TXT Subtitle Format

What this format can express

Text styling: Plain text only
On-screen positioning: No
Karaoke timing: No
Line breaks inside a cue: No
Timeline: No timings at all
Timing resolution: 1 ms
Timing stored as frame numbers: No
Right-to-left text: Yes

Examples

A typical plain-text file, and what is read out of it

File

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Second paragraph, first line.
Second paragraph, second line.

What it holds

3 lines of text, no timecodes

    The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
    Second paragraph, first line.
    Second paragraph, second line.

Outside the cues:
  no timecodes at all — 1 blank line marks the paragraph breaks
  durations  not in the file: every line is given 2.0 s by default

The right-hand side is not a converted file — it is what this site reads out of the left-hand side, and what every conversion of that file starts from.

An awkward plain-text file, and what is still read out of it

File

  
Trailing spaces here.   
	
Last line, no trailing newline

What it holds

2 lines of text, no timecodes

    Trailing spaces here.   
    Last line, no trailing newline

Outside the cues:
  no timecodes at all — 2 blank lines mark the paragraph breaks
  durations  not in the file: every line is given 2.0 s by default

Real files arrive with a byte-order mark, Windows line endings, a stray line before a timecode, or a timecode that cannot be read at all. None of it throws: whatever cannot be understood is reported rather than dropped in silence.

Convert Plain Text (TXT) to another format

Each of these runs entirely in your browser. The labels say what that direction costs before you open it.

TXT to ASS

Convert TXT to ASS in your browser — dropped: timing, precision.

Timing
Precision

TXT to CSV

Convert TXT to CSV in your browser — dropped: timing.

Timing

TXT to JSON

Convert TXT to JSON in your browser — dropped: timing.

Timing

TXT to LRC

Convert TXT to LRC in your browser — dropped: timing, precision.

Timing
Precision

TXT to MICRODVD

Convert TXT to MICRODVD in your browser — dropped: timing, frame rate.

Timing
Frame rate

TXT to SBV

Convert TXT to SBV in your browser — dropped: timing.

Timing

TXT to SMI

Convert TXT to SMI in your browser — dropped: timing.

Timing

TXT to SRT

Convert TXT to SRT in your browser — dropped: timing.

Timing

TXT to SSA

Convert TXT to SSA in your browser — dropped: timing, precision.

Timing
Precision

TXT to TTML

Convert TXT to TTML in your browser — dropped: timing.

Timing

TXT to VTT

Convert TXT to VTT in your browser — dropped: timing.

Timing

Converting into this format

Plain Text (TXT) is one of the subtitle formats this site handles, and this page is its reference: what it can store, what it cannot, and a page for every format you can convert it to.

The table above is the whole of it — there is no hidden feature list. When a row says no, that is exactly what is lost by converting into TXT, and each conversion page linked below says so before you open a file.

Every one of those conversions runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed, which matters for material under an NDA, a patient record or a broadcast embargo.

Frequently asked questions

What is a TXT file?

`.txt` is not really a subtitle format — it is the words on their own. It is where a pipeline ends when the timings have stopped mattering: a transcript, a translation pass, a spellchecker.

Does TXT store styling?

No — it stores cues, and a cue is text with two times on it. There is not even a place to put it: a text file holds lines.

Does TXT store timings?

No, none at all. The order of the lines is the only sequence in the file, which is why converting into a subtitle format means generating a timeline rather than converting one — and why that direction is listed as lossy rather than lossless.

Which format should I convert TXT to?

Nothing on this site takes everything a TXT file holds, so there is no free direction — each conversion page names its own list of losses. Pick the target by which of those lists you can live with, not by which format you have seen most often.

Can I open a TXT file in a text editor?

Yes. Yes, and it is the format with the least to get wrong: one line of text is one cue.