joining the subtitles of a film split into two parts, or making bilingual subtitles for language learners.
The rules it checks
- Netflix: at most 2 lines and 5/6 of a second to 7 seconds per subtitle (General Requirements); at least 2 frames between subtitles, and gaps either 2 frames or at least half a second (Subtitle Timing Guidelines); 42 characters per line and up to 20 characters a second for adult programmes, 17 for children’s (English (USA) guide), and the same 20 in Arabic; 42 characters and 17 a second in Spanish, French, German and most other languages (Spanish, French and German guides); 42 characters and 22 a second in Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam; 16 characters per line and 9 a second in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), 13 full-width characters and 4 a second in Japanese, 16 characters (Latin letters, spaces and punctuation counting half) and 12 a second in Korean, and 35 characters (tone marks and vowels above or below a letter not counted) and 17 a second in Thai.
- BBC (Subtitle Guidelines): 37 characters per line on broadcast (Teletext), 2 lines for landscape video, 160–180 words a minute, about 0.3 seconds per word at least, and a gap between subtitles of at least one second (otherwise none). The BBC gives no frame count for closed gaps; the editor leaves 2 frames, Netflix’s minimum.
- How it counts: characters per second include spaces and punctuation, with a line break counted as a space; tags such as
<i>and{\an8}are not counted. Choose My own limits to set other values, and the frame rate of your video for the 2-frame gap.
Text, styling and positions
Each subtitle’s text is written the way SubRip files store it: lines on separate lines, <i>, <b>, <u>, <s> and <font color="#ffff00"> for styling, and {\an8} at the start for a subtitle at the top of the screen ({\an5} for the middle), which VLC, mpv and MPC-HC read (some simple players and TVs show it as text). Select words and press the italic or bold button to wrap them. Splitting a styled subtitle keeps the styling open in both halves.
When saving, the Subtitle Converter’s engine writes the format you choose: WebVTT gets line:0 for the top and escapes & and < as the W3C WebVTT specification requires, WebVTT voices (<v Name>) and ASS actor names are kept where the format has a place for them, and the notes under Save list anything a format cannot hold (for example styling in SBV).
Keyboard
- Ctrl+Enter (⌘+Enter on a Mac) in the text box: next subtitle; with Shift: previous one.
- In the list: ↑ ↓ move between subtitles, Page Up / Page Down ten at a time, Enter goes to the text box, Delete (or Backspace) removes the selected one.
- On the timeline: ← → move the player 1 second (Shift: 5 seconds), + / − zoom.
- In a time box: type the time and press Enter; Esc puts the old time back.
- Outside text boxes: Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y redo.
Limitations
- Text subtitles only: picture subtitles (Blu-ray PGS .sup, DVD VobSub .sub/.idx) need OCR first, and subtitles inside an MKV or MP4 must be extracted first.
- ASS/SSA typesetting beyond bold, italic, underline, colour and position (\pos, \move, fades, fonts, karaoke) is not editable here. Saving as ASS keeps the file’s styles and every subtitle you have not changed exactly as it was; a changed subtitle keeps its style, actor and margins but not those effects, and the notes under Save say how many. Use a dedicated ASS typesetting editor for that work.
- Videos play only in formats your browser can play: MP4 with H.264 everywhere and WebM in most browsers, MKV and HEVC only in some, AVI in none. Subtitles can be edited without the video, and the waveform often still shows when the picture cannot play.
- Shot changes are not detected, so the Netflix rules about timing around cuts are not checked.
- Your work lives in this tab: download it before closing the tab, with a pass or after unlocking it (the page asks first when there are unsaved changes).
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, Subtitle Editor shows every edit and check on your own subtitles, and the first words of the saved file (up to 100, never more than half of it). Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded or copied. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
Are my subtitles or video uploaded?
No. Files are read and played inside your browser; the video plays from your own file on your device. Nothing is sent to a server, and nothing is kept after you close the tab except your chosen check profile, frame rate and tab.
How do I fix subtitles that are a few seconds early or late?
Open Timing and enter how many seconds to move them (a minus number moves them earlier), for all of them or from the selected one on. Faster still: play the video to where the selected subtitle should start and press Move all so the selected one starts at the player.
The subtitles start in sync but drift further off. What do I do?
That is a different frame rate or cut. If you know the rates (often 25 vs 23.976), use Change the frame rate. Otherwise use Correct drift with two subtitles: pick one near the start and one near the end, play the video to where each should start, press Set, then Correct the drift.
What do the Netflix and BBC checks look at?
Line length, number of lines, reading speed (characters a second for Netflix, words a minute for BBC), the shortest and longest time on screen, overlaps, and gaps between subtitles. Each problem says what the limit is and what to do; the list can show only subtitles with problems.
Can I make bilingual (dual-language) subtitles?
Yes: open the first language, then in Join & languages choose the second language’s file and press Merge the two languages. It goes under or above the first, in italics or colour. Players show them as one subtitle of up to four lines.
Which format should I save in?
SRT for most players, editing apps and YouTube; WebVTT for web pages and HTML5 video; ASS when you need the styles of an ASS file kept. The editor writes UTF-8 text with the line endings you choose.