Convert SRT to TXT
Turn an SRT file into plain text, with timecodes or without. One line per cue or one paragraph.
- Free
- No upload, no signup
- Timecodes on or off
How to convert SRT to TXT
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.
Pick how the text is laid out
One line per cue, one paragraph, or one line per cue with its start time in front. The preview shows the first lines of the TXT file as they will be saved.
Download the .txt file
Save the text file to your device, or press Copy text to paste it straight into a document. Your SRT file is left as it was.
SRT to text, with timecodes or without
An SRT file is already text, but it is laid out for a video player: a cue number, a start and end time, then a line or two of words, repeated for every caption. Converting it to TXT takes out what the player needed and leaves what was said.
There are three ways to lay that out, and you choose one after you drop the file in. One line per cue keeps each caption on its own line. One paragraph joins every caption into continuous text. With timecodes keeps one line per cue and puts the time it starts in front, written as [00:00:01], so you can still find the moment in the video.
In all three the cue numbers go, a caption that was split over two lines becomes one line, and formatting tags such as italics, bold and colour are removed so they do not show up as stray symbols in the text.
One line per cue
One paragraph
With timecodes
| Layout | What the TXT file holds | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| One line per cue | The words, one caption per line | Editing, translating, checking against the video |
| One paragraph | The words, as continuous text | Documents, summaries, pasting into an AI model |
| With timecodes | The words, and the time each caption starts | Quoting a moment, show notes, chapter lists |
This is the first line.
And this is the second.
This is the first line. And this is the second.
[00:00:01] This is the first line.
[00:00:03] And this is the second.
A transcript is not a subtitle file
Subtitle files are chopped into cues sized to be readable on screen for two or three seconds, which is why reading one is unpleasant: the line breaks are timing decisions, not sentences.
Plain text is what you want when the destination is a document, a summary, a translation brief, or anything being fed to a language model, where timing lines are noise.
This is a one-way trip. A text file has no end times, even with the timecodes kept, so there is nothing to convert back from. Keep the original SRT if the captions still need to go on a video.
Messy SRT files still convert
Real subtitle files are rarely tidy. The converter reads each caption by its timing line, not by its number, so a file whose numbering skips, repeats or starts at 0 converts the same as a clean one.
The text comes out in the order it is spoken. If the file lists its captions out of order they are sorted by start time, and two captions that overlap in time are both kept.
Encoding is the usual cause of broken accents. The converter reads UTF-8 and UTF-16 files and falls back to Windows-1252, which is how older Windows tools saved SRT files, so accented letters come through as letters. The TXT you download is always UTF-8.
Windows and Unix line endings both work, and so does a byte order mark at the top of the file.
SRT and TXT, side by side
The timings go away. A plain text file is the words in order and nothing else, which is what you want for a transcript, a script or a caption file you are about to rewrite - and not what you want if the file still has to sit under a video.
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.
This is the first line.
And this is the second.
SRT to TXT: questions
How do I convert SRT to TXT?
Choose your .srt file at the top of this page, pick a layout, and download the .txt. The conversion runs in your browser, so the file is not uploaded and there is no account to create.
Can I convert SRT to TXT with the timecodes kept?
Yes. Choose With timecodes and every line starts with the time its caption begins, written as [00:00:01]. The cue numbers and the end times are still removed, so the result reads as a transcript you can find your place in.
How do I remove the timestamps from an SRT file?
Convert it with One line per cue or One paragraph. Both take out the cue numbers and the timing lines and keep only the words, which is quicker and safer than deleting the timestamps by hand.
Does it merge the cues into paragraphs?
If you ask it to. One line per cue keeps each caption on its own line, broken where the captions were. One paragraph joins them all into continuous text with single spaces, which is easier to read and to paste into a document.
What is the difference between SRT and TXT?
An SRT file is already text, but structured: a cue number, a start and end time, then the words, repeated for every cue. A TXT file keeps only the words, and the start times if you choose them, so it reads as a transcript rather than as captions.
Can I convert the text file back into subtitles?
Not directly. A plain text file has no timings, and the timecode layout keeps only when each line starts, not when it ends. Keep the original SRT if the captions are still needed on the video.
Is my subtitle file uploaded anywhere?
No. The page reads and converts the file inside your browser and saves the text straight to your device. Nothing is sent to REQO, so it is safe to use on a file you would not want to share.
Other caption conversions
Everything else you can do here.
Convert the video too
Convert SRT to TXT now
Free, in your browser. The file is converted on your device and is not uploaded.