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SUBtools
Two common text based subtitle formats are SubStation Alpha (SSA) and Advanced SubStation Alpha (ASS). These are text based subtitles that allow a significant number of formatting options, and are often found in MKV videos. The problem is that most popular hardware video players like the iPhone, Apple TV and PS3 do not recognize these subtitle formats, and they can not be mixed into MP4/M4v files. They must be converted to a simple text-based format like SRT.
The difficulty is that SRT subtitles offer no formatting capabilities, and so the conversion from a formatted text can often introduce errors. For example, an SSA subtitle can display two lines at the same time - something that might happen if a sign in the video is translated at the top of the display, while dialog is shown at the typical bottom location. This would create an error in an SRT file. Any overlap in dialog generates an error.
SUBtools is a part of the VIDEOtoolbox Suite of Applications that converts SSA/ASS subtitles into proper SRT files. It finds timing conflicts that will prevent the subtitle from being read, and shows you them in graphical format. SUBtools can usually fix many of these conflicts automatically, and it offers easy to use tools to quickly fix other conflicts manually.
Features:
- Automatically reformats SSA and ASS subtitles to the correct SRT format.
- Graphically displays dialog lines that have timing conflicts that would prevent the converted SRT subtitle from being read.
- Able to intelligently fix timing conflicts that involve dialog lines overlapping each other.
- Can manually edit start times, end times and dialog text.
- Can manually select individual subtitle lines to be excluded from the converted SRT.
- Can use SSA/ASS style labels to filter the subtitle lines to be included in the converted SRT.
System Requirements
SUBtools is Intel-only and requires Mac OS X 10.6.x or later. It has been tested on a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro with no known issues.
Acknowledgement
A big thank you to Simone Pizzuti for coming up with the new and improved icon for SUBtools. If you like the result and are looking for a graphic designer or web designer, you can contact Simone at s.pizzuti@chromaticastudio.com.