How to easily create SRT files for a video
In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to automatically create an SRT file. As always, our tutorial is also available as a video on YouTube. Feel free to check it out. 👋
First, let's clarify what an SRT file is! An SRT file stands for SubRip Subtitles file. It is basically a plain-text file that contains critical information regarding subtitles, including the start and end timecodes of your text to ensure your subtitles match your audio.
You can change any SRT file to a simple text document. If you change the filename from .srt to .txt, you can open the text document with any common text editor on your computer. The structure of your SRT file should look like this:
The structure is very simple and consists of three parts.
- First is the sequential number of the subtitles. It indicates the order in which the sections are displayed.
- Second is the timestamps. These timestamps specify from when to when the subtitles are displayed. These are always structured in hours, minutes seconds and milliseconds.
- The third part is the subtitle itself. This is what you will see in the video.
That's enough for the intro! 😃 Let's start with how you generate your automatic SRT file. You don't need to download any program and your computer doesn't have to have any special hardware. The only thing you need is an internet browser and an account at Type Studio.
If you don't have an account yet, make sure you log in to Type Studio to make one first. Go to typestudio.co and click on SignUp. Of course, there is always a free version of Type Studio that you can use while you test it out. After you’re registered, you can upload your video. Drag the video into Type Studio and drop it like you're clumsy! Just like this:
We will then transcribe your video into text. Once the video is done being transcribed, you’ll find yourself in the editor itself. Since the automatic transcription is not at 100% accuracy at this point, you can easily correct the wrongly transcribed verbiage of your subtitles. Just double click on the wrong word and edit it.
Once everything fits your liking, to download the SRT file just click on "Download SRT" and you're done. 🎉
What are SRT files best suited for?
Social media networks are perfect for adding subtitles to your video. When you post a video, you can upload the separate SRT file. With subtitles you increase the attention in the news feed. You can read at the end of this blog post what other advantages comes with subtitling your videos.
These social media networks support the upload of SRT files.
- YouTube
Another way SRT files can be used is by importing them into a more complex video editor like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro to have more tools and possibilities for professional video editing.
You don't have English language based videos?
This is no problem! With Type Studio you can not only add or download subtitles and SRT files in English 🇺🇸, but also in other languages. Currently we support the following languages and we are adding new languages constantly.
🇪🇸 Spanish
🇫🇷 French
🇵🇹 Portuguese
🇩🇪 German
🇵🇱 Polish
🇹🇷 Turkish
🇳🇴 Norwegian
🇷🇴 Romanian 🇸🇪 Swedish
If you have any languages you would like to see in Type Studio, please let us know. Just shoot us a message at: contact@typestudio.co
Good things to know!
When you upload an SRT file to your social media video, make sure that the file name is the same as your video. In the past we have often experienced problems with some social media networks when the file names are different.