Subtitle Converter: SRT to VTT, TXT, CSV Free

A subtitle converter changes a caption file from one format to another. This free tool reads SRT or VTT subtitles that you paste or open from a file, then gives you SRT, VTT, plain text, timestamped text or CSV. It suits video editors, creators and anyone who needs a clean transcript.

What Are SRT and VTT Subtitle Files?

SRT and VTT are plain-text caption formats that pair each line of dialogue with a start and end time. Each block of text is called a cue, and a blank line separates one cue from the next.

SRT (SubRip) is the older and simpler format. Each cue has a number, a timing line such as 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:05,000 (with a comma before the milliseconds), and one or two lines of text. Almost every video editor and media player can read it.

VTT (WebVTT) is the format built for the web and HTML5 video. It starts with the word WEBVTT on the first line, uses a dot instead of a comma in timestamps, and can carry extra data such as cue settings, notes and styling. That extra data is why a VTT file sometimes looks messy when you open it as plain text.

Why convert between them?

Different platforms accept different formats. A web player may want VTT, while an editing suite or an upload form may want SRT. Sometimes you do not need timing at all: you want the words as a transcript, or the cues in a spreadsheet. This page covers all of those jobs in one place.

How to Use the Subtitle Converter

You can convert a subtitle file in four short steps: add your subtitles, choose a target format, click Convert, then copy or download the result.

1. Paste your subtitles into the box labeled Paste your SRT or VTT subtitles (or open a file), or use Open file to load a file from your device. The file picker lists .srt, .vtt, .txt and .sbv files.
2. Open the Convert to menu and pick SRT (SubRip), VTT (WebVTT), Plain text (no timestamps), Timestamped text or CSV. You do not select the input format, because the tool detects SRT or VTT on its own.
3. Click Convert. The result appears under Converted output, along with the detected input format.
4. Check the three counters above the output: Cues, Words and Duration. They tell you quickly whether the whole file was read.
5. Click Copy to put the result on your clipboard, or Download to save it as a file.

Click Load sample if you want to see how the tool behaves before using your own file. Click Clear to start over.

Worked Example: Converting a Two-Cue SRT File

Here is a tiny SRT file pasted into the input box:

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,500
Hello world

2
00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:05,000
Second subtitle line

The tool counts 2 cues and 5 words, with a duration of about 0:05. What you get depends on the format you pick:

• VTT: a WEBVTT header, then the same cues with dots in the timestamps, such as 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:05.000.
• Plain text: one line reading Hello world Second subtitle line, with no numbers or times.
• Timestamped text: two lines, [0:00] Hello world and [0:02] Second subtitle line. Seconds are shown without milliseconds.
• CSV: a header row, then one row per cue with the number, start, end, start and end in milliseconds, and the text. The first row of data reads 1, 00:00:00.000, 00:00:02.500, 0, 2500, Hello world.

The millisecond columns in the CSV are useful when you want to sort, filter or calculate cue lengths in a spreadsheet without parsing time strings.

How Do You Read and Use Each Output Format?

Each output format has a specific job, so pick the one that matches where the text is going next.

What the counters tell you

Cues is the number of subtitle blocks found. If your video has about 400 lines of dialogue and the tool reports 12 cues, part of the file was not read. Words gives a rough size of the transcript. Duration reflects where the last cue ends, so it should be close to your video length. A duration far shorter than the video means the subtitles stop early or the file was cut off when you pasted it.

What the tool cleans up

The converter removes formatting tags such as italics and color tags, VTT cue settings like alignment and position, and positioning codes left over from other formats. It also converts common HTML entities such as & back into normal characters. Cues are renumbered from 1, and two neighboring cues with identical text are merged into one, which helps with rolling auto-captions that repeat lines.

Who Needs to Convert Subtitles?

Anyone who moves captions between tools will need this sooner or later. These are the situations where it saves the most time:

• Video editors who exported captions from an editing program and need a different format for a client or platform. If you are searching for how to convert subtitles to text in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, export the captions as SRT from your editor, paste them here and choose Plain text.
• YouTube and social creators who want a transcript for a blog post, a description or a repurposed script. Our YouTube and social media tools cover many of the steps around that workflow.
• Accessibility and localization teams who review captions in a spreadsheet. CSV lets a translator work line by line, and you can rebuild SRT afterward.
• Researchers and students who want the spoken words from a lecture without timing clutter.
• Website owners who need a VTT file for an HTML5 video player when all they have is SRT.

If you got your captions from a video link, the Dailymotion transcript generator can produce SRT and VTT files that you can then convert here. For captions pulled from a post, the Instagram caption extractor covers the text of the post itself.

Tips, Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting

Most conversion problems come from the input, not the output, so check the source first.

The tool says no cues could be parsed

This means no valid timing lines were found. Each cue needs a line like 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 with an arrow between two times, and blocks must be separated by a blank line. Check that you pasted the whole file and that the arrow was not altered by another program.

Your SBV file is not recognized

The file picker accepts .sbv files, but the converter looks for timing lines with an arrow between the start and end times. SBV files separate the two times with a comma instead, so they will not produce cues. Convert them to SRT or VTT in another program first.

The counts look too low

Cues with no text are skipped, and neighboring cues with identical text are merged. That can lower the count slightly compared with the original file. If the drop is large, look for missing blank lines between blocks, since two cues glued together are read as one broken block.

Plain text comes out as one long paragraph

That is how the Plain text option works: all cue text is joined with single spaces. If you need one line per cue, choose Timestamped text and delete the time labels, or use CSV and copy the Text column.

Other good habits

• Keep your original file. Conversion strips styling, so you cannot rebuild italics or positioning from the output.
• Open the downloaded SRT or VTT in your player once before publishing to confirm the timing looks right.
• If the words are right but the timing is off, fix that with the subtitle timestamp shifter rather than editing times by hand.

Limitations to Know About

This tool converts the format of your subtitles. It does not translate them, transcribe audio or generate captions from a video. If you need subtitles in another language, translate the text first, then bring it back as SRT or VTT. Because styling and cue settings are removed, it is not the right choice when you must keep italics, colors, speaker positions or VTT notes. It works with SRT and VTT input only, so other caption formats need a separate conversion first.

Convert Your Subtitles Now

Whether you need a web-ready VTT file, a clean SRT, a transcript or a spreadsheet of cues, the converter on this page handles it in a few clicks. Paste your subtitles above, pick a format in Convert to, and copy or download the result. If your video also needs a social caption, the Instagram Reel script generator is a natural next step.