How to Create SRT and VTT Subtitles From Any Video
By the Speakmi team · Updated October 2, 2026 · 2 min read
Subtitles make videos accessible, searchable, and watchable without sound. An SRT or VTT file is simply text with start and end times, and you can create one from your video in a few minutes.
How to do it
- Open the voice.speakmi transcriber and add your video (MP4, WEBM, or MOV, up to 25 MB).
- Select the spoken language.
- Press Transcribe and wait for the progress bar to finish.
- Download the SRT or VTT file.
SRT or VTT?
SRT is the most widely supported format and works in YouTube, Facebook, VLC, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and CapCut. VTT is the standard for web video players and HTML5 video tracks. Both contain the same timing and text.
Polish before publishing
- Fix names, brands, and technical terms.
- Break very long lines so they fit two lines on screen.
- Check timing on fast speech and music sections.
Large videos
If your video is bigger than the limit, export only the audio track or a lower-resolution copy first. Speech recognition only needs the sound, so a small audio file gives the same transcript.
Subtitle best practices
- Keep each subtitle to two lines and roughly 42 characters per line.
- Show each subtitle for at least one second, and long enough to read comfortably.
- Break lines at natural phrases rather than in the middle of a clause.
- Include important sounds in brackets, such as [music], when subtitles serve as accessibility captions.
Uploading subtitles to platforms
On YouTube, open Studio, choose Subtitles, upload a file, and select the SRT. Most editors such as CapCut, Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve can import an SRT as a caption track. For websites, use a VTT file with the HTML track element. Always preview the result, because the AI timing can drift slightly on fast speech.