How to Convert SRT to Text (Subtitles to Plain Text)

An SRT file is the most common subtitle format. It is plain text, but every caption comes with a number and a timing line, so it is hard to read or reuse. Here is how to turn an SRT (or VTT) file into clean text you can read, edit or translate.

What is inside an SRT file?

Each caption in an SRT file has three parts: a number, a timing line and the text, followed by an empty line.

1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000
Welcome to the course.

2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,500
Today we start with the basics.

To get plain text, you need to remove the numbers and timing lines, and then join the caption lines into sentences.

Convert SRT to text online (fastest)

1. Open our free Transcript Cleaner.
2. Click Upload file and choose your .srt or .vtt file. You can also drag the file onto the text box.
3. The numbers and timestamps are removed instantly. Choose the paragraph length you like.
4. Click Download to save a .txt file, or Copy to paste the text anywhere.

The file is read inside your browser and never uploaded to a server, so it is safe for private videos and client work.

Result

SRT vs VTT: what is the difference?

SRT uses a comma in the time (00:00:01,000) and numbers every caption. VTT (WebVTT) is used on the web and by YouTube. It starts with the word WEBVTT, uses a dot in the time and can include styling tags. Our tool handles both formats, including the word-by-word timing tags found in YouTube's auto-generated VTT files.

Other ways to convert SRT to text

• Notepad++ or VS Code: use Find and Replace with a regular expression to delete the timing lines, then join the lines. It works, but takes several steps.
• Word: open the SRT file in Word, delete the timing lines by hand, then use our guide to removing line breaks in Word. Fine for short files only.

Copying from YouTube instead of using a file? Read how to remove timestamps from a YouTube transcript.

Frequently asked questions