What is an SRT file? Format, uses, and how to open one
An SRT file is a plain-text subtitle file that pairs lines of dialogue with start and end timecodes. Each block holds a sequence number, a timecode line, and the text to display. Players read it alongside a video to show captions. It carries timing and text, nothing else.
What an SRT file contains
Open an SRT in any text editor and you'll see the same block repeated, once per line of dialogue. Each block has four parts, in a fixed order.
- A sequence number, starting at 1 and counting up
- A timecode line with a start time, an arrow, and an end time
- One or two lines of text to display during that window
- A blank line marking the end of the block
The timecode format is hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds, with a comma before the milliseconds. A single cue looks like this:
2
00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,880
We shipped the pricing change on Tuesday.
That's the whole specification in practice. There's no header, no metadata block, no styling section. The file is just cues, one after another, and a player reads them top to bottom. Because it's plain text, an SRT opens in Notepad, TextEdit, or any code editor without special software, and it's small enough to email.
What SRT files are used for
The original job is subtitles. A video player loads the SRT alongside the video, matches the timecodes to playback, and shows the text on screen. Keeping the subtitles in a separate file rather than burning them into the picture means one video can carry a different SRT per language, and viewers can turn captions off.
Two other uses come up more often than the subtitle one for people working with meetings and interviews. The first is search: because every line carries a start time, you can find a phrase in the text and jump straight to that moment in the recording. The second is handoff. An SRT is a clean, timestamped text file, so it travels well into editing software, translation workflows, and anything that wants a machine-readable script.
SRT files are hard to read. Dialogue chopped into two-line cues with a timestamp above each one is a format built for playback, not for someone catching up on a meeting they missed.
SRT vs VTT vs TXT vs a meeting transcript
These four get used interchangeably, and they behave differently the moment you try to do something with them. The short version: SRT and VTT are timed caption formats, TXT is unstructured text, and a meeting transcript is a document about who said what.
VTT files also start with the word WEBVTT on the first line, which is the fastest way to tell the two apart if the file extension has been lost.
If you want a speaker name to appear in an SRT, you type it into the cue text yourself, and a player treats it as ordinary dialogue text.
If you're deciding between formats, ask what happens to the file next. If something is going to play it, you want SRT or VTT. If a person is going to read it, you want a transcript with the names attached.
How to open and edit an SRT file
Any text editor will do. On a Mac, right-click the file, choose Open With, and pick TextEdit. On Windows, Notepad. If double-clicking launches a video player instead, that's the player claiming the extension, not a sign the file is anything other than text.
Editing is where people get caught out, so three things to keep in mind:
- Save as plain text with UTF-8 encoding, or accented characters and quotation marks come back as garbage
- Keep the blank line between cues, since that's how a player knows where one block ends
- Use a comma before the milliseconds, not a period, or the cue is silently skipped
For heavier work, subtitle editors like Aegisub or Subtitle Edit show the waveform next to the cues so you can nudge timings by eye. And if you're only fixing a typo in one line, the text editor is faster than opening anything specialized.
When you want a meeting record, not a subtitle file
Plenty of people land on SRT while looking for something else: they recorded a conversation and want the words back in a form they can read, search, and send.
Wispr Notetaker is built for that. It records on your device, so nothing joins the call and the meeting looks normal. It keeps a consent reminder in front of you the whole time it records. It works across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Mac today, Windows coming soon. Afterwards you get a refined transcript with speakers named rather than numbered, a topic-based summary, and your own typed notes kept separate from that summary. Try Wispr Notetaker free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I convert an SRT file to plain text?
Yes. Open the SRT in a text editor and delete the sequence numbers and timecode lines, or use a subtitle editor's plain-text or 'strip timings' export if it has one. Line breaks inside a cue come out as separate lines, so expect some rejoining. The result loses all timing, so keep the original.
Why won't my SRT file show up in my video player?
Most players match subtitles by filename, so the SRT has to sit in the same folder as the video and carry the same name before the extension. Rename it and reload the video before changing anything else. If cues still never appear, work through the encoding and timecode checks in the editing section above.
Is SRT the same as CC?
No. Closed captions are a display feature the player switches on and off, and they usually carry sound cues like "[door slams]" alongside the dialogue. An SRT is just a file of timed dialogue text. A player can show an SRT as captions, but the file itself holds no sound cues and no on-off setting.
Does Wispr Notetaker keep recordings of my meetings?
Your meetings are yours. Meeting audio is encrypted and kept only temporarily to create your transcript, let you resume a meeting, verify quality, and troubleshoot. After that limited period, it's automatically removed. Wispr Notetaker doesn't create voiceprints or biometric profiles of you or anyone on your call.
