Fix Premiere Pro Subtitles — SRT Import Errors and Sync

SRT won't import into Premiere Pro, imports half the captions, or shows garbled text? Find the exact line causing it and fix the safe problems in one click. Free, no account, runs in your browser.

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Drop your SRT or VTT file here, or click to choose it

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Why Premiere Pro rejects an SRT that plays fine in VLC

Media players skip lines they don't understand. An editor importing captions has to turn every line into a caption on the timeline, so a malformed line can make the import fail, or leave captions missing or merged. Things to look for:

Timestamps in the wrong format: 00:00:01.000 (a dot, the WebVTT style) instead of 00:00:01,000, or missing hours (01:02,500), which is how WebVTT files and some web tools write times.
No blank line between captions, so two captions read as one, or the cue number ends up on screen as text.
Cue numbers that repeat or skip, usually left over from merging two files or deleting lines by hand.
The wrong text encoding, which turns accents and apostrophes into "Ã©" or "â€™" once imported.
Captions that end before they start, or start and end at the same moment.

The check above lists each of these with its line number. Everything except impossible times is fixed by the one-click repair. Premiere Pro also only takes caption files in formats such as SRT; a plain-text transcript can't be imported as captions.

Captions imported, but out of sync

If the file imports and the captions are a little early or late everywhere, every caption needs to move by the same amount. If they start in sync and drift further out over the sequence, the subtitles were made from a different export of the video, or timed on a different frame rate, which is common when a transcription service worked from a compressed upload. First check that the sequence frame rate matches your footage. Then use the Subtitle Delay Fixer: pick one line near the start and one near the end, type when each is spoken, and every caption is stretched to match.

Importing the fixed file

Download the fixed SRT and import it into your project with File → Import, then drag it from the Project panel onto the timeline above your video, where it becomes a caption track. If the captions don't show in the Program monitor, turn on caption display from the monitor's settings (wrench) menu. If you had already imported the broken version, delete that caption track and its project item first so the two don't get mixed up. Menu names can differ between Premiere Pro versions; Adobe's help for your version has the exact steps.

Line length and reading speed

Long lines and fast captions are hard to read wherever they end up, and especially on vertical video. The check flags lines over 42 characters and captions faster than 20 characters per second. Those aren't changed automatically, because re-breaking lines is a judgement call; Fix Subtitles does it with every change shown for review.

1
Drop in the SRT
The file is checked in your browser. Problems that break Premiere imports are listed first, each with its line number.
2
Fix the safe problems
One click rewrites timestamps, blank lines and numbering, and restores garbled characters. Times only change where captions overlap.
3
Import the fixed file
Download it and import it into Premiere Pro. Anything listed under "Needs a decision" is worth checking in the caption panel.

Why won't Premiere Pro import my SRT file?▼

Most often the timestamps use a dot instead of a comma, a caption is missing the blank line before it, or the file is saved in the wrong encoding. The check above finds the exact line, and the one-click repair fixes all three.

Why are some captions missing after import?▼

Look for "this timing line can't be read" and "no blank line before cue" in the report. A caption without a readable timing line can't be placed, and two cues without a blank line between them can be read as one. The line numbers show where to look.

Why do accents and apostrophes look wrong after import?▼

The file was saved in one text encoding and read as another. If the report shows characters like "Ã©" or "â€™", the repair restores the original letters exactly. If it shows "�", the letters were lost before the file reached you and must be retyped.

My TurboScribe or AI-generated SRT won't line up in Premiere. What do I do?▼

First fix any format problems here. If the captions are then consistently early or late, or drift as the video goes on, use the Subtitle Delay Fixer with one line near the start and one near the end. The transcription was probably made from a different export of the video.

Does the repair change my caption text?▼

No. Text and line breaks stay exactly as written. Only formatting changes, plus end times where a caption overlaps the next one and can be trimmed safely.

Is it free?▼

Yes. Checking, repairing and downloading are free, with no account and no watermark. The file never leaves your computer.

Fix Premiere Pro Subtitles — SRT Import Errors and Sync

Part of VideoText’s free subtitle tool cluster

Next: fix, translate, burn, or generate from video

Turn any video into a transcript

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