How to translate an SRT file
- Open the SRT. Drop the .srt file into the box above. Any SRT works: from YouTube, a video editor, a download, or SubForge's own captions.
- Choose the language to translate to. Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Portuguese or French from English, or any of them back to English.
- Translate. Sentences that run across several subtitles are translated as one, so the grammar holds; the result is shared back over the same subtitles.
- Download the translated SRT. Same numbering, same timings, lines re-wrapped to fit. Load it in YouTube Studio, Premiere, Resolve or CapCut as a second subtitle track.
What an SRT file looks like after translation
The numbering and every 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,900 line stay exactly as they were; only the text under them changes. Lines are re-balanced so neither row of a two-row subtitle is much longer than the other, and none goes over 42 characters where the translation allows it.
Uploading the translated SRT
- YouTube: YouTube Studio → Subtitles → your video → Add language → Upload file → With timing.
- Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve: import the .srt and drop it on a subtitle track.
- CapCut: Text → Captions → Import, or use it as a second language track.
- HTML5 video: convert it with SRT to VTT first.
How it keeps subtitles readable
A subtitle often holds half a sentence, and a translation model given half a sentence translates it badly. So the tool first joins subtitles into whole sentences (it stops at a full stop, a question mark, a pause of a second or six subtitles), translates each sentence, and then shares the translation back over the original subtitles in proportion to how much of the sentence each one held, breaking between words and preferring a break after a comma. Every subtitle keeps its own start and end time.
Translations are often longer than the original: Spanish and French run about 20% longer than English. Each subtitle is re-wrapped to at most two balanced rows of 42 characters, the broadcast norm. When a translation can't fit in two rows, the tool says how many lines need shortening and marks them in the list so you can fix them before downloading.
Two models, both free to use
- Fast: Opus-MT from the University of Helsinki (Apache-2.0). One small model per direction, about 115 MB, runs on the CPU in any modern browser. Good between English and Spanish, French or Portuguese, and from Arabic into English; usable for English to Arabic and Hindi to English, and only a rough draft for English to Hindi.
- Best: Hy-MT2-1.8B from Tencent (2026, Apache-2.0). One 1.4 GB model for all 33 of its languages, run on your graphics card with WebGPU. Much better than Fast for Hindi in both directions, about the same for Arabic, and the only option for Urdu. It translates eight sentences at a time: on a desktop graphics card (RTX 5060 Ti) the subtitles of a 10-minute video take about 1 minute into English and 2 to 3 minutes into Hindi or Urdu, after the one-time download. The tool shows an estimate for your file before it starts.
We don't use Meta's NLLB, the usual choice for in-browser translation: its licence (CC BY-NC) forbids commercial use.
Quality by language pair
| Pair | Fast (Opus-MT) | Best (Hy-MT2) |
|---|---|---|
| English → Spanish | 55 Good | 57 Good |
| Spanish → English | 58 Good | — |
| English → French | 71 Good | — |
| French → English | 64 Good | — |
| English → Portuguese | 68 Good | — |
| Portuguese → English | 64 Good | — |
| English → Hindi | 31 Rough draft | 49 Usable |
| Hindi → English | 45 Usable | 62 Good |
| English → Arabic | 53 Usable | 55 Usable |
| Arabic → English | 60 Good | 61 Good |
| English → Urdu | — | 44 Rough draft |
| Urdu → English | — | 58 Good |
chrF score (0-100, higher is better) on sentences from the FLORES-101 test set (40 for Fast, 15 for Best), measured by us in November 2026. Good is 55 and up, Usable 45 to 55, Rough draft under 45. “—”: no model for that direction (Opus-MT has no Urdu model for the browser). Other pairs, such as Spanish → Hindi, go through English with Fast, or directly with Best.
More free subtitle tools
- Auto captions: make the SRT from your video first, then translate it here.
- SRT to VTT and VTT to SRT: switch formats for your player.
- Remove silence from video: cut the pauses and fillers, with subtitles re-timed.
- Urdu, Spanish and Arabic subtitle generators: subtitles straight from speech in that language.
Privacy
Your subtitles are translated by your browser on this page. The file is not uploaded, stored or seen by anyone. The only downloads are the translation models, once; your browser keeps them for next time.
Questions
How do I translate an SRT file for free?
Drop the .srt into the tool on this page, pick the language to translate to, press Translate and download the result. No account and no upload.
Can I translate an SRT file to Urdu or Hindi?
Yes. Urdu needs the Best model (WebGPU in Chrome or Edge on a desktop); Hindi works with either, and Best is noticeably better. Check every line: these pairs are the hardest for machine translation.
Will the translated SRT stay in sync?
Yes. The timings are copied exactly; only the text is translated.
What about SRT files in other languages?
Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Portuguese and French SRT files can be translated into English or into each other.
Is my subtitle file uploaded?
No. The models run in your browser and the file never leaves your device.
Is it free?
Yes, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on the number of files. Very long files take longer but work the same way.
Will the timings change?
No. Every subtitle keeps its start and end time; only the text is replaced and re-wrapped.
How good is the translation?
It depends on the pair, so the tool shows a measured note for each one. Spanish, French and Portuguese to English read well; Hindi and Urdu need the Best model; English to Urdu and to Hindi are still drafts that need a fluent read-through. Machine translation gets names, idioms and slang wrong: always check before you publish.
Why is the Best model not available?
It needs WebGPU with 16-bit float support, which recent Chrome and Edge have on most desktops and laptops. On other browsers and on most phones, use Fast; Urdu needs Best.