Convert SRT to ASS
Move plain SubRip captions into a format that can carry fonts, colours and positioning.
- Free
- No upload, no signup
- Timings preserved
How to convert SRT to ASS
Choose your .srt file
Press the box at the top of this page and pick your SRT file, or drop it on. It is read in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and there is no account to make.
Check the ASS preview
The first cues are shown as they will be written in ASS, so you can see the timings and the text before you save anything.
Download the .ass file
Save the ASS file to your device. Your SRT file is left as it was, so you can convert it again to another format.
What ASS gives you that SRT cannot
SubRip is text and timings, full stop. There is no way to say what a caption should look like, so every player renders it in whatever default it prefers, and the same file looks different in three different players.
Advanced SubStation Alpha carries a style block: font family and size, primary and outline colour, border and shadow, alignment, and margins. It is the format subtitle groups and karaoke tooling settled on precisely because appearance is part of the content.
Converting up from SubRip does not invent a design. It produces a valid ASS file with a default style, which is then yours to change, so the value is in what you can do afterwards rather than in the conversion itself.
SRT and ASS, side by side
The text carries over as it is, and the timings to the hundredth of a second, which is as fine as an ASS file stores them. The SRT file's own tags and settings are not translated: every cue lands on one plain style, ready to be restyled.
Both samples below hold the same two cues, so the difference you can see is the whole difference between the formats.
1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500
This is the first line.
2
00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:06,000
And this is the second.
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.00,0:00:03.50,Default,,0,0,0,,This is the first line.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:03.50,0:00:06.00,Default,,0,0,0,,And this is the second.
SRT to ASS: questions
Will converting SRT to ASS improve how my captions look?
Not on its own. The conversion gives you a file that is capable of styling, with a sensible default applied. Changing the font, colour and position is the step that changes the look.
Do all players support ASS subtitles?
Desktop players like VLC and MPV do. Browsers and most platform uploaders do not, so ASS is for local playback or for burning into the video rather than for a web page.
Is ASS the same as SSA?
Advanced SubStation Alpha is the later version of SubStation Alpha and adds most of the styling people actually use. Files usually carry the .ass extension.
Does converting to ASS add styling?
No. It gives you a file that CAN carry styling: a Default style is written so the file is valid, and every cue uses it. The result looks like the SubRip you started with until you change something.
Which players read ASS files?
VLC, MPV and mpv-based players read them natively, and most desktop editors import them. Browsers do not: the HTML5 track element takes WebVTT only, so ASS is for players and editors rather than for a web page.
Why convert to ASS at all?
Because it is the only one of these formats that can hold a look. Fonts, colours, outlines, shadows, per-line positioning and karaoke timing are all expressible in ASS and in neither of the others.
Other caption conversions
Everything else you can do here.
Convert the video too
Convert SRT to ASS now
Free, in your browser. The file is converted on your device and is not uploaded.