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SRT/VTT → SRT

Shift subtitle timing

Move every line of an SRT or VTT file earlier or later by the same number of seconds when the subtitles are out of sync. Nothing is uploaded, and there’s no account, watermark or limit.

  1. 1. Drop files
  2. 2. Adjust
  3. 3. Download
  • No upload. Processing happens on your device.
  • No limits. As many files as you like, free.
  • No watermark. Your files stay exactly yours.

How to shift subtitle timing with filetidy

  1. 1

    Drop your SRT or VTT files on “Drop SRT / VTT files here”, or use “or tap to choose files”. Each one is read straight away and its row shows how many lines it contains.

  2. 2

    Under “Move subtitles”, pick “Later” if the text appears before the voice, or “Earlier” if it shows up after the voice.

  3. 3

    Type the offset in “By (seconds)”. Decimals count as milliseconds, so 1.5 moves the lines by one and a half seconds and 0.25 by a quarter of a second.

  4. 4

    Open “Preview” to compare the “Before” and “After” times, then press “Download”, or “Download all (.zip)” for a batch. The file keeps its original name and format.

What does shifting subtitles do?

Each line in an SRT or VTT file carries a start and an end time, such as 00:12:04,500 --> 00:12:07,000. Shifting adds or subtracts the same amount from every one of those times, so the whole file slides along the timeline while each line keeps its exact duration and its distance from the next one.

A constant gap usually comes from a different cut of the video: a studio logo that is a few seconds longer, a recap at the start of an episode, an advert removed from a TV recording, or a file trimmed before the first scene. The dialogue itself plays at the same speed, so a single offset puts everything back in place.

Lines that would end before 0:00 after moving earlier are dropped, and the file row tells you how many. A line that would start before 0:00 but end after it simply starts at 0:00. In VTT files the header, styles, notes, cue settings and karaoke timestamps inside the text all move or stay as they should.

Measure first, then shift. The most reliable method is a player with a subtitle delay control: adjust it until a line lands on the voice, read the value, and use it here. Testing on a line in the first minutes and another near the end also tells you whether a constant shift is enough.

Input
SRT and VTT, several files at once
Output
Same format and same file name, saved as UTF-8
Precision
Milliseconds (0.001 s), typed as decimals in seconds
What changes
Start and end times only; text, formatting and order stay as they are
Direction
“Later” delays the lines, “Earlier” makes them appear sooner
Privacy
Processed in your browser; nothing is uploaded

Other ways to do it

VLC

In VLC: find the exact offset before you fix the file

  1. Load the video and the subtitle file in VLC and play a scene where someone starts speaking after a moment of silence.
  2. On Windows and Linux, press G or H while it plays: each press moves the subtitles by 50 ms in one direction, and the current delay appears in the corner of the picture.
  3. For bigger or more precise values, open Tools > Track Synchronization and type a number in the subtitle track synchronization field in the Subtitles/Video section.
  4. When the line matches the voice, note the value. A positive delay means the subtitles needed to be later, so pick “Later” here with that number; a negative one means “Earlier”.

VLC forgets this delay when you close the video, which is why writing it into the file helps. On a Mac the hotkeys are different and the dialog sits under the Window menu; check VLC > Preferences > Hotkeys for the subtitle delay keys.

Premiere Pro

In Premiere Pro: nudge an imported caption track

  1. Import the SRT with File > Import and drag it onto your sequence, where it becomes a captions track.
  2. Click the first caption on that track, then select every caption on it (for example with the track selection tool).
  3. Drag the whole selection left or right until the words line up with the waveform, then export the captions again from the Text panel.

Dragging by hand snaps to frames and is easy to overshoot. If you already know the offset in seconds, shifting the SRT first and importing the corrected file is quicker.

YouTube

On YouTube: replace a caption file that runs early or late

  1. Shift the file here first, using the offset you noticed while watching the video with captions on.
  2. In YouTube Studio, open Subtitles, pick the video, then use Add language (or the existing language) and Add under Subtitles.
  3. Choose Upload file, select “With timing”, and upload the corrected SRT or VTT.

“With timing” keeps the times written in your file. “Without timing” would ignore them and let YouTube guess where each line goes.

Constant shift or full resync: which one do you need?

Check two moments: one line in the first few minutes and one in the last few. If both are off by about the same amount, for example 2 seconds early at the start and still 2 seconds early at the end, a constant shift fixes the whole file.

If the gap grows as the film goes on, say half a second at the beginning and four seconds by the end, the subtitles were made for a version running at another speed, often 23.976 fps against 25 fps. Shifting would only fix one part. Use the sync subtitles tool instead: it stretches the timing from two reference lines or converts between frame rates.

If the gap jumps suddenly in the middle, the video and the subtitles come from different edits (an extra scene, a removed ad break). Shift the file so the first half is right, then note where it breaks; that part needs a second correction or a subtitle file made for your exact version.

Not sure which direction to pick? If you read the line before you hear it, the subtitles are early: move them “Later”. If the voice comes first and the text follows, they are late: move them “Earlier”.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know how many seconds to shift my subtitles?

Play the video in a player that has a subtitle delay setting, such as VLC, and adjust it until a line appears exactly when the voice starts. The value the player shows is your offset. Without such a player, note the time a line is spoken and compare it with the start time written in the subtitle file.

My subtitles appear before people speak. Do I choose Later or Earlier?

Choose “Later”. Text that shows up ahead of the voice needs to be delayed. Pick “Earlier” only when the dialogue is heard first and the subtitle appears after it.

Can I shift subtitles by less than a second?

Yes. The “By (seconds)” field accepts decimals down to the millisecond: 0.5 is half a second, 0.25 is 250 ms and 0.04 is roughly one frame at 25 fps.

The subtitles are fine at the start but drift further apart later. Will shifting fix that?

No. A shift moves every line by the same amount, so it can only correct a gap that stays constant. A gap that keeps growing comes from a speed or frame-rate difference and needs the sync subtitles tool, which corrects both speed and offset.

What happens to subtitles at the very beginning when I move them earlier?

A line that would finish before 0:00 no longer has anywhere to go, so it is removed and the count is shown on the file row. A line that only starts before zero is kept and begins at 0:00.

Does shifting change the text, italics or file name?

No. Only the times move. The wording, line breaks, italic, bold and underline tags and the file name stay the same, so the player still pairs the file with your video. The output is written in UTF-8, and if the original used an old encoding such as Windows-1256 it is converted automatically.

Can I shift several subtitle files at once?

Yes. Add as many SRT or VTT files as you like, for example every episode of a season or several languages of the same film. The same offset and direction apply to all of them, and “Download all (.zip)” saves them together.

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Last updated October 28, 2026

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