MotionShine01 / Length
Two short lines
Keep each subtitle to one or two lines of about 42 characters. Long lines are flagged, and Split cuts a line in two at the nearest word.
Free tool
Subtitle editor, times and text.
Open an SRT, VTT or YouTube SBV file and fix it line by line. Add your video to see each subtitle on the picture and set times from where you paused. Move every time at once when the subtitles run early or late, split long lines, merge short ones, and let the checker find overlaps and lines too fast to read. Save as SRT, VTT, SBV or plain text. Nothing is uploaded.
Move all times
seconds
A minus number makes the subtitles come earlier.
Fix drift
When the start is right but the end runs late, type where the first and last lines should start; every time in between is stretched to fit.
Find and replace
Check
Your subtitles and video are opened in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. The last file is kept in this browser so you can come back to it.
Good subtitles
Easy to read, on time.
02 / Speed
Time to read
More than about 20 characters a second is hard to follow. Those lines are marked so you can shorten the words or give them more time.
03 / Timing
On the words
A subtitle should appear when the speaker starts and leave soon after. Play the video, pause on the first word and press the start button on that line.
Questions
Good to know.
Which files can I open?
SRT, WebVTT (.vtt) and YouTube's SBV. Files with Windows line ends, a missing hour in the times, or missing blank lines between subtitles are read too. Styling inside VTT files, such as positions, is not kept.
My subtitles are a few seconds early or late. How do I fix that?
Type the number of seconds under "Move all times" and press Move. Use a minus number to make them earlier. If they start right but drift further off towards the end, use "Fix drift" instead.
Can I change the video too?
No, the video is only played here, to check the subtitles. To burn subtitles into the picture, use the subtitle generator, which also writes them from the speech for you.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The subtitle file and the video are opened by your browser and stay on your computer. The text of the last file is kept in this browser only, so a closed tab does not lose your work.
What is the difference between SRT and VTT?
Both hold numbered times and text. VTT, made for web players, starts with "WEBVTT" and uses a dot before the milliseconds; SRT uses a comma. YouTube, Vimeo and most editors take either. For a quick change of format, use SRT to VTT.
Can I translate the subtitles?
Yes, with the subtitle translator, then open the result here to polish it.