SRT vs VTT vs TXT: Which Subtitle Format Should You Download?

Published on September 19, 2026

Download SRT if the subtitles are going into a video editor, a desktop player or a caption upload. It's the format almost everything accepts. Pick VTT if they're going into a web video player. Pick TXT if you only want the words to read, quote or search. The transcript.you Subtitle Downloader offers all three for YouTube videos, and the rest of this guide shows what each file actually looks like so you can choose with confidence.

SRT: the format nearly every app accepts

SRT (SubRip Text) is the oldest and most widely supported subtitle format. It's a plain text file made of numbered blocks called cues. Each cue has a number, a start and end time, the caption text, and a blank line after it.

1
00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,200
Today we're looking at how
sourdough starters work.

2
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,480
The short version: it's all
about wild yeast and bacteria.

3
00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,920
Let's start with flour and water.

The details that matter:

• Timestamps use a comma before the milliseconds: 00:00:01,040. This is the most common thing people get wrong when converting.
• Cue numbers start at 1 and count up.
• A blank line separates cues. A missing one can make a player merge two cues or skip one.
• No real styling. Many players honor basic tags like <i> for italics, but there's no standard way to set position or color.

For a longer definition, see the SRT glossary entry.

What an SRT from auto-generated captions looks like

When a YouTube video only has auto-generated captions, the SRT looks different. Timing comes straight from YouTube, unchanged, with one cue per caption line. Auto-captions arrive as short rolling fragments, so you get many brief cues and very little punctuation:

14
00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:32,640
so the first thing you want to

15
00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:34,110
do is feed the starter twice a

16
00:00:34,110 --> 00:00:35,900
day for about a week

This is a valid SRT and it will play fine. It's just not tidy prose. The guide to downloading auto-generated captions covers what to expect from them and how to clean them up.

VTT: the web format

VTT (WebVTT, Web Video Text Tracks) was designed for video on the web. It's the format the HTML5 <track> element uses, so browsers and web players are built around it. It looks a lot like SRT:

WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:04.200
Today we're looking at how
sourdough starters work.

2
00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:07.480 align:start position:10%
The short version: it's all
about wild yeast and bacteria.

NOTE This is a comment. Players ignore it.

3
00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:09.920
Let's start with flour and water.

What's different from SRT:

• The file must start with WEBVTT on the first line.
• Timestamps use a dot, not a comma: 00:00:01.040. The hours can also be left out for short videos (00:01.040).
• Cue numbers are optional. In VTT they're identifiers, not required counters.
• Cue settings after the timestamp, like align:start position:10%, control placement. VTT also supports styling and NOTE comments.

The VTT glossary entry has more background. If you're building a web page with a <video> element, VTT is the one you need. Browsers won't load an SRT file in a <track> element.

TXT: just the words

A TXT download is a plain transcript: the caption text, one caption line per line, with no numbers or timestamps. It's for reading, not for playing alongside a video:

Today we're looking at how
sourdough starters work.
The short version: it's all
about wild yeast and bacteria.
Let's start with flour and water.

TXT has no cue structure, so no video player or editor can use it to time captions. It's the best choice for study notes, quoting a video in an article, searching a lecture for a keyword, or pasting the text into another tool. PDF and DOCX are the same idea in document form: DOCX if you want to edit in Word or Google Docs, PDF for a read-only copy to share or print.

SRT vs VTT vs TXT at a glance

Which tools accept which format

Support changes between versions, so treat this as a general guide and check your app's import dialog if something doesn't load.

When in doubt, SRT is the safe default for anything that isn't a web page. For step-by-step import instructions, see how to add an SRT file to a video.

Converting between formats

SRT to VTT by hand

1. Add WEBVTT as the very first line, followed by a blank line.
2. In the timestamp lines only, change the comma before the milliseconds to a dot: 00:00:01,040 becomes 00:00:01.040.
3. Leave the cue numbers. VTT accepts them as identifiers.
4. Save as UTF-8 with a .vtt extension.

Don't run a blanket find-and-replace of every comma in the file. That will also change commas in the dialogue itself. Restrict it to the timestamp lines, or use a subtitle editor.

VTT to SRT by hand

1. Delete the WEBVTT header and any NOTE or STYLE blocks.
2. Remove cue settings after the end time (for example align:start position:10%).
3. Change the dot before the milliseconds to a comma in each timestamp line.
4. Make sure every cue has a number, counting up from 1.
5. Remove VTT-only inline tags (such as <c> or <v> voice tags) that SRT players may show as literal text.

Using a subtitle editor

A free editor like Subtitle Edit can open either format and save it as the other, which avoids hand-editing mistakes on long files. The guide to editing SRT files covers encoding and timing fixes in more detail.

SRT or VTT to TXT

Remove the numbers, timestamps and blank lines and you're left with the text. It's easier to download TXT directly from the transcript page, which is free with a free account.

TXT to SRT or VTT

This one doesn't work. A TXT file has no timing, so there's nothing to build cues from. Download the SRT or VTT instead. If the video has no captions but you have the file yourself, Video to SRT and Video to VTT generate timed subtitles from the audio with AI.

Common mistakes

• Renaming .srt to .vtt without changing the contents. Without the WEBVTT header and dot separators, many web players will reject it.
• Loading TXT where a player expects subtitles. It won't sync, because there's no timing in it.
• Saving in the wrong encoding. If accented letters or non-Latin scripts show up as garbage, re-save the file as UTF-8.
• Expecting sentences from auto-captions. Short fragments are normal for auto-generated tracks, whatever the format.

To download YouTube subtitles in any of these formats, paste the video link and open the Export menu. The full walkthrough is in how to download YouTube subtitles.

FAQ

Is VTT better than SRT?

Neither is better overall. VTT has positioning and styling and is required for HTML5 video. SRT is simpler and more widely accepted by desktop editors. Pick based on where the file is going.

Can I upload a VTT file to YouTube?

Yes. YouTube Studio accepts both SRT and VTT caption files for your own videos.

Can I turn a TXT transcript into an SRT?

Not directly, because TXT has no timing. Download the SRT from the transcript page instead, or generate timed subtitles from your own video file.

Are SRT and VTT free to download on transcript.you?

Your first SRT or VTT download is free with a free account. After that, SRT and VTT need a paid plan. TXT, PDF and DOCX stay free with a free account.