How to translate SRT subtitles to English without changing timings

If you already have a Japanese SRT file, you can translate its caption text into English and retain the original cue times. Start with a small sample, then review the translated captions alongside your video.

See exactly what changes

This original example uses two Japanese cooking captions. The English version below was generated in our live runtime test and is supplied as a fixed example. Your own translation may use different wording.

1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,000
今日はおにぎりを作ります。

2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,000
炊いたご飯に少し塩を加えます。

1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,000
Today, I will make rice balls.

2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,000
Add a little salt to the cooked rice.

The two time ranges are identical. The program rebuilds them from the original file rather than asking AI to generate timestamps. Timing preservation does not guarantee that longer English text will be comfortable to read.

Translate your own SRT file in six steps

1. Prepare your captions. Use 1–3 basic UTF-8 .srt or .vtt files. Each file must be at most 40 KB, with at most 6,000 subtitle-text characters and 100 cues across the batch. Remove cue markup, styles and positioning settings.
2. Check the files locally. Open the AI subtitle translator, select your files and choose “Check files locally.” This check makes no AI translation request.
3. Choose English and the export format. Select SRT to keep the .srt format, or WebVTT for a .vtt export. One attempt uses one target language for all selected files.
4. Buy a translation pack when ready. The one-time US$5 pack includes 10 translation attempts. Gumroad handles payment and delivers a purchase license. The final price and applicable taxes are shown at checkout.
5. Enter the license and agree to processing. After confirming you have permission to process the subtitles, select “Translate subtitles” once and keep the page open. Subtitle contents reach Cloudflare, caption text reaches OpenAI and the license is verified with Gumroad.
6. Review and download. Check the wording in the preview, download individual files or a ZIP, and play the subtitles with your video. Successful results are not saved for later recovery.

Check the English captions before publishing

• Check names, numbers, food terms and any instructions against the original meaning.
• Watch the full clip with captions enabled. Look for text that is too long for the time available.
• Adjust line breaks in your editor and check how your destination player displays them.
• Keep the original captions so you can compare or revise the translation.

Translation and format conversion do different jobs

Common questions

Can I translate SRT for free?

The fixed translated demo and local file checks are free. Live translation of your own captions requires the translation pack. The downloadable English example above is already translated.

Does a failed translation use an attempt?

An attempt is reserved after your purchase is verified and before the AI call. An interrupted or failed request may consume one. If this happens, contact support for a replacement before retrying.

Can I translate into languages other than English?

Yes. The tool supports English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, Portuguese and Italian. Translating the same batch into another target language uses another attempt.

Will it translate my video or publish the subtitles?

No. It translates existing subtitle text and returns files for download. Audio transcription, dubbing and automatic posting are not included. You decide where to use your reviewed export.