Free tool

Translate subtitles to German

Here you can translate subtitles to German: drop in an SRT or VTT file and download German subtitles that keep every original time, with long German words never broken and numbers written the German way.

  • Free
  • Into German
  • Same timing

Choose your subtitle file

SRT or VTT. Up to 30,000 characters of each file, about 30 minutes of speech, 3 free files a day. Translates into German.

Recording in German as well? NoteOwl transcribes German on your Mac with unlimited transcription and saves SRT subtitles with each speaker named.

Download free for MacSend to my Mac

How it works

How do you translate a subtitle file into German?

Drop the SRT or VTT onto this page, which is set to German. When you press Translate, the subtitle text goes out in batches and returns in German, each subtitle keeping its slot in the video. Look through the result, then download it.

  1. 1

    Add your subtitles

    SRT or VTT, in English or another listed language. English is recognised automatically.

  2. 2

    Get German back

    Subtitles that belong to one sentence are translated together, which matters for German word order.

  3. 3

    Save the German file

    SRT, VTT, or a bilingual SRT with the original above each German line.

Will German subtitles say Sie or du?

Sie. In our test every “you” became the formal Sie, even the casual “you know”, which came back as “wissen Sie”. That fits a company video or a lecture; for a gaming channel, a vlog or friends talking, change it to du.

Switching means more than the pronoun: “Können Sie mir den Bericht vor Freitag schicken?” becomes “Kannst du mir den Bericht vor Freitag schicken?”, so the verb changes too. Search the file for “Sie” and “Ihnen” to find every place.

How do long German words fit on a subtitle line?

Whole. A line only breaks between words, so a compound such as “Unabhängigkeitserklärung” always stays in one piece. German runs about a tenth longer than English and each subtitle keeps its time, so the extra length fills its lines more fully.

Each line aims for 42 characters. A 24-letter compound takes more than half of that on its own, and the line break moves to fit around it. A subtitle never gains an extra line or splits into two.

What happens to a sentence split across two subtitles?

The subtitles are translated together, then each half goes back into its own subtitle. German often puts the verb last (“Können Sie mir den Bericht vor Freitag schicken?”), so the verb may move into the second subtitle. Read such pairs together.

How are prices, dates and times shown in German?

The German way: “6,5 Prozent”, “1.250 $” with the sign after the number, and “am 16. Oktober 2026 um 15:30 Uhr” on the 24-hour clock. Names and titles stay as written: “Dr. Patel und Maria Lopez”.

Subtitles for Switzerland need two changes: Swiss German writes “ss” where the translation writes “ß” (as in “große”), and thousands are usually separated with an apostrophe rather than a dot.

The price went up by 6.5 percent to $1,250.
German subtitleDer Preis stieg um 6,5 Prozent auf 1.250 $.
The meeting is on October 16, 2026, at 3:30 p.m.
German subtitleDas Treffen findet am 16. Oktober 2026 um 15:30 Uhr statt.
Well, you know, it’s kind of a big deal.
German subtitleNun, wissen Sie, es ist eine ziemlich große Sache.

Recording meetings or classes in German?

NoteOwl understands German on your Mac: it transcribes German recordings with unlimited transcription, labels each speaker and saves SRT subtitles with their names. For subtitles of German speech straight from a video, the German subtitle generator does that.

FAQ

Common questions about subtitles in German

Is translating subtitles to German free?

Yes, for up to 3 files a day with up to 30,000 characters of subtitle text in each. You don’t need an account, and the German file carries no watermark.

How good is the German?

In our test of translation from English, German scored clearly above the dedicated translation system we compared it with. The usual things to look at are Sie or du, names, and words for people that carry a gender.

Does it use gender-inclusive German?

Not in our test: “The teachers were tired after the trip” became “Die Lehrer waren nach der Reise müde”, the traditional masculine plural. If your audience expects “Lehrerinnen und Lehrer” or “Lehrkräfte”, edit those words.

Will the German subtitles stay in sync with the video?

Yes. Each subtitle keeps its number and its exact start and end time, so the German version plays at the same moments as your original file.

Can I see the original next to the German?

Download the bilingual SRT: every subtitle shows the original line with the German beneath it, at the same time. It helps people learning German, and it makes checking a translation quick.

Is my file uploaded?

The file is opened by your browser. Only the subtitle text is sent, in batches, to a cloud AI translation service, which returns German and discards the text. NoteOwl keeps neither file.

Keep exploring

More subtitle translator tools

The same in other tools

On your Mac

All free tools

German conversations, transcribed and searchable on your Mac

Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.

Download free

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

Last updated