What Are Subtitles?

Direct definition

Subtitles are timed text shown with a video, usually as a toggleable track. In many locales they translate dialogue. In accessibility contexts the same file family also carries captions for viewers who cannot hear the audio.

The sections below explain how subtitles is used in transcription and subtitle work, what people often mix up, and which VideoText workflow applies when the next step is a file or review pass.

Key takeaways

• A subtitle file is timed; a transcript may not be.
• Language subtitles and SDH/captions can share a format (SRT, WebVTT) with different content rules.
• In U.S. accessibility usage, captions include non-speech sounds; language subtitles often do not.

How subtitles are delivered

Soft subtitles travel as SRT, WebVTT, TTML, or similar. Open subtitles are burned in. Players map current time to the active cue.

Related terms

• closed captions
• SRT file
• WebVTT
• forced subtitles
• SDH
• All glossary terms

Sources

1. W3C: WebVTT Recommendation