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VTT → SRT

Convert VTT to SRT

Change downloaded web captions (.vtt) into plain SRT subtitles that TVs, media players and video editors accept. 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 convert VTT to SRT with filetidy

  1. 1

    Drop your .vtt caption files on “Drop VTT files here”, or use “or tap to choose files”. There is no Convert button: each file is turned into SRT as soon as it is added.

  2. 2

    Check each row: it shows the new name (name.srt), the number of subtitle lines and an encoding note such as “Already UTF-8” or “Windows-1256 → UTF-8”.

  3. 3

    Press “Preview” to see the first 100 lines with their “Before” and “After” timings. Under “Options”, tick “Add a BOM (UTF-8 with signature)” if the SRT is for a TV or an older Windows player.

  4. 4

    Save each subtitle with “Download”, or grab the whole batch with “Download all (.zip)”.

What is a VTT file?

A .vtt file holds WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks) captions, the subtitle format browsers use with the HTML5 track element. When you save captions from a streaming site, an online course or a YouTube video, this is usually what you get. It starts with the word WEBVTT and writes times with a dot, like 00:01:02.345.

WebVTT grew out of SRT but added everything a web player needs: cue settings that place a line at the top or side of the frame, CSS styling blocks, regions for scrolling captions, NOTE comments, speaker (voice) tags and, in auto-generated captions, a timestamp on almost every word.

That extra layer is exactly what trips up TVs, USB players and editing software. Many of them only understand plain SRT, and the ones that open VTT anyway may show raw tags, ignore the file or stop at the header.

This converter keeps the text and timing and translates the rest. The header, NOTE, STYLE and REGION blocks and the cue settings are dropped; speaker, class, language and ruby tags are removed; word-level timestamps disappear. Italic, bold and underline survive, and a cue placed at the top of the frame becomes the SRT code {\an8} so it stays out of the way of on-screen text.

Full name
Web Video Text Tracks (WebVTT)
Standard
W3C specification, first drafted at WHATWG around 2010 under the name WebSRT
Extension and type
.vtt, text/vtt
Time format
00:01:02.345 (dot, hours optional) versus 00:01:02,345 in SRT
Lost in SRT
Positions, CSS styles, regions, notes, speaker names, word timings
Kept in SRT
Text, start and end times, italic, bold and underline, top placement as {\an8}

Other ways to do it

VLC

In VLC: play the converted SRT with your video

  1. Rename the .srt so it matches the video exactly (holiday.mp4 and holiday.srt) and keep both in one folder. VLC then loads the subtitles automatically when the video opens.
  2. If the names differ, start the video and choose Subtitle > Add Subtitle File, then pick the .srt.
  3. Accents or Arabic look broken? Open Tools > Preferences > Subtitles / OSD and set Default encoding to UTF-8, then reopen the video.
  4. If every line shows up a little early or late, adjust the subtitle delay in Tools > Track Synchronization.

Recent VLC versions can open VTT directly. The SRT copy matters most when the same folder goes onto a USB stick for a TV or set-top box.

Premiere Pro

In Premiere Pro: import the SRT as editable captions

  1. Choose File > Import and select the .srt file. It appears in the Project panel as a captions item.
  2. Drag that item onto your sequence. Premiere puts the lines on a caption track above the video.
  3. Edit wording or timing in the Text panel, on its Captions tab, and apply your own caption style there.

Colours, fonts and positions from the original VTT do not come along, so plan to style the captions inside Premiere.

CapCut

In CapCut (desktop): bring the SRT into your edit

  1. Open your project and place the video on the timeline.
  2. Go to the captions section of the Text/Captions panel and choose the option to import a caption file, then select the .srt.
  3. Each subtitle line becomes a caption clip you can retime, rewrite and restyle like any other text.

CapCut renames its panels between versions. If the import option has moved, look for it wherever automatic captions are offered.

VTT or SRT: which file should you use?

Pick by where the subtitles will play, not by which format looks newer. Web players and anything built on the HTML5 track element want VTT. TVs reading from a USB stick, standalone media players, older software and most editing apps are happiest with SRT.

Keep the original VTT next to the SRT. The conversion only goes one way: once positions, styles and speaker labels are stripped, converting the SRT back to VTT will not bring them back.

For a quick watch on a TV, the SRT is all you need. For an edit in Premiere Pro or CapCut, the plain SRT is actually an advantage, since you restyle captions inside the editor anyway and leftover web styling would only get in the way.

Check the speaker labels before you rely on them. In VTT a name can live inside a voice tag rather than in the visible text; if that is how your file marks speakers, the names vanish in SRT and you may want to type them back into the lines that need them.

Frequently asked questions

What do I lose when converting VTT to SRT?

Only things SRT cannot express: the WEBVTT header, NOTE comments, STYLE and REGION blocks, cue positions, speaker and class tags, and per-word timestamps. The text, the start and end of every line and italic, bold and underline formatting are kept. A line that VTT places at the top of the screen gets the {\an8} code, which most players understand.

Why won't my TV show the VTT subtitles I downloaded?

Most TVs and USB media players read SRT but not WebVTT, so they ignore the file or show nothing. Convert it to SRT, give it the same name as the video file, and put both in the same folder. If accents or Arabic letters then appear garbled, convert again with “Add a BOM (UTF-8 with signature)” ticked.

Can I convert YouTube auto-generated captions to SRT?

Yes. Auto-generated VTT tracks carry a small timestamp inside the text for almost every word, which shows up as clutter in SRT players. The converter removes those inline timestamps and keeps the line timings. It does not merge or re-time lines, so captions that were written as a rolling two-line display keep that rhythm.

What happens to speaker names in the VTT file?

WebVTT can mark who is talking with a voice tag that holds the name. SRT has no equivalent, so the tag is removed and only the spoken words remain. If the name was typed as ordinary text, for example "ANNA: Hello", it stays because it is part of the line itself.

Why are Arabic commas and question marks in the wrong place after conversion?

Arabic VTT files often contain the codes ‎ or ‏ to keep punctuation on the correct side of right-to-left text. This converter turns them into the real invisible direction marks instead of printing the code or deleting it, so punctuation should sit where it did in the web player. Entities such as & and   are also turned back into normal characters.

Are my subtitle files uploaded anywhere?

No. The VTT file is read and rewritten by your browser on your own device, and the SRT is created there too. Nothing is sent to a server, there is no account, and you can convert as many files as you like.

Why do the times in my SRT look different from the VTT?

Only the notation changes, not the moment each line appears. SRT always writes hours and uses a comma before the milliseconds (00:01:02,345), while VTT may skip the hours and uses a dot. Lines are also numbered again from 1, as SRT requires.

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Last updated October 28, 2026

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