WebVTT in · SubRip out

Turn a WebVTT file into an SRT.

Your editor asked for SubRip and the platform handed you WebVTT. Paste the .vtt text into the free browser converter and take an .srt back, with nothing sent to a server. Or transcribe the recording below and export SRT with no middle step.

Cues renumbered from 1 Dots to commas in timings Editor-ready SubRip Up to 5 GB per file

What the conversion does

Three edits, applied to every cue.

This direction is mostly subtraction. SubRip is the simpler format, so the work is deciding what cannot come along.

  1. The header goes. The opening WEBVTT line has no place in SubRip, nor do the NOTE and STYLE blocks WebVTT may carry.
  2. Dots become commas. 00:01:12.500 has to read 00:01:12,500, on both sides of every arrow.
  3. Cues get numbers. WebVTT leaves the identifier optional, so many files have none. SubRip expects a counter above each cue, from 1 upward without gaps.

What cannot come along is positioning. WebVTT can pin a caption to the top of the frame or align it left; SubRip cannot say either. Those instructions are discarded, the words untouched.

WebVTT (.vtt)

WEBVTT

NOTE recorded 12 March

00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:15.900
That is the whole argument.

SubRip (.srt)

1
00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:15,900
That is the whole argument.

Where the SRT is going

The tools that still expect SubRip.

Timeline editors

Import the .srt as a caption track beside the footage and burn it in or keep it separate. The dedicated walkthroughs are Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.

Video sites and channel managers

Studio-style caption managers accept SubRip directly, which is the path YouTube to SRT describes end to end.

Other way? SRT to VTT covers the web player case. For prose with the timings gone see VTT to TXT, and the converter overview maps all four directions.

The better starting point

When you still have the audio, start there.

A conversion inherits every error in the file you feed it. A fresh transcript does not.

1

Bring the source

Drop the video or audio file, or paste a link from a podcast host, YouTube or an Apple Podcasts episode. Links from Spotify, Kick VOD, Podbean and Zoom are refused, and you are told immediately rather than left waiting.

2

Fix wording once

Names and jargon get corrected in the transcript, in context, rather than cue by cue.

3

Take the SRT

Export SRT for the editor and VTT for the web copy of the same video, plus TXT, DOCX, JSON and MD if the words are wanted elsewhere. One job, no conversion.

For podcast audio, audio to SRT; for footage, video to SRT and the caption generator.

Pricing

Nothing to pay to convert a file you already have.

The in-browser converter costs nothing, because your machine does the work. Credits come in only when audio has to become words: a pack from $4 opens the full transcript in full at any length, then 1,000 minutes for $8, 2,000 for $12 or 5,000 for $24, bought once and never expiring.

1,000 min for $8 2,000 min for $12 5,000 min for $24 No format surcharges

FAQ

VTT to SRT, answered.

What has to change for a WebVTT file to become SubRip?

The opening WEBVTT line comes out, every timestamp swaps its dot for a comma, and the cues are numbered 1, 2, 3 in order. Anything WebVTT allows that SubRip has no syntax for, such as placement settings on a cue, is dropped rather than carried over.

Why do editors and social platforms still want SRT?

SubRip predates the web video stack and almost everything reads it. Timeline editors, broadcast tools, the caption upload on most social apps and set-top players all take an .srt, while support for WebVTT outside a browser is patchier.

Will I lose anything in the conversion?

Possibly, and only in one direction. Words and timings survive exactly. Cue positioning, alignment and any styling do not exist in SubRip, so captions that were pinned to a corner will simply sit where the player puts them.

Can I just change the file extension to .srt?

No, and this is the mistake that wastes the most time. The name on disk says nothing about what is inside. An editor opening a file you merely relabelled still finds the WEBVTT line and dotted timestamps, and usually reports a corrupt or empty subtitle file.

How do I convert one right now?

Open the free subtitle tool, paste the text of your WebVTT file into the box, set the output to SubRip and download it. The tool works on pasted text rather than a file picker, and it runs entirely in your browser.

What if the captions were auto-generated and are full of errors?

Converting a poor caption file only gives you the same errors in a different format. Where the source audio is still available it is usually faster to transcribe it again and export SRT, because you then fix wording once in the transcript instead of hunting through cues.

Are the speakers identified in the SRT I download?

They are not. A downloaded SRT holds the words and their timings. Speaker labels appear in the transcript view on the page, so if your workflow needs names inside the cues you add them in a text editor.

What does it cost to produce an SRT from a recording?

A first transcript costs nothing and can be read end to end when the recording runs to 3 hours or less. Beyond that, one-time packs buy 1,000 minutes for $8, 2,000 minutes for $12 or 5,000 minutes for $24, and the credits do not expire.

Get the SRT from the recording itself.

Drop the file or paste a link. Free preview without an account, every export format included.