How to Create an SRT File: The Complete Guide
An SRT file (also known as SubRip or .srt) is a file format that enables video editors to place text on a video after it is made. Closed captions or subtitles may be rendered by converting audio to text. SRT files themselves are just plain text files that are used along with video data. An SRT file does not contain any video information.
An SRT file consists of four parts:
- The number in sequence of the caption frame
- Beginning and end timecodes for when the caption frame should appear. The time format used is hours:minutes: seconds,milliseconds
- The caption itself
- A new line indicating the start of a new sequence of the captions
The first step in creating an SRT file is to create the transcript for your video. You can use a text editor or YouTube Studio to create, edit and format custom SRT files. But doing this manually is a time-consuming process. Luckily, the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence can help you transcribe video to text with a high level of accuracy. AI video transcription service offers an easy way to generate a custom SRT file automatically. All you need is to upload your video to the SpeechText.AI transcription software, transcribe video to text, and export subtitles in .srt format. The video transcription process usually takes half of the video file length to transcribe a file completely.
How to edit an SRT file
If you use AI transcription services you don’t need to spend time and install third-party software to edit your SRT files. Most of the services have online tools for editing automatic transcription results. If you create SRT files manually you have several options of subtitle creation programs:
- Subtitle Workshop is a free software for creating, editing, and converting text-based subtitle files. It also supports font style tags (bold, italic, underline) and color tags in the subtitle text.
- Jubler Subtitle Εditor is an open-source tool that can be used to convert, transform, and correct existing subtitles. It has been tested under Linux, Windows, Mac OS X.
- Online Subtitle Editor — simple web-based subtitle editor. It even has auto-translate options via Google/Microsoft Translation services. So you can not only edit, but also translate your subtitles in different languages in seconds.
How to add an SRT file to MP4
The easiest way to add SRT files to your videos is to use VLC Player. It supports all platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Unix, iOS, Android and completely free. To add an SRT file to the video place the subtitle file into the same folder as your video, and rename the subtitle files so that it has the same name as the video. Run VLC Player, click the Subtitle tab, and select the Sub Track option with your subtitles.
If you want to create closed captions the process is a little tricker. Keep the name of the video and subtitle the same. Click on the Media option, then select Stream — Add Your Video. Choose the output file destination and click Next. You should check the Active Transcoding option. Under the Subtitle tab go to the Edit Profile section and set it to T.140 (plain text format). Select the Overlay Subtitle option and delete SCodec=140 from the generated code. The conversion process takes near the same time as the video length. Some versions of VLC Player work differently. You can check this forum thread to find other options for the creation of closed captions using VLC Player.
