SBV to SRT Converter

What an SBV file is

SBV is a plain-text caption format closely tied to YouTube. Caption files downloaded from YouTube often carry the .sbv extension, and YouTube's caption API can still deliver a track as sbv alongside srt, vtt, ttml and scc. YouTube's help page lists SubViewer (.sbv or .sub) next to SubRip (.srt) as its basic upload formats: only simple versions are supported, style markup is ignored, and the file must be plain UTF-8.

Each caption is a time line followed by its text, and a blank line separates one caption from the next:

Cue numbers

SBV has none; SRT numbers every cue from 1

Between start and end

SBV uses a comma; SRT uses an arrow (-->)

Before the milliseconds

SBV uses a full stop; SRT uses a comma

Hours

SBV doesn't pad the hour (0:00:04.160); SRT always uses two digits (00:00:04,160)

Styling

Neither format carries styles when used on YouTube

Because SBV is plain text, any text editor opens it, but few video editors, players or website players accept it, which is why people convert.

How to convert SBV to SRT

1. Drop the .sbv file into the box above. The file card shows how many captions were read, the detected format and when the last caption ends.
2. Check the notes: if any block had no readable time line, it says how many were skipped.
3. Under "Save as", choose SRT for editors and players, WebVTT for a website player, or SBV to go the other way.
4. Look over the first captions in the preview panel.
5. Press "Convert and download".

To turn an SRT or VTT into SBV, drop that file in instead and choose SBV.

Why nothing is lost

Both formats store time to the millisecond, so 0:00:04.160 becomes 00:00:04,160 and back again without rounding. The text is copied line for line. Two small things are handled along the way: some SBV files mark a line break with [br] inside the text, and the converter turns that into a real break; and when going to SBV from SRT or VTT, any <i> or <b> tags are removed, since YouTube ignores markup in SBV anyway.

One thing to watch: a blank line ends a caption in both formats. If a caption in your SBV contains an empty line in the middle of its text, the part after it has no time line and is skipped, and the notes will count it.

A note on .sub files

YouTube also accepts SubViewer captions with a .sub extension, but .sub is used by other formats too, most often MicroDVD, which counts video frames instead of seconds. If you have a .sub rather than .sbv, use SUB to SRT, which detects the variant and asks for the frame rate when it needs one.

SRT or VTT: which one to save

SRT is the safe choice for video editors, desktop players, TVs and most upload forms. WebVTT is what HTML5 video players on websites read, and it is the format to pick if the captions go on your own site. SRT vs VTT compares them in detail. The converter can produce either from the same SBV, so you can save both.

Do you ever need SRT to SBV?

Rarely. YouTube Studio accepts SRT directly, so converting an SRT to SBV before uploading gains nothing; uploading subtitles to YouTube covers that route. The reverse direction is useful when an older script, a caption template or an archive of channel files expects .sbv, and you want every file in the same format.

Fixing YouTube's automatic captions first

If the SBV came from YouTube's automatic captions, treat it as a draft. Names, product terms and numbers can be misheard, punctuation may be thin, and lines can break mid-phrase. A practical clean-up:

• Convert the SBV to SRT here.
• If the track contains sound descriptions like [Music] or [Applause] that you don't want, strip them with remove SDH from SRT.
• Open the video and the SRT in the free subtitle editor. It lists every line next to a draggable timeline and warns about lines over 42 characters, reading speeds above 21 characters per second, captions shorter than 0.8 seconds and overlaps.
• Export a fixed SRT or VTT to re-upload, or render an MP4 with the captions burned in for platforms that don't take caption files.

Editing YouTube's auto captions walks through that process with the video open.

Limits

• Text caption files only, up to 20 MB.
• The output is UTF-8, which is what YouTube asks for. A file that isn't UTF-8 or UTF-16 is read as Windows-1252 with a note; if accented letters look wrong in the preview, repair it with the subtitle encoding converter before converting.
• Conversion never changes the language. For captions in another language, the video translator transcribes and translates from the video's audio into 21 languages at 1 credit (0.1¢) per minute, minimum 5 credits per file.