1. What is an .srt file ?

An .srt file is a specialized text file made of timecodes blocks, composed by :
1. An order number - 2. start & end timecodes - 3. the subtitles text,
the whole separated by a compulsory spacing line A few tips:

1. An order number

The order should be respected.
But if it isn't and you upload the file on Youtube, it is okay
Even, if you re-download the .srt file from the subtitle manager, the .srt file is downloaded with a restored correct order.

2. Start & end timecodes
The timecodes are composed as hh:mm:ss,msmsms" separated of a made-up arrow " --> " between two spaces :
hh:mm:ss,msmsms --> hh:mm:ss,msmsms
This composition is to be respected. Otherwise, subtitles wouldn't appear well.

Some examples if uploaded voluntarily with errors on Youtube :

Anyway, on Youtube, when the timecode line is wrong,
clicking on "Upload" leads to a remark (see point 6.3 of the .srt file upload on Youtube)


3. the subtitles text

3.1.
The text may be displayed on several lines, but more than 3 lines is not a coherent practice.
One line or two is a good practice. Rather use 2 lines than over-cutting the subtitles in short sentence bits in different blocks.

3.2.
The best Windows text program to handle .srt files remains the mere Notepad program.
It doesn't generate stylized elements such as stylized apostrophes
Stylized apostropes appear wrong on both Youtube (as an apostrophed i) & Dailymotion (it doesn't appear).

4. the compulsory spacing line

It is to be ABSOLUTELY respected. And the line shouldn't contain any character, not even a space character.
Otherwise, the subtitles will show timecode hiccups.
Contrarily to timecode miswriting, this is not detected when uploading on Youtube (see point 6.3 of the .srt file upload on Youtube).

	If you don't respect the compulsory spacing line, the subtitles will appear on the video with a "timecode hiccup". The time and text of the second block appears indeed on the video, as a continuum of the 1st, without spacing line.
	The compulsory space line should be an empty line. A similar "timecode hiccup" happens otherwise. The time of the second block appears indeed on the video. Due to the presence of an unvisible space character, the second block is considered a continuum of the 1st with an apparent spacing line in this case.

5. UTF-8 format
It is important for subtitles in alphabets other than the roman alphabet,
like greek alphabet, cyrillic alphabet to encode the file in the UTF-8 format, when saving the file.
Not respecting this rule could lead to the replacement of the text by weird characters.
Moreover UTF-8 format is the recommended format to upload .srt on Dailymotion

     



SRT advices : .SRT file ? -- Youtube upload ? -- Dailymotion upload ? -- common SRT problems

Index -- The Webseries -- Out With Dad