SRT (SubRip Text) is the most widely supported subtitle format: YouTube, Facebook, VLC, Plex, video editors and smart TVs all read it. It is a plain text file you can open in any editor, and knowing its few rules saves a lot of “why won’t my subtitles load?” moments.
The structure
1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500 Hello, and welcome back. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,200 Today we look at subtitles.
Each subtitle is a block of:
- a number (1, 2, 3…),
- a timecode line: start
-->end, ashours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds, - one or two lines of text,
- an empty line before the next block.
Rules that break files when ignored
- Comma before the milliseconds (
00:00:01,000). A dot is VTT, not SRT. - The empty line between blocks must be there, or players merge subtitles.
- End after start, and no overlap with the next subtitle. Overlaps are rejected by YouTube and many players; the free fix overlapping subtitles tool cleans them.
- Save as UTF-8 so accents and non-Latin scripts display correctly.
Formatting
Many players accept basic tags such as <i> for italics, but some TVs show them as text. If you see tags on screen, remove the formatting.
How to make or edit an SRT
- From a video’s speech: the AI subtitle generator.
- Edit text and timing next to the video: Subtitle Studio.
- Convert from VTT, ASS, SBV and others: the free subtitle tools.