Text Tools
Clean SRT and VTT Subtitle Files to Text
Choose SRT, VTT, or TXT files or paste subtitle text, then control removal of timestamps, cue numbers, the WEBVTT header, bracketed text, blank lines, and excess spacing.
UTF-8 · SRT / VTT / TXT · local only
Remove subtitle formatting without uploading files
Paste text or choose up to 10 files. Review accessibility descriptions before removing brackets.
Source
Paste text or select files
Clean output
Review before reuse
Formatting, timing, and accessibility cues may be absent. Do not overwrite the source until this text is checked.
Quick answer
How do I remove timestamps and cue numbers from SRT or VTT files
Choose subtitle files or paste text, review the cleanup options, and process the input. The tool reads UTF-8 and creates clean text inside this browser without uploading files. Review the result because bracketed text may contain accessibility-critical sound descriptions.
How to use this tool
- Choose up to 10 SRT, VTT, or TXT files, or paste subtitle text directly.
- Review each option, especially bracket removal, which may delete sound descriptions or speaker labels needed for accessibility.
- Process the input, inspect the output and statistics, then copy or export Print, Excel, PDF, or TXT
How the calculation works
The cleaner detects complete timing lines containing --> in SRT or WebVTT form and removes a numeric cue id only when it immediately precedes a detected timing line, avoiding automatic removal of ordinary numeric dialogue. Other options run in this order: WEBVTT header removal, within-line square-bracket removal, horizontal-space collapse, wrapping near 80 code points at whitespace, and blank-line removal.
Examples
| Example | Input | Expected result |
|---|---|---|
| Basic SRT | |
Hello when timing, cue-number, and blank-line removal are enabled |
| Hourless WebVTT | |
Hello when the WEBVTT header and timing line are removed |
| Sound description | |
The program starts with bracket removal, or the complete line when that option is off |
Limitations
- Only UTF-8 SRT, VTT, and TXT are supported; ASS/SSA, XML, JSON, CSV, and encoding conversion are outside scope.
- This is a line-oriented text cleaner, not a parser or conformance validator for every SRT/WebVTT case.
- Square-bracket removal can delete sound descriptions, speaker labels, or other accessibility-critical information, so the result must be reviewed.
- Numeric cue removal is context-aware, but malformed files and textual cue identifiers may remain.
- Wrapping occurs at whitespace near 80 code points and leaves an unspaced long token intact; it is not a universal platform caption-length rule.
- Print/PDF/Excel are cleanup reports, not timed subtitle files; TXT contains cleaned text and may not replace the source file.
Frequently asked questions
Can this tool transcribe YouTube audio?
No. It reads text already present in SRT, VTT, TXT, or the paste field. It does not download video, recognize speech, or create new captions.
Are my files uploaded to the server?
No. Files are read through browser File APIs, with no POST or database, and the data disappears on reload or tab close.
Should I remove square-bracketed text?
Only when you intentionally need dialogue alone. [Laughter], [Music], or [Speaker name] can carry information required by people who cannot hear the audio.
Why is text from some files garbled?
This release supports UTF-8, as WebVTT requires. Convert an SRT/TXT file from TIS-620, Windows-874, or another encoding to UTF-8 first and check for replacement characters before export.
References
- W3C — WebVTT: The Web Video Text Tracks Format Verified 2026-07-31
- W3C WAI — Understanding Captions (Prerecorded) Verified 2026-07-31
- MDN — FileReader.readAsText() Verified 2026-07-31
- Legacy THcount — SRT and VTT format cleaner Verified 2026-07-31
Content and calculation method last reviewed: