Want a completely customized style for your subtitles?
This is possible with VTT subtitles, a perfect format if you want to include a specific font, font size, and color scheme for your videos.
Here, we explain VTT subtitles, their advantages, how to create and edit them, and how they compare to other popular formats so you can choose the one that's right for you.
VTT subtitle files are text files saved in Video Text Tracks format, also known as WebVTT.
They were designed with HTML5 functionalities, which makes it possible to style, edit, and move fonts.
It is currently one of the most used options by audiovisual production companies, content creators, and marketers.
It is a format that contains the transcription of the video's audio track, the time codes that synchronize the subtitles with the video, and the file's metadata.
Here is an example:
Using VTT files has the following advantages:
Considering its advantages, we will explain how you can explore this subtitling option.
You can create a VTT subtitle file with any text editor, such as Notepad in Windows, but doing so involves spending a lot of time generating the timecodes.
If you opt to use a VTT subtitle generator such as ScriptMe, it will create the timecodes for you, and you will have access to integrated translation services and more advanced features.
Here is a step-by-step guide to generating VTT subtitles automatically, quickly, and accurately using ScriptMe software:
1. Upload the video: once you have created your ScriptMe account, log in and upload the video.
2. You generate the subtitles using its intuitive automatic generation feature.
3. Edit the subtitles: once the system has generated the subtitles, review the content, and you can modify the text or adjust the time codes.
In the Style tab, you can choose the font, font size, font color, and background color, among other options.
4. Export the VTT file: After editing the subtitles, select the VTT file to export and complete the download.
That's how easy it is to create VTT subtitles with ScriptMe. Additionally, you can choose from more than 100 languages to translate them. Then, you just have to download them, upload them to the platforms, and watch your audience grow.
It is very simple, and you can use any text editor, such as Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on a Mac. Just right-click on the file, select “Open with,” and choose your preferred text editor.
You can create and edit VTT subtitle files with various tools, but we recommend ScriptMe for its easy generation of automatic subtitles for your videos.
In addition, our integrated transcription, translation, and subtitling services are available in the most spoken languages worldwide.
You can also choose from the most popular export formats, such as Avid, Adobe, Resolve, Office Word, VTT, SRT, and EBU STL.
SRT and VTT are the most popular subtitle formats. SRT was created earlier and has been used for a long time. Both formats contain the subtitle text with time codes.
SRT is more straightforward and does not support some sophisticated features that VTT does. The following table shows the most important differences between the two formats.
| Feature | SRT | VTT |
| Timecode | Comma as millisecond separator | Dot as millisecond separator |
| File extension | .srt | .vtt |
| File size | Minor | Major |
| Content | They are plain text files (do not contain metadata). | Contain metadata, more information about the subtitle format |
| Functionalities | No font style or color can be defined | Allow formatting text, color, font style, and defining subtitle location on the screen. |
| Purpose | Subtitles for videos | Subtitles for web-based videos |
| Compatibility | It works with most devices and media players, such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, LinkedIn, Netflix, and Amazon. | HTML5 video players and modern platforms are commonly used on devices such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Video.js. |
Do you find VTT superior to SRT? It depends on what you want it for and whether you can use its specific features.
SRT is a preferred choice for its simplicity and compatibility, very useful for large projects or inexperienced creators.
VTT is ideal for having more control over subtitles because it contains all the information and can generate subtitles for any content.
VTT caption files include options for text formatting, colors, larger font styles, and on-screen caption placement.
This makes it the preferred choice for videos on HTML5, Vimeo, Brightcove, and YouTube and allows you to improve the accessibility and reach of your videos.
You can use a text editor to create them manually, but it's a slow and tiring process. With ScriptMe's VTT caption generator, it's done automatically in just minutes, and editing, customizing the style, translating, and exporting them is very easy and fast.
