MICRODVD to SRT
Or paste subtitle text
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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.
What this conversion changes
1 thing is dropped or needs a decision
- Frame rate
the source stores times as frame numbers — every timestamp depends 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.
MicroDVD stores a subtitle as a pair of frame numbers and the text that runs between them: the file says frames 100 to 150, not 1.2 seconds to 1.8 seconds. Turning that into SRT means converting frames to time, which needs the frame rate the subtitles were written against. When the file declares one in its own first line, that value is used; otherwise the frame rate you set below the file box is, and a default is assumed if you leave it alone.
The conversion itself is a division: the frame number divided by the frame rate gives the moment, so frame 100 at 25 frames per second is the four-second mark and comes out as 00:00:04,000. A vertical bar inside the text is the format's way of writing a line break, so it becomes one, and the cue keeps both lines instead of being split in two.
Set the frame rate before converting if your video is not 25 frames per second: every timestamp is computed from it, and the whole timeline is off by the ratio otherwise. The field is visible on the page rather than buried for exactly that reason.
Examples
A typical MICRODVD file, converted to SRT
Input
{1}{1}25
{100}{150}The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
{200}{260}Faster than|the last one.
Output
1
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,000
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
2
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,400
Faster than
the last one.
Dropped in this output: frame rate. Everything else matches line for line.
The same conversion on an awkward input
Input
{1}{1}23.976
{0100}{0150}Leading zeros in the frame numbers.
[INFORMATION]
{300}{340}An unrecognized line above was kept in place.
{400}{450}Trailing spaces are kept.
Output
1
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,000
Leading zeros in the frame numbers.
2
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:13,600
An unrecognized line above was kept in place.
3
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,000
Trailing spaces are kept.
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
Which frame rate should I use?
The one the subtitles were authored against, which is the frame rate of the video they were written for. Film is usually 23.976 or 24, PAL is 25, American broadcast is 29.97. Many MicroDVD files declare their rate in the first line. That declaration is only used when the frame rate field on this page is left blank, so set the field to the rate of the video you actually have rather than trusting what the file claims.
What happens if I leave the frame rate blank?
The conversion still runs. If the file declares its rate, that is the value used; if it declares nothing, 25 frames per second is assumed and the report says so. The second case is fine for PAL and wrong for everything else — at 24 fps the timeline drifts by about 4 percent by the end of a feature.
How do two frame numbers become a time?
By dividing them by the frame rate. Frame 100 at 25 frames per second is four seconds in, frame 150 is six seconds, so the cue runs from the four-second mark to the six-second mark and is written out as 00:00:04,000 to 00:00:06,000.
What is the vertical bar in the text?
A line break. MicroDVD writes two-line cues with a bar where other formats use a newline, so each bar becomes a line break in the output and the two lines stay in the same cue.
Do the frame numbers survive in the output?
Not in an SRT file — SRT stores clock time, so the frames are converted and the numbers themselves are not written alongside. Keep the original file if you need the frames, for example to hand the timing back to a video tool that thinks in frames.