Subtitle Edit

the subtitle editor :)

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Subtitle Edit - Documentation

Subtitle Edit is a free, open-source editor for video subtitles. This is the documentation for the cross-platform version (Subtitle Edit 5).

Getting Started

• Overview — What is Subtitle Edit and how to get started
• What’s New in Subtitle Edit 5 — Major changes from the Windows Forms version to the Avalonia-based version
• Main Window — Main window layout, areas, and interaction guide
• FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions

Feature Areas

File Operations

• File Menu — New, Open, Save, Import, Export
• Import Plain Text — Create subtitles from text, with forced-aligner timing
• Import Spreadsheets — Import CSV, XLSX and ODS files, with custom column mapping
• Edit Image-based Subtitle — Edit Blu-ray SUP/VobSub/DVB subtitles without OCR

Editing

• Edit Menu — Find, Replace, Multiple Replace, History
• Source View — Edit the raw subtitle source: syntax coloring, live parse check, find/replace, line commands
• Modify Selection — Select lines by rules: text, hearing-impaired text, duration, CPS, gaps, styles, actors
• Subtitle Grid — Working with the subtitle list/grid
• Text Editor — Editing subtitle text
• AI Assistant — AI help for the current line: fix errors, fit reading speed, change tone

Tools

• AI Review — Proofread with a local LLM (llama.cpp, Ollama, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint)
• Fix Common Errors — Automatic error detection and fixing
• Check and Fix Netflix Errors — Netflix quality checks, proposed fixes, and CSV reports
• Batch Convert — Convert multiple subtitle files
• Beautify Time Codes — Snap cues to shot changes and frames using a configurable profile, with a live before/after preview
• Change Casing — Fix casing issues
• Change Formatting — Modify subtitle formatting
• Convert Actors — Convert actor/voice labels between styles
• Make Empty Translation — Create an empty translation column from the current subtitle
• Adjust Duration — Adjust subtitle display durations
• Apply Duration Limits — Enforce min/max duration rules
• Bridge Gaps — Bridge gaps between subtitles
• Apply Minimum Gap — Set minimum gap between subtitles
• Merge Short Lines — Merge short subtitle lines
• Merge Lines with Same Text — Merge duplicate text lines
• Merge Lines with Same Time Codes — Merge lines with identical timings
• Merge Two Subtitles — Combine two subtitles into one bilingual subtitle
• Renumber — Renumber subtitle lines from a chosen start number
• Split/Break Long Lines — Break overly long lines
• Split Subtitle — Split one subtitle file into multiple files
• Join Subtitles — Join multiple subtitle files
• Sort By — Sort subtitles by various criteria
• Remove Text for Hearing Impaired — Remove HI annotations
• Command Line (seconv) — Headless converter for scripts and bulk conversion (see also the full reference)

Synchronization

• Adjust All Times — Shift all timings
• Visual Sync — Synchronize visually with video
• Point Sync — Sync using reference points
• Point Sync Via Other Subtitle — Sync using another subtitle
• Change Frame Rate — Convert between frame rates
• Change Speed — Adjust playback speed

Video

• Video Player — Video playback controls
• Audio Visualizer / Waveform — Waveform display and editing
• Speech to Text — Automatic speech recognition with Whisper, Qwen3 ASR, Crisp ASR, and related engines
• Video OCR — Extract burned-in (hardcoded) subtitles via OCR
• Text to Speech — Generate speech from subtitles
• Burn-In Subtitles — Hardcode subtitles into video
• Embedded Subtitles — Add, remove, preview, and edit subtitle tracks in Matroska/WebM files
• Transparent Subtitles — Generate transparent subtitle video
• Shot Changes — Detect and manage shot changes
• Chapters — Edit, import, export and write video chapter marks
• Blank Video — Generate a blank video
• Re-encode Video — Re-encode video files
• Cut Video — Cut video segments

Translation

• Auto Translate — Automatic subtitle translation
• Auto Translate: Advanced Local Engines — Batch/context settings for the llama.cpp and Ollama advanced engines
• Copy/Paste Translate — Translate via copy/paste workflow

Spell Check

• Spell Check — Spell checking subtitles
• Find Double Words — Find repeated words
• Find Double Lines — Find consecutive duplicate subtitle lines

OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

• OCR — Convert image-based subtitles to text (nOCR, Binary OCR, Tesseract)

ASSA (Advanced SubStation Alpha)

• ASSA Styles — Manage ASS/SSA styles
• ASSA Properties — Edit script properties
• ASSA Attachments — Manage font/image attachments
• ASSA Draw — Vector drawing tool
• ASSA Set Position — Position subtitles on screen
• ASSA Set Background — Add background boxes
• ASSA Progress Bar — Generate progress bars
• ASSA Resolution Resampler — Resample for different resolutions
• ASSA Image Color Picker — Pick colors from video
• ASSA Apply Advanced Effects — Apply cinematic and creative animation effects
• ASSA Apply Custom Override Tags — Apply custom tags

WebVTT

• WebVTT Styles and Voices — Manage cue classes, voices and browser preview

Options

• Settings — Application settings
• Shortcuts — Keyboard shortcuts
• Word Lists — Custom word lists and dictionaries

Other

• Compare — Compare subtitle files
• Statistics — Subtitle statistics

Contributing

• Translating Subtitle Edit — How to translate the UI into another language

Reference

Format Documentation

• Supported Formats — List of all supported subtitle formats
• SubRip (SRT) Format — Complete SubRip format reference and guide
• WebVTT Format — Complete WebVTT format reference (HTML5 standard)
• Advanced Sub Station Alpha (ASSA) Format — Complete ASSA format reference and guide
• ASSA Override Tags Reference — Complete ASSA/SSA override tags reference

Application Reference

• Keyboard Shortcuts Reference — Complete list of keyboard shortcuts
• Mouse Controls Reference — Mouse interactions
• Command Line (seconv) — Headless command-line converter
• Plugins — Writing and installing plugins
• Third-Party Components — FFmpeg, MPV, OCR, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech setup guide