Free tool
SRT to TXT converter
Drop a subtitle file here to convert SRT to TXT: the caption numbers and timestamps disappear and the broken lines join back into sentences and paragraphs you can read, search or quote.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Nothing is uploaded
Nothing is uploaded: your browser reads the file.
Want the words of your own recordings, not just files that come with subtitles? NoteOwl transcribes audio and video on your Mac, unlimited, and keeps every transcript searchable.
How it works
How do you turn an SRT file into a text file?
Open the .srt in the converter; Text is already chosen. The numbers and time lines are stripped, each sentence is put back together and the result is split into paragraphs. Copy it, or save it as a .txt file or a Word document.
- 1
Open the SRT
Drop it on the box, pick it from your files, or paste the subtitle text itself.
- 2
Choose how it reads
Paragraphs, or one caption line per line. Speaker names stay unless you untick them.
- 3
Copy or save
Copy the text, or download it as .txt for any editor, or .docx for Word, Pages and Google Docs.
What does an SRT file look like as plain text?
This is the opening of a recorded lecture as subtitles, and the text this page writes from it. The numbers and times are gone, the sentence split across captions 2 and 3 is whole again, and the pause before caption 4 starts a new paragraph.
1 00:00:02,100 --> 00:00:05,400 Last week we looked at how glaciers carve out valleys. 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,900 Today we're following the water that melts off them, 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,300 <i>all the way down to the sea.</i> 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,500 So, first question: where does a river begin?
Last week we looked at how glaciers carve out valleys. Today we're following the water that melts off them, all the way down to the sea. So, first question: where does a river begin?
What does the converter take out of an SRT file?
Everything that isn’t words: the caption numbers, the start and end times, the blank lines between captions and any tags such as <i> or <font color>. What’s left is the dialogue, in order, with nothing added.
- 1, 2, 3…
- In the .txtRemoved
- 00:00:02,100 --> 00:00:05,400
- In the .txtRemoved
- A sentence split over two captions
- In the .txtJoined back into one sentence
- <i>…</i>, <font color="…">
- In the .txtTags removed, words kept
- “Maya:” at the start of a line
- In the .txtA new paragraph that starts “Maya:”, or no name at all
- A pause of 2 seconds or more
- In the .txtA new paragraph (files without speaker names)
| In the .srt | In the .txt |
|---|---|
| 1, 2, 3… | Removed |
| 00:00:02,100 --> 00:00:05,400 | Removed |
| A sentence split over two captions | Joined back into one sentence |
| <i>…</i>, <font color="…"> | Tags removed, words kept |
| “Maya:” at the start of a line | A new paragraph that starts “Maya:”, or no name at all |
| A pause of 2 seconds or more | A new paragraph (files without speaker names) |
How are the paragraphs decided?
By who is speaking and by the pauses. When lines start with a name, each change of speaker starts a paragraph. When there are no names, a gap of two seconds or more between captions does, and a long stretch is split at a full stop after about 120 words.
Prefer the subtitle layout? Untick Merge each speaker’s lines and every caption line stays on its own line, as it was on screen, just without the numbers and times.
What can you do with the text of a subtitle file?
Read and search what was said without playing the video, and reuse it. People convert SRT to text to:
Quote a film or talk
Find the exact line and copy it, without scrubbing through the video.
Make notes or show notes
Start from the full dialogue of a lecture, webinar or episode.
Translate it
Paste clean paragraphs into a translator or hand them to a translator.
Check a transcript
Proofread the words on their own, then fix the SRT in the subtitle editor.
Count the words
See how long a script really is, or how fast it was spoken, with the speech time calculator.
Keep a record
Save it as a Word document next to the video it came from.
Why does an SRT file show strange characters?
Because it was saved in an older encoding. Many SRT files from before UTF-8 became the norm use Windows’ Western encoding, so é or ñ appear as “�” in apps that expect UTF-8. This converter spots that and reads the accents correctly, and it reads UTF-16 files too.
How do you get text from a recording with no subtitles?
Transcribe the recording itself. NoteOwl imports audio and video files on your Mac and transcribes them with on-device AI models, labelling who said what, so you get the text and an SRT file without uploading anything. More about NoteOwl’s transcription.
FAQ
Questions about converting SRT to TXT
How do I remove the timestamps from an SRT file?
Open the SRT file in NoteOwl’s SRT to TXT converter. It removes every timestamp and caption number at once and leaves only the words, which you can copy or download as a .txt file.
Can I keep one caption per line instead of paragraphs?
Yes. Untick Merge each speaker’s lines and each caption line stays on its own line of text, in the same order as the subtitles, with the numbers and times removed.
Can I convert an SRT file to a Word document?
Yes. After converting, press Download .docx. You get a Word document with one paragraph per paragraph of text, which also opens in Pages and Google Docs.
Will the italics in my subtitles be kept?
No. Plain text has no formatting, so italic and bold tags are removed and the words inside them stay. If you need the italics, keep the SRT file or convert it to VTT or ASS instead.
Is my subtitle file uploaded?
No. The SRT to TXT converter reads the file in your browser and makes the text and the download there. Nothing is sent to NoteOwl or to anyone else.
Can I turn the text back into an SRT file?
Not with the original times, because a text file doesn’t store them. Keep the SRT if you need the timing. NoteOwl’s TXT to SRT converter can give plain text new estimated times.
Keep exploring
More subtitle converters
- Subtitle converterConvert subtitles between SRT, VTT, SBV and ASS, or to plain text, in your browser; SSA scripts and meeting transcripts work too
- SRT to VTT converterConvert SRT to VTT, VTT to SRT, or either to clean text with each speaker’s lines merged, in your browser; Zoom and Teams transcripts work
- VTT to TXT converterTurn a VTT file, such as a Teams or Zoom meeting transcript, into clean text with each speaker’s turns as paragraphs
- TXT to SRT converterTurn plain text into a timed SRT file: captions cut to fit the screen and timed at a speaking pace or across your video’s length
- SBV to SRT converterConvert YouTube’s SBV caption files to SRT in your browser: numbered cues, SRT times, every caption kept
Related
- YouTube transcript to textPaste the transcript YouTube shows under a video and get clean paragraphs, with or without timestamps, as text, Word or SRT; nothing is fetched from YouTube
- Audio to textTranscription software for your Mac: drop in an audio or video file and get a speaker-labelled transcript with timestamps, unlimited, with nothing uploaded
- What is an SRT fileWhat an SRT file is, what SRT stands for, the format of each cue with an example, and how to make one from a recording
Transcripts you can search, written on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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