How to Create an SRT File (2026)

An SRT file is the most widely supported way to caption a video, accepted by nearly every editor and platform. Creating one is not hard, and you have three routes depending on where you are starting from: generate it automatically from a video, write it by hand in a text editor, or convert it from another subtitle format. This guide covers all three, plus the exact syntax an SRT needs and the small mistakes that keep a file from working.

If you are still deciding between SRT and its web-focused cousin, our SRT vs VTT comparison covers when to use each.

The fastest way: auto-generate from a video

For most people, the quickest and most accurate route is to let a subtitle generator transcribe the video for you. There is nothing to time or number by hand, and the timing lines up with the speech automatically.

With the Voice Creator Pro subtitle generator the steps are:

1. Upload your video. Drop in an MP4, MOV, MKV, or WebM file. The spoken language is detected automatically, or you can set it yourself.
2. Choose whether to translate, then create subtitles. Before generating, decide if you want the subtitles in the original language or translated into another one, and click Create subtitles. Transcription happens in this step, along with translation if you asked for it.
3. Review the result. You get timed lines with word-level timestamps, already translated if you chose that. Edit the text or regenerate any single line that came through wrong.
4. Export the SRT. Download a standard .srt file, correctly numbered and timed, ready for your editor or platform. Run it again with a different language to produce a separate SRT for each one you need.

That is the whole process, and it scales: a one-hour video takes the same handful of clicks as a one-minute clip. You can create an SRT file this way in your browser or offline on the desktop app.

If your source is audio rather than video, such as a podcast episode, a transcription tool does the same job. Our guide on transcription with timestamps walks through exporting an SRT from an audio file.

The manual way: write an SRT by hand

For a short clip, or when you want full control, you can type an SRT in any plain text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, VS Code). You just have to follow the format exactly, because a single wrong character can make a player reject the file.

An SRT is made of blocks, one per caption, and each block has four parts:

1. A sequence number, starting at 1 and counting up.
2. A timecode line: the start time, a space, an arrow (-->), a space, then the end time. Times are written HH:MM:SS,mmm, using a comma before the milliseconds.
3. One or two lines of caption text.
4. A blank line before the next block.

Here is a complete, valid example:

1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000
Welcome to the channel.

2
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,500
Today we are creating a subtitle file.

3
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,000
Let's get started.

When you save, use the .srt extension and UTF-8 encoding so accented characters and other languages display correctly. In Notepad, that is the "Encoding: UTF-8" option in the Save As dialog.

Convert from another format

If you already have captions in another format, you usually do not need to start over.

• From VTT: a WebVTT file is nearly identical to an SRT. Remove the WEBVTT header line and change the dot in each timecode to a comma, and you have an SRT. Our SRT vs VTT guide explains the differences in detail.
• From a plain transcript: a text file with no timing cannot become an SRT on its own, because an SRT needs a start and end time for every line. You either time it by hand or, far faster, run the original audio or video back through a subtitle generator so the timing is created for you.

Mistakes that break an SRT file

If a player refuses to load your subtitles, it is almost always one of these:

• A dot instead of a comma in the timecode. 00:00:01.000 is VTT syntax. SRT uses a comma: 00:00:01,000.
• A missing blank line between blocks. Every caption block must be separated by one empty line.
• A malformed arrow. It has to be exactly --> with a space on each side.
• Out-of-order or overlapping times. Each caption's start must come after the previous one ends, and the end must be later than the start.
• The wrong file extension or encoding. Save as .srt, not .txt, and use UTF-8 so special characters survive.

Generating the file automatically avoids every one of these, since the output is always valid.

How to add your SRT to a video

Once you have the file, using it depends on the destination:

• YouTube: upload the .srt under Subtitles in YouTube Studio, one file per language. See our YouTube subtitles and dubbing guide for the full walkthrough.
• Video editors (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, CapCut): import the SRT as a subtitle or caption track.
• A website or HTML5 video: the browser <track> element does not read SRT, so convert the file to VTT first. The SRT vs VTT guide shows how.

The bottom line

An SRT is just a text file with a strict format: numbered blocks, comma-separated timecodes, and a blank line between each caption. You can type one by hand for a short clip, but for anything longer, generating it from the video is faster, avoids every formatting mistake, and keeps the timing in sync with the speech.

Try it free in your browser with the Voice Creator Pro subtitle generator, or run it offline on the desktop app.