Convert VTT to SRT

WebVTT is the web's caption format (HTML5 video, YouTube, Zoom, Teams, course platforms). Most TVs, media players and video editors prefer SRT. The conversion is simple, but a few details trip people up.

Updated 2026-10-26 · 4 min read

What changes

Header WEBVTT, NOTE and STYLE blocks are dropped.
Timestamps 00:01:02.500 become 00:01:02,500; short 01:02.500 becomes 00:01:02,500.
Cue settings (align:start position:10%) are dropped – SRT has no positioning.
Cues are numbered 1, 2, 3…

Watch out for

Auto-captions with rolling text (YouTube/Zoom) repeat each line in the next cue. Cleaning duplicates makes them readable.
Voice tags like <v Speaker> – keep as text or remove.
Inline timing tags (<00:00:01.200>) from karaoke-style captions should be removed.

Convert

Drop one or many .vtt files on Cuemend, optionally run clean-up (remove duplicates, tags, empty lines; fix overlaps), and save as SRT. With a license, all ticked files are converted in one go and saved as a .zip.

Fix the file once, for every player. Cuemend shifts, syncs (also automatically to the film's audio), converts and repairs subtitle files – SRT, VTT, ASS/SSA, SUB, SBV, TTML/DFXP – in your browser. The video and subtitles stay on your computer. Every single-file tool is free; a $7 lifetime license adds one-click auto-sync apply, batch work on many files and two-language subtitles.

Open Cuemend – free

Questions and answers

Can I convert SRT back to VTT?

Yes – see SRT to VTT.

Is ffmpeg an option?

Yes: ffmpeg -i in.vtt out.srt works for clean files, without the clean-up steps.

Sources and product names: W3C WebVTT specification; ffmpeg documentation. VLC is a trademark of VideoLAN; YouTube is a trademark of Google; other names belong to their owners. Cuemend is independent and not affiliated with them.