TXT 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
the timeline itself — the source records no timings, so the output's is 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 TXT 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 TXT file, converted to MICRODVD
Input
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Second paragraph, first line.
Second paragraph, second line.
Output
{1}{1}25
{0}{50}The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
{50}{100}Second paragraph, first line.
{100}{150}Second paragraph, second line.
Dropped in this output: timing and frame rate. Everything else matches line for line.
The same conversion on an awkward input
Input
Hello world.
Second block.
Output
{1}{1}25
{0}{50}Hello world.
{50}{100}Second block.
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
Are the timecodes invented when a TXT file becomes MICRODVD?
Yes, and it is worth saying plainly: a TXT file has no timings at all, so the timeline in the MICRODVD output is laid out here rather than converted. The first line starts at zero and each line after it starts where the previous one ended, so the spacing is even and the order is yours. The duration field on this page decides how wide each slot is.
Which frame rate should I set for the TXT 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 TXT 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 TXT becomes MICRODVD?
Like MICRODVD: no cue numbers: a pair of frame numbers in braces opens every line. Every TXT cue becomes one MICRODVD cue, in the same order, with the same text.
Do TXT 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 TXT 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 TXT?
Yes, and it has its own list: converting MICRODVD to TXT drops timing, line breaks and frame rate. That list is different from the one above because the two formats keep different things.
Does the MICRODVD output keep the TXT file's encoding?
No — the output is UTF-8, with Unix line endings and no byte-order mark, whatever the TXT 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.