Why would I want subtitles for audio?

Because they carry the timing. The moment that audio becomes a video — a clip, an audiogram, a montage — the subtitle track already exists and lines up.

Do the timings still work if I add video later?

As long as you don't cut the audio, yes. They're taken from the recording itself, not estimated from the text.

Can I get plain text instead?

Yes, from the same transcript. DOCX, PDF, CSV or JSON, with or without the timestamps.

How long does it take?

Around three minutes per hour of recording. An hour-long podcast is done before you've finished your coffee.

Can I put the speaker's name in the subtitle?

Yes, if you ask for speaker separation: each segment comes out with its label and you can set the real name before downloading. It's standard practice for two-host podcasts.

Does it work for a multi-hour recording?

It does. The only difference is that it's worth going over proper nouns before downloading, because in three hours there are quite a few.

Try it without an account

Get an SRT from an audio file

Subtitles from a recording with no picture: podcasts, interviews, radio. Same timings, ready to pair with video later.

Drag your file here

MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, MOV… up to 10 GB

MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG or FLAC
Timings from the audio, not estimated
Also plain text, if that's what you needed

MP3
WAV
M4A
AAC
OGG
FLAC

What this tool does

Subtitles aren't only for video. An audio file with an SRT next to it is a podcast you can read, a searchable interview and, the day you turn it into a video, a track that's already timed.

The timings come from the audio itself, so they hold up when the recording is later paired with a picture. And because there's no video to upload, the file is a tenth of the size and the whole thing takes minutes.

What we handle that others don't

Timings taken from the audio to the millisecond, so they hold with video later.
Speaker names in front of the line, which is what makes an interview readable.
Lines cut to a readable length instead of one block per paragraph.
The same pass also gives you the summary and the plain text.

How it works

1
Drop the audio
Any common format, up to 10 GB per file.
2
Check the text
Play it back with the lines alongside and fix names and terms.
3
Download the .srt
Or the VTT, or the plain text. Same transcript, your choice of file.

What people use it for

Podcasts

The SRT is the accessible version, the SEO and the show notes.

Audiograms

The short clips that get shared need subtitles, and they're already timed.

Radio and interviews

Quote with the timecode instead of scrubbing back through the recording.

In detail

Subtitles for something with no picture

It sounds odd until you need it: a podcast that's also going out as video, a radio interview someone is cutting to images, a talk recorded on audio only that gets a still frame behind it. In all of those, what exists is a sound file and what's needed is an SRT.

The result is the same as if there had been video, because the timings come from the audio and not from the picture. When you edit later, the subtitles line up on their own as long as the audio hasn't been trimmed along the way.

What to do with the SRT of an audio file

First, publish it: a podcast with a transcript gets found, and an SRT is the fastest way to have that transcript with timings attached. Plenty of podcast platforms now take the file directly.

Second, edit with it. An SRT drops into any editor as a text track, so if the audio is heading into a video — even one with a single still image — the subtitles are already done. And if you'd rather have running text, that downloads from the same screen.

Questions

And if what you have is the video?

Upload it and you'll get the transcript with timestamps, the speakers separated by name and a summary with the key points. You can start without an account.

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