FILE FORMAT GUIDE
SRT File (.SRT): What It Is & How to Open It
An SRT file is a text sidecar containing numbered subtitle blocks, start and end timecodes, text and blank-line separators. It does not contain the video or audio.
Quick facts
- Extension
- .srt
- Format
- SubRip Subtitle
- Category
- document
- MIME type
- text/plain
- Standard / developer
- SubRip community
- Open with
- Plain-text editor
What is SRT?
SRT has broad conventional use but no single formal encoding rule. Styling and newline handling vary by tool, and players associate subtitles with media separately.
How to open SRT
Text inspection does not verify timing, encoding or player-specific styling.
Plain-text editorDesktop text editor
Open as text without executing embedded markup. Confirm timecode order, blank-line separation and the intended character encoding; keep the media file separate.
Common uses and compatibility
- Deliver timed subtitles or captions beside prerecorded media
Things to check
- Character encoding and supported styling are not standardized consistently across implementations.
Technical details
- Signature
- Not reviewed
- Encoding
- Text; no single character encoding standard
- Container
- Not applicable
- Compression
- Not inherent to the format
Public specification: no public spec.
Sources & review
Sources reviewed 2026-09-19.