LRC to MICRODVD
Or paste subtitle text
Options
Which frame rate the timings are counted in. On the format pages this is what MicroDVD needs, because it stores timing as frame numbers. On the frame rate pages it is the rate the file was timed against — the version the subtitles were made for — and the page's second box takes the rate of the video you are going to use them with. 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 are the common ones. Getting it wrong shifts the whole timeline, and on the frame rate pages it shifts it by a ratio rather than by a fixed amount.
Used when the source has no end times (plain text, LRC). The timeline in the output is generated here rather than converted, so this number is what you get.
What this conversion changes
2 things are dropped or need a decision
- Timing
cue end times — the source does not record them, so the output's will be generated rather than converted
- Frame rate
this format stores times as frame numbers — timings depend on the frame rate you supply
This list comes from the capability matrix for these two formats, not from the particular file you loaded. A specific file may lose more if it uses features the format allows but the matrix does not model.
This page converts LRC to MICRODVD. Drop a file in — or paste the text — and you get the MICRODVD version back. The conversion runs entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.
These two formats do not store the same things, and the difference is not cosmetic: timing and frame rate have nowhere to go in MICRODVD. The list above comes from what the two formats can each express rather than from your file, so it is the same answer before you load anything.
One file is fine, and so is a whole season: the queue works through them in order and the results come down together as a single ZIP.
Examples
A typical LRC file, converted to MICRODVD
Input
[ti:Sample Song]
[ar:Some Artist]
[length:00:41.00]
[offset:+250]
[00:12.00]First line of the song.
[00:15.30]Second line.
[00:15.30]Second line, translated.
[00:18.00]
[00:21.50]Final line.Output
{1}{1}25
{300}{383}First line of the song.
{383}{450}Second line.|Second line, translated.
{450}{538}
{538}{588}Final line.
Dropped in this output: timing and frame rate. Everything else matches line for line.
The same conversion on an awkward input
Input
[ar:Some Artist]
[0:05.5]Leading zero omitted, one decimal.
[00:07]Second with no centiseconds.
[00:03.00]Out of order.
[00:07.00][00:09.00]Repeated chorus line.
[00:12.00]Output
{1}{1}25
{75}{138}Out of order.
{138}{175}Leading zero omitted, one decimal.
{175}{225}Second with no centiseconds.|Repeated chorus line.
{225}{300}Repeated chorus line.
{300}{350}
This is the kind of damage real files have — mixed line endings, stray whitespace, fields left empty. Compare it with the tidy example above to see what the parser forgives.
Frequently asked questions
How does an LRC line get an end time in MICRODVD?
From the next line's start. An LRC line runs until the following one begins — that is the rule a lyrics player follows — so the MICRODVD ends are real rather than invented. The exception is the last line, which has nothing after it and is given the duration set on this page.
Which frame rate should I set for the LRC to MICRODVD conversion?
MICRODVD stores a subtitle as a pair of frame numbers rather than as clock times — `{103}{175}` — so the frame rate is what turns the LRC timings into what the file needs: at 25 frames per second, four seconds in is frame 100. Set it to the frame rate of the video these subtitles are for; the wrong value barely shows at the start and drifts further out of step the longer the video runs.
What does the output look like when LRC becomes MICRODVD?
Like MICRODVD: no cue numbers: a pair of frame numbers in braces opens every line. Every LRC cue becomes one MICRODVD cue, in the same order, with the same text.
How does a two-line LRC cue come out in MICRODVD?
As one line with a vertical bar between the halves, which is how MicroDVD writes a line break. The pairing survives — the two LRC lines still belong to one subtitle in the MICRODVD output, and a player shows them together.
Do LRC cues keep their order in the MICRODVD output?
Yes, and they are sorted by start time on the way — earliest first, which is how every format here expects them and how players read them. If your LRC file listed its cues out of sequence, the MICRODVD output puts them back in order; that is a change to the file's structure rather than its content, and it is deliberate.
Can I convert the MICRODVD back to LRC?
Yes, and it has its own list: converting MICRODVD to LRC drops timing, frame rate and precision. That list is different from the one above because the two formats keep different things.
Does the MICRODVD output keep the LRC file's encoding?
No — the output is UTF-8, with Unix line endings and no byte-order mark, whatever the LRC file used. A file that arrives in UTF-16, or in a Windows single-byte encoding, is decoded on the way in (the result panel says so when that happens); what comes out is always the same UTF-8 MICRODVD.