--- title: "ASS to SRT" description: "Drop an .ass or .ssa subtitle script and download a plain .srt that players and upload forms accept. Override tags are stripped, timing is kept, and nothing is uploaded." url: https://findutils.com/convert/ass-to-srt/ category: convert --- # ASS to SRT Drop an .ass or .ssa subtitle script and download a plain .srt that players and upload forms accept. Override tags are stripped, timing is kept, and nothing is uploaded. **Use this tool:** [ASS to SRT](https://findutils.com/convert/ass-to-srt/) ## Programmatic access - REST id `ass-to-srt`: POST https://api.findutils.com/api/tools/ass-to-srt/execute (reference: https://findutils.com/api/ass-to-srt/) - MCP tool `ass_to_srt` on https://mcp.findutils.com (reference: https://findutils.com/mcp/ass-to-srt/) ## Why Use Our ASS to SRT Converter? Advanced SubStation Alpha is the format fansub groups and typesetters work in, because it can position text, colour it, animate it and draw signs. Almost nothing outside a desktop player reads it. A TV, a phone, a video platform's caption upload, a course builder — all of them want SubRip, the plainest caption format there is. Getting from one to the other used to mean installing Aegisub or Subtitle Edit and exporting, or running a Python script. This page does the same flattening in the tab: it reads the Dialogue lines, throws away every override block, converts the centisecond timestamps, and writes a numbered SRT you can download in seconds. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the difference between an ASS file, an SSA file and an SRT file? SSA is SubStation Alpha version 4, and ASS is Advanced SubStation Alpha, its version 4+ successor. Both are text scripts with a Styles section and an Events section, and both can position, colour and animate text. SRT (SubRip) is a plain list of numbered cues with a start time, an end time and text. It carries no styling at all, which is why nearly every player, TV and upload form accepts it. ### What happens to the fonts, colours, positions and effects? They are removed. SubRip cannot represent them, so there is nothing to convert them into. Every override block in braces is stripped, and a vector drawing run is stripped with it. The dialogue text, the line breaks inside a cue and the timing are kept exactly. If the styling matters, keep the original .ass beside the .srt. ### Why does the SRT have fewer cues than the script? Three reasons, each counted separately in the file list. Comment lines are notes and are never written. A cue that held only tags or a drawn sign has no text after flattening and is dropped unless you tick Keep empty cues. And a Dialogue line whose timestamp or field count cannot be read is skipped rather than guessed at. ### The file shows zero cues. What is wrong? Usually one of two things. The file has no Events section, in which case it is not a subtitle script — check that you did not drop a Styles-only template. Or the file is in an encoding the page could not read; UTF-8 with or without a byte-order mark, UTF-16 LE and UTF-16 BE are all handled, so this is rare, but a script saved in a legacy Windows code page may need to be opened in Aegisub and saved as UTF-8 first. ### Is my subtitle file uploaded? No. The script is read and converted in your browser. Nothing about it is sent to FindUtils or to any other server, and you can confirm that in the network panel while a file converts. That matters more for subtitles than for most formats: the file is the complete dialogue. ### Does it handle .ssa (version 4) as well as .ass (version 4+)? Yes. The converter reads the Format line of the Events section, so a v4 script whose first column is Marked instead of Layer is read correctly, and so is a script that lists its columns in an unusual order. A script with no Format line at all is read with the standard v4+ column order. ### Can I convert several files at once? Yes. Drop a whole season. Each file is converted on its own, the list shows the result per file, and Download zip gives you every .srt with its original basename. Two files with the same name are both kept, with a suffix on the second. ### Why are the cues in a different order than in my script? Typesetters often save signs and dialogue in separate blocks, so the Events section is not in time order. SubRip players expect cues in time order with sequential numbers, so the SRT is sorted by start time and renumbered from 1. No cue is moved in time; only its position in the file changes. ### What about karaoke timing and sign effects? Karaoke tags such as {\k20} time individual syllables inside one cue. SubRip has no per-syllable timing, so the tags are removed and the whole line is shown for the cue's duration. A sign built from a vector drawing or a pure-effect cue flattens to nothing and is dropped. A sign with real text keeps its text and loses its position. ### Can it convert the other way, from SRT to ASS? No, and it does not need to. Aegisub and Subtitle Edit open an .srt directly and save it as .ass, which is the right place to add styles. This page is for the reverse trip, where the styles are the problem. If you need WebVTT instead of SubRip, run the result through the SRT to VTT converter. ## Related Tools - [Subtitle Shifter](https://findutils.com/media/subtitle-shifter/) - [SRT to VTT](https://findutils.com/convert/srt-to-vtt/) - [Subtitle Extractor](https://findutils.com/media/subtitle-extractor/) - [Video Format Converter](https://findutils.com/media/video-format-converter/) - [Video Trimmer](https://findutils.com/media/video-trimmer/) - [Extract Audio from Video](https://findutils.com/media/video-to-audio/)