Convert · TXT → SRT
TXT to SRT converter
Plain text carries no clock, so converting TXT to SRT can only go so far: every line of your script becomes a numbered cue of the duration you pick, laid end to end from zero — correct structure, your wording, placeholder timings. That catch, the line breaks that decide pacing, the syncing that follows, and the limits each get a section.
Updated
Convert a TXT file to SRT in one pass
Paste your script into the converter above — one caption per line — or drag a .txt onto it, pick how many seconds each line should hold, and download the finished .srt. As everywhere in this section the page works locally: an unpublished screenplay is not uploaded, queued or stored, and you can run as many drafts as you like.
The output is structurally valid from the first cue, so any tool that reads subtitles will open it. The SubRip structure the converter writes for you is worth a glance before you start editing.
The timing catch, said out loud
Plain text contains no timing information whatsoever — only words. Nothing in this page can know when a line belongs on screen, and it does not guess. Each line becomes a cue of the fixed length you chose, laid end to end from 00:00:00,000, so what you download is a correctly formatted skeleton: right structure, your exact wording, placeholder timings.
Treat it as a starting point, not a finished caption track. Open it in a subtitle editor and drag the cues onto the speech. That final step is the one job a text-to-subtitle converter genuinely cannot do, and saying so here beats letting you find out halfway through an upload.
Breaking the lines before you convert
One line in equals one cue out, so the line breaks in your script decide the pacing of the result. Four conventions travel well across broadcasters and streaming platforms:
- Keep a caption near 42 characters.
- Use no more than two rows.
- Aim for a reading speed around seventeen characters per second, so viewers finish before the cue clears.
- Break at clause boundaries — after a comma, before a conjunction — and give each speaker change its own cue.
Five minutes spent re-breaking a script here saves an hour of nudging cues later.
Syncing the skeleton afterwards
The converter removes the tedium — numbering every block, formatting every timecode — so you go straight to the part that needs ears. Load the skeleton into Subtitle Edit, Aegisub, or the caption panel of Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, play the audio and set each in-point; most editors let you tap a key on the beat and move on. None of this is necessary when the recording is a video that already carries captions: get a properly timed SRT straight from a video link, or download subtitles that already carry their timings and edit those instead.
The limits, stated plainly
No listening happens here. The tool does not accept audio or video, cannot detect speech, and will not translate the script you paste. Nor does it merge or re-wrap over-long lines, because only you know where a caption should breathe. What it guarantees is a valid SubRip document with your words in your order. Need web captions rather than an editor format? The same skeleton in WebVTT is one click away.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert TXT to SRT?
Paste your script into the converter above with one caption per line, choose how many seconds each should hold, and download the .srt. It runs in the browser, costs nothing and needs no account.
Can it work out the real timings?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. A script carries no clock, so every line gets the duration you picked, counting from zero. Matching cues to speech is an editing step, not a conversion step.
How should I split my lines?
One caption per line of text. Broadcast practice keeps a caption near 42 characters across at most two rows, so break long sentences at natural pauses rather than mid-phrase.
How long should each subtitle stay on screen?
Between one and seven seconds, at a reading speed near seventeen characters a second. Two seconds per line is a sensible value to generate, then adjust while you sync.