SBV to SRT
BetaConvert a YouTube Studio .sbv caption export into the .srt that editors and players accept, or convert back the other way. Paste or drop a file; nothing is uploaded.
- Free, no sign-up
- REST + MCP
- Updated
- Reviewed by Olgun Ozoktas
Detected from what you paste until you choose.
Converted captions appear here
Common uses
Moving captions off YouTube
Re-uploading to another platform
Editing captions in a desktop tool
Going back to YouTube
Why convert SBV to SRT?
SBV to SRT converts between SubViewer (.sbv) and SubRip (.srt) caption files in your browser. SubViewer is the format YouTube Studio hands out when you download captions, and it is close enough to SubRip to be mistaken for it: both are plain text, both list cues as a timing line followed by the words on screen. The differences are small and total. SBV writes 0:00:01.000,0:00:04.000 — an unpadded hour, a dot before the milliseconds, a comma joining the two stamps — and no cue number. SubRip writes 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000 with a sequential number on the line above.
Because the file is plain text either way, the temptation is to rename it, and because a player given a malformed caption file usually shows nothing rather than complaining, the result looks like the subtitles simply did not work. Converting properly rewrites the timings, pads the hours, swaps the separators and adds the cue numbers SubRip requires.
The conversion runs entirely in the tab: the file is read with the File API, converted and handed straight back, so nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored. Cue text and order are preserved exactly. The reverse direction is available for going back to SBV. If you need WebVTT for an HTML5 player, convert here and then use the SRT to VTT tool.
How it compares
Most answers to this are either a desktop subtitle editor, which handles SBV among a hundred other things, or one of the many upload-and-convert sites. The editors are excellent and are a large install for a format change; the upload sites do the same arithmetic this page does, on their server, with your file.
There is no reason a text format change needs a server. Caption files often carry unpublished material — a video still under embargo, an interview not yet released — and the smallest safe option is the one where the file never leaves the machine. This page reads it locally and converts it in the tab.
It does not translate captions, re-time them, or burn them into video. Those are separate jobs, and the Subtitle Shifter and Subtitle FPS Converter cover the timing ones.
Tips
- SBV has no cue numbers. Converting to SRT adds them, numbered from 1 in order, because SubRip requires them.
- The separators are the difference worth remembering: SBV writes a dot before the milliseconds and a comma between the two stamps, SubRip does the opposite.
- SBV hours are not zero-padded, so 0:00:01.000 is valid. The SRT output pads them to 00:00:01,000.
- Renaming a .sbv file to .srt does not convert it. Most players will simply show no subtitles, with no error to explain why.
- If a line will not parse, the error names the line number so you can find it in the left panel rather than hunting through the file.
- Need WebVTT for an HTML5 player instead? Convert to SRT here, then use the SRT to VTT tool.