SRT subtitle files: What are they and how to create them for your video

Do you want to increase the audience size and even the SEO of your digital channels?

This will become a reality if you use SRT subtitles in audiovisual content.

It is a trendy format used in most streaming and video playback platforms.

Here, we explain SRT subtitles, what they are, their advantages, and how to create and edit subtitles for your videos from scratch.

What are SRT subtitle files?

An SRT subtitle file (also known as a SubRip or simply an SRT file) is a full-text file format used to add subtitles to a video once it is produced.

This file format includes the caption text in sequence and its start time and end time codes.

It does not include the subtitled video, so the file size is small.

Since its launch in 2000, it has been used and is the most popular on video platforms, social networks, and software, such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, Netflix, LinkedIn, and Amazon.

Unlike VTT subtitles, it does not include metadata and the inclusion of styles in the subtitles.

SRT file example

Here is an example of an SRT file:

1.  00:00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Hello, welcome to our video.
2.  00:00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:05,000 Today we will learn about SRT files.
3.  00:00:00:05,500 --> 00:00:07,000 Let's get started!

As you can appreciate, the subtitles are presented in numbered lines, with their corresponding start and end times expressed in hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds.

The information at the end of the line is the text corresponding to each subtitle.

Pros of using the SRT file format for subtitling

• Easy to create and use: Because SRT files are plain text files, they can be created with any text editor and edited from the SRT file itself without the need for any specialized software.
• Compatibility: Most video players, such as Windows Media Player and VLC, support subtitles, which means you can add subtitles on any device.
• Accessibility: Subtitles help people with hearing difficulties, silent viewing styles, or non-native speakers understand the content.
• Boost audience interaction: by making content understandable, more people can interact through comments and “Likes”.
• Boost SEO: search engines will be able to detect subtitles in your videos, thus increasing your chances of being on the first page of the search engine.

Considering its advantages, what are you waiting for to create SRT subtitles for your content?

How to create an SRT file

There are two ways to use any text editor or a subtitle generator with artificial intelligence technology, which we will explain below.

Create an SRT file from scratch

You can create the SRT subtitles with Windows Notepad or also with Mac TextEdit; here are the steps:

1. You open a plain text editor.
2. You start by numbering 1for  each line of subtitles.
3. Enter the time codes to indicate how long the text should remain on screen.
4. Write the text to be displayed on the screen until the end of the video content.
5. Save the file with the .srt extension.

While it is not difficult to do so, ensuring the format and accuracy of the timestamps is demanding.

Use ScriptMe to create an SRT file automatically

With our service, the process of creating an SRT subtitle file is much easier and faster; here are the steps:

1. Upload the video: register on the ScriptMe platform, log in, and upload the video.

2. Generate the subtitles automatically: To do this, you use ScriptMe's automatic subtitle generation function to transcribe audio.

3. You edit the subtitles: You review the text and can make corrections, resynchronize, or add subtitle lines.

4. Export the SRT file: with the subtitles to your liking, export them in SRT format.

That's how easy it is to create subtitles with ScriptMe; you can customize them and translate them into more than 100 languages to reach a global audience.

Remember that you can also create VTT files with our platform if you prefer.

How to open an SRT file?

It is very easy. Just double-click on it. In almost all operating systems, it will open with the default text editor.

It is also possible to open it with video players that support subtitles or specific subtitle editing programs.

In a nutshell

SRT subtitle files are a popular format for creating subtitles for a video.

Using them can generate more inclusive content, increase audience interaction, and improve your SEO ranking.

While it is possible to use a text editor to create an SRT file, we offer our ScriptMe platform. It will save you a lot of time, and you will have perfect subtitles for all your videos.