Convert YouTube SBV Captions to SubRip (.srt)

.sbv (SubViewer) is the caption format YouTube Studio offers when you download a video's captions, whether auto-generated or manually uploaded. It encodes the same basic idea as SRT, a timed list of caption text, but with a leaner syntax: each block is just a timing line followed by one or more lines of text, with no cue number at all. The timing line itself looks like 0:00:04.160,0:00:06.770, a start and end timestamp joined directly by a comma, using a period before milliseconds and no --> arrow.

SubToolDesk's converter parses that structure locally in your browser, assigns each block a clean sequential index (SRT requires one; SBV has none), and reformats every timestamp into SRT's HH:MM:SS,mmm --> HH:MM:SS,mmm shape. No file ever leaves your device.

How to convert SBV to SRT (step-by-step)

• In YouTube Studio, open Subtitles for your video, then use the options menu next to a caption track and choose Download > .sbv.
• Drop that .sbv file onto the converter above, or paste its contents into the left pane.
• Confirm the format badge detects SBV.
• Press Download to save a correctly-formatted .srt file, or Copy to paste it elsewhere.

Why convert SBV to SRT

YouTube will happily re-upload a .sbv file as a caption track, but almost nothing else expects that format. Converting is usually about one of these:

• Reason: Your video editor's subtitle import, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut, doesn't recognize .sbv at all and expects .srt.
• Reason: A localization vendor or captioning service requests SRT as their standard intake format, regardless of where the original captions came from.
• Reason: You downloaded auto-generated YouTube captions to repurpose on another platform (an ad server, an LMS, a second streaming service) that only accepts .srt.
• Reason: You want cue numbers added so the file is easier to reference or edit in a dedicated subtitle editor like Aegisub or Subtitle Edit, which expect them.
• Reason: You're archiving the captions in the more universally supported format so the file still opens in whatever software you're using years from now.

Before and after: a real example

A short SBV export from YouTube Studio, no cue numbers, comma-joined timestamps, converted to SRT:

0:00:06.120,0:00:09.400
Happy to be here, thanks for having me.

0:00:09.600,0:00:12.800
Let's get started with the agenda.

1
00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,400
Happy to be here, thanks for having me.

2
00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,800
Let's get started with the agenda.

Each block gained a sequential cue number, the comma between the two timestamps became a --> arrow, and the period before milliseconds became a comma, SRT's required separator. The dialogue text itself is untouched.

The SBV format, byte for byte

A single SBV block looks like this, no cue number, no arrow:

0:00:03.500,0:00:06.120
Thanks for joining the call today.

The two timestamps are joined by a single comma with no surrounding spaces, each in H:MM:SS.mmm form (hours aren't zero-padded). One or more lines of caption text follow directly beneath, and a blank line separates each block from the next. SubToolDesk renumbers every block sequentially on export, since SRT requires an unbroken index starting at 1 and SBV has no index at all.

Why this still matters for YouTube creators

SBV is essentially a legacy format, it predates WebVTT and is specific to YouTube's caption pipeline, but it's still the first option in YouTube Studio's download menu for a lot of editors, which means it keeps showing up as the starting point whenever someone needs to move captions off the platform. SRT, by contrast, is accepted almost everywhere else: desktop editors, streaming platforms, ad servers, and subtitle-upload forms built long before WebVTT or SBV existed.

Nothing leaves your browser

Because the conversion is pure text transformation (no video processing, no network call to YouTube or anywhere else), it runs instantly and entirely client-side. Your caption file, and whatever dialogue it contains, never leaves your device just to be reformatted.

What this converter preserves and removes

Preserved:

• Every word of dialogue text, in its original order.
• Millisecond-precise timing for every cue.
• One block per cue, in the original order.

Added or changed:

• A sequential cue number before each block, starting at 1, since SBV has none and SRT requires one.
• The comma joining the two timestamps becomes a --> arrow.
• The period before milliseconds in each timestamp becomes a comma, SRT's required separator.

Common problems and how to fix them

• The format badge reads Unknown instead of SBV: SBV is detected by its bare H:MM:SS.mmm,H:MM:SS.mmm timing line; a truncated paste that cuts off mid-timestamp, or one with extra characters on that line, can break detection.
• Cue numbers look wrong or out of order: that's expected if the source had none; SRT requires them, so the converter always generates a clean sequential index regardless of anything in the original file.
• The player rejects the converted file or stops after the first cue: confirm the format badge read SBV before conversion; a badly truncated paste can break cue detection and produce a block with a missing or malformed timing line.
• Accented letters or non-English text show up as garbled characters like é: the source .sbv wasn't saved as UTF-8; re-export or re-save it as UTF-8 and re-upload.