Import SRT Into DaVinci Resolve (and Fix the 1-Hour Offset)

Short answer: on the Edit page, right-click in the Media Pool and choose Import Subtitle, then pick your .srt. Right-click the new subtitle clip and choose Insert Selected Subtitles to Timeline Using Timecode. If the cues land an hour away, your timeline starts at 01:00:00:00 and the SRT starts at zero. Set the timeline's starting timecode to 00:00:00:00, or drag the subtitle clip to the first frame of the program instead. Don't have an SRT yet? The free edition of Resolve can't generate one from audio, so make it from your export with Video to SRT and import that.

Free vs Studio: where the SRT comes from

So on the free edition, the workflow is: lock the edit → export → generate SRT → import → style → deliver. On Studio you can generate inside Resolve. An external SRT is still useful when you want a QC report, a translation, or captions for the same video outside Resolve.

Step 1: get an SRT that matches the edit

Export the locked timeline (an H.264 MP4 at any resolution is fine, since only the audio matters), then upload it to Video to SRT. Free handles files up to 30 minutes, and Pro handles up to 4 hours. Download the .srt.

Before importing, fix the file, not the timeline. Correcting text in a text tool is quicker than clicking through hundreds of cues in Resolve. Run the SRT through Fix Subtitles to separate overlapping cues, re-wrap lines to 42 characters, and give cues above 20 CPS more time where there's room. Overlapping cues are the import problem editors most often blame on Resolve.

Step 2: import into the Media Pool

Per the Resolve manual, there are two ways:

• Import Subtitle: right-click a bin or the background of the Media Pool, choose Import Subtitle, select the file, then Open. It appears as a subtitle clip with a subtitle badge.
• Like any media: drag the file into the Media Pool, or use the normal import methods.

Resolve lists support for .srt, .srtx, .vtt, .xml and .ttml.

Step 3: put it on the timeline

Option A: by timecode (precise)

Right-click the subtitle clip and choose Insert Selected Subtitles to Timeline Using Timecode. Resolve splits the clip into individual subtitles on a subtitle track, each aligned to the timeline's timecode.

This is the correct method, if the SRT's clock and the timeline's clock agree. Often they don't:

SRT (from an exported MP4):   00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,240
Timeline starts at:           01:00:00:00
Where Resolve puts the cue:   00:00:12:xx  ← an hour before your program

Fix 1: right-click the timeline in the Media Pool, go to Timelines → Starting Timecode, and set it to 00:00:00:00. Then insert by timecode again.

Fix 2: leave the timeline at 01:00:00:00 and add one hour to every cue before importing. Shift Subtitle Timing takes the offset as a number of seconds, with a Forward/Backward toggle. There's no HH:MM:SS field. Enter 3600, set it to Forward, and download the shifted file. For a 10:00:00:00 start, enter 36000. It shifts the whole file by the same amount. There's no way to shift only part of it.

Pick Fix 2 when the timeline's start timecode is part of a delivery spec, as is common in broadcast, where programs start at 01:00:00:00 or 10:00:00:00. Changing it would break other deliverables.

From our test of the shift. We shifted an 80-cue SRT forward by 3600 seconds. Cue 1 moved from 00:00:00,000 to 01:00:00,000, and the last cue now ends at 01:04:00,000, exactly one hour later than before. Import the file you get from Download shifted file. In our test, the text box on the page kept showing the original timings after the shift, but the download was correct.

Option B: by hand (when timecode doesn't match)

Drag the subtitle clip into the unused grey area above your video tracks, and Resolve creates a subtitle track. Or drag it onto an existing subtitle track. Cues keep their spacing relative to the first subtitle, so drop it where the first line of dialogue starts. If you misplace it, select all the subtitles and slide them like any clips.

Step 4: check sync properly

Scrub three places: the first line, a fast exchange in the middle, and the last line.

The frame-rate case: an SRT timed to a 25 fps version and laid on a 23.976 fps timeline drifts by about 4%, roughly 2.5 s per minute. If your editor conformed footage between versions, that's the first suspect.

Frame rate quick reference

When sync problems point to frame rate, check the timeline and the source against this list (Project Settings → Master Settings shows the timeline rate):

SRT stores real time in milliseconds, not frames, so a correct SRT plays in sync at any rate, as long as the speed of the program didn't change. Drift appears only when the program itself was sped up or slowed down (25 → 23.976 conforms are the classic case). The SMPTE timecode and drop-frame glossary entries go deeper.

Versions: trailer, cutdown, full program

Each version needs its own subtitle file. Cues from the full program won't line up with a 30-second cutdown, because the edits differ. Generate one SRT per exported version, name them to match (film_v12_full.en.srt, film_v12_trailer.en.srt), and keep each version on its own timeline.

Step 5: name and style the track

• Name the track with its language (e.g. "English" or "Spanish"). The manual notes that subtitle track names are used when exporting or encoding, so set them before delivery.
• Style the whole track: select the track header, then use the Track panel in the Inspector for font, size, colour, position, background and stroke. Styling applies to the whole track, so you set it once.
• Readability: keep lines to 42 characters and two lines for landscape (Netflix English TTSG). For vertical timelines, BBC guidance suggests about 25 characters across a 9:16 frame, up to three lines (BBC).

Multiple languages? Import each translated SRT to its own subtitle track. Files from Translate Subtitles keep the original cue times, so every language lines up with the same edit (see translate SRT to Spanish).

Step 6: deliver

On the Deliver page, open Subtitle Settings and enable Export Subtitle. Then:

• Burn into video: captions become part of the picture. Use this for feeds that ignore caption files, or open-caption screenings.
• As a separate file: choose SRT (or another listed format) to ship a sidecar.

Delivering to a festival? Many want both, and some specify VTT or a start timecode of 00:00:00:00.

Editing in Resolve vs fixing the file

When VideoText isn't the right fit

• You're on Studio and only need captions inside this one project. Resolve's own generation keeps you in one app.
• You need subtitles spotted to shot changes frame by frame. Do the final pass on Resolve's timeline, or in a dedicated subtitle editor. VideoText gives you the draft and the QC.
• Your deliverable is SCC or a DCP subtitle track. Export from Resolve or your mastering tool. VideoText exports SRT and VTT.

Premiere user instead? See fixing Premiere Pro subtitles. If Resolve rejects the file outright, the cause is usually in the file itself. See SRT file not working?.