SRT vs VTT

Quick comparison

The SRT column describes the basic version that YouTube’s help page says it supports. Other players can accept more.

Feature	SRT	VTT
File extension	.srt	.vtt
First line	The number of the first cue	WEBVTT
Time format	00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:09,120	00:00:04.640 --> 00:00:09.120 or, without hours, 00:04.640 --> 00:09.120
Hours in the time	Always written	Optional
Cue numbers	Cues are numbered	Optional identifiers, which do not have to be numbers
Positioning	No cue settings	Cue settings: vertical, line, position, size and align
Styling	Basic only; YouTube recognizes no markup	STYLE blocks with ::cue rules; YouTube limits it to the b, i and u tags
Comments	No comment syntax	NOTE blocks
Chapters and metadata	Not part of the format	Yes, through the track element kinds chapters and metadata
HTML track element	Not mentioned on MDN’s track page	Yes (.vtt files)
Editors that import it	Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro	DaVinci Resolve (Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro do not list VTT)

The editor row comes from each vendor’s own documentation: Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro.

The same cue in both formats

An SRT file starts with the first cue number and uses a comma before the milliseconds:

1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:06,840
Four score and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth,

A WebVTT file starts with a WEBVTT line and uses a period before the milliseconds:

WEBVTT

00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:06.840
Four score and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth,

The W3C specification, WebVTT: The Web Video Text Tracks Format, was a Candidate Recommendation Draft dated 20 May 2026 when it was read for this page. More layouts are in the time coded transcript examples.

Which one to use

Use SRT when:

• You import captions into editing software such as Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, whose lists include SRT and not VTT.
• You upload plain subtitles to YouTube and do not need custom placement.

Use VTT when:

• You show subtitles in a web page with the HTML video track element.
• You need cue positioning, CSS styling or comments in the file.
• You need chapter or metadata tracks for an online video player.

For other platforms, check the upload page of the service to see which formats it accepts.

Convert between them

To convert plain cues from SRT to VTT:

1. Add a line with WEBVTT and a blank line at the top of the file.
2. Change the comma before the milliseconds to a period on every time line.
3. Leave the cue numbers in place. VTT allows cue identifiers.

To convert plain cues from VTT to SRT:

1. Remove the WEBVTT header and the blank line after it.
2. Remove STYLE blocks, NOTE blocks and cue settings such as line or position.
3. Change the period before the milliseconds to a comma on every time line.
4. Add a cue number above each time line. Styling and positioning are lost.

Get either from your recording

Drop an audio or video file on the time coded transcript generator and download the result as SRT or VTT. Both are written from the same cues: at most two lines of 42 characters and at most 7 seconds, long sentences split after a comma where there is one, and cues that never overlap. SRT cues are numbered. The VTT file starts with WEBVTT and has no cue numbers, cue settings or styles. Times are written in milliseconds.

The SRT download is free for the first 10 minutes of up to 3 files a day, without an account; the SRT generator page covers it. The VTT download comes with a minute pack. Packs are paid once, never renew, and can be used for 12 months.