Subtitle Edit

the subtitle editor :)

Point Sync Via Other Subtitle

Synchronize a subtitle file using another subtitle file as reference.

Point Sync Via Other

How to Use

  1. Open the subtitle you want to sync
  2. Open Synchronization → Point sync via other subtitle…
  3. Click the browse button in the right pane to load the reference subtitle - a subtitle file, a Blu-ray .sup, or a subtitle track in an .mkv or .mp4 (pick the track when there are several)
  4. Select a line in your subtitle and the matching line in the other subtitle, then click Set sync point — or Set sync point via video… to pick the time from the video for a line the other subtitle does not cover
  5. Repeat for more sync points; they are listed in the middle and can be removed with right-click Delete or the Delete/Backspace key
  6. Click Apply to apply the sync points and keep working, or OK to apply and close

An image based reference (a Blu-ray .sup, a PGS/VobSub/DVB track in .mkv or a VobSub track in .mp4) is not OCR’ed: sync points only need its time codes, so the right grid shows each line’s image instead of text, the same way the OCR window does. Press Ctrl+P to see the selected image full size in its own window, where the arrow keys step to the previous/next image (same as the OCR window). Find text is not available for an image based reference.

Both grids have a Gap after column with the silence after each line, the same as the main window’s Gap column. Gaps of 3 seconds or more are shown as a green badge that gets stronger at 6, 12 and 25+ seconds, so the long silences stand out. Find text above each grid searches that subtitle.

Choosing good sync points

Two subtitle files made independently rarely agree on every line - lines are split, merged and timed differently. They do tend to agree right after a long silence, where both have to start the next line when the speech starts again:

  1. Look for a strong badge in the Gap after column - the longer the silence, the better
  2. Select the line after the badge in both grids - sync points match start times, and that line’s start is where the speech resumes
  3. Pick a few such points spread over the whole file, e.g. one near the start, one in the middle and one near the end, then check the result with Apply

The sync point list in the middle is kept in subtitle order, and a line has at most one sync point - setting one again for the same line re-points it. Delete in the list’s right-click menu, or Delete/Backspace with the list focused, removes the selected point; OK and Apply need at least one point.

Set sync point via video… opens the same window as Point sync: the video with the subtitle drawn on it, playing the audio track selected in the main window, and a Sync point time code box that follows the video and can be edited by hand. Opened from here the window has no waveform pane.

The window remembers its size and position between sessions.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+P View the selected image of an image based reference full size (arrow keys step to the previous/next image)
Ctrl+Plus / Ctrl+Minus Make the images of an image based reference bigger/smaller
Ctrl+G Go to line number, in the grid used last (the left one at first)
Delete / Backspace Remove the selected sync point (sync point list focused)
F1 Show help (default key, changeable)
Escape Cancel