shycut

Create an SRT subtitle file from your video

Shycut listens to your video on your own device and writes the speech as timed subtitle lines. Fix any word, then download a standard SRT file for YouTube, Vimeo or any video player. The video itself is never uploaded.

Drop your video here

Choose your video

MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV. It opens right here, on your device.

  • Nothing uploaded
  • No sign-up
  • No watermark
A man at a laptop in a library with a caption at the bottom of the frame, next to the numbered, timed lines of the SRT file that caption becomes

How it works

  1. Drop your video

    MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV: a talk, a lesson, an interview or a vlog. It opens in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

  2. The speech is written

    It starts as the video opens: a Whisper speech model, downloaded once, transcribes the speech on your device and detects the language. On mobile data it waits for your tap. Nothing is burned into the picture.

  3. Check and download

    Tap any line to fix a word, then choose “Download SRT”. The file is offered again next to your finished video.

What you get

A standard SRT file
Numbered lines with a start and end time each, the format YouTube, Vimeo and most players and editors read.
Fix it before you download
Tap a line to correct a misheard name or word, or remove a line you don’t need.
Timed to your edit
Cut silences or parts by hand and the SRT times follow the shorter video you export.
Language detected for you
Whisper recognises about a hundred languages. If the guess is wrong, pick the language and create it again.
Chapters from the same speech
Shycut can suggest YouTube chapters from the captions, ready to copy into your video description.
Nothing uploaded
The audio is transcribed in your browser. There is no account, no watermark and no server in between.

When you need an SRT file

YouTube and Vimeo uploads

Add the SRT as a subtitle track. Viewers switch it on when they need it, and the picture stays clean when they don’t.

Courses and training videos

Learning platforms and video players that accept subtitle files let learners read along with every lesson.

Handing off to a translator

Give the SRT to someone who translates it line by line, keeping the timing that already fits your video.

Transcripts and notes

An SRT is plain text. Open it in any editor to quote a talk, write a summary or find a moment by its words.

What an SRT file is, and why upload one instead of burning text in

An SRT file is the simplest kind of subtitle file: plain text, made of numbered cues. Each cue has its number on the first line, then the times it appears and disappears, written like 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,900, then one or two lines of text and an empty line before the next cue. Because the format is so simple, nearly every video platform, player and editor can read it, and you can open it in any text editor.

Burned-in captions become part of the picture: they are always on, at one size, and fixing a typo means exporting the whole video again. An SRT file travels next to the video instead. Viewers switch it on or off, the player draws it at a size that suits the screen, and people who are deaf or hard of hearing get the words in a way their player handles. The text stays text, so the platform can read it, and you can correct a line later without touching the video.

Many online SRT generators ask you to upload the video so a server can transcribe it. Shycut runs the Whisper speech model inside your browser, downloaded once and kept for next time. It writes the speech with a time for every word, groups the words into readable lines and detects the language. If the guess is wrong, pick the language and choose “Create in this language”. The SRT is always in the spoken language; Shycut does not translate it.

Before you download, read the lines once. Tap a line to fix a name or a misheard word, and remove any line you don’t want. If you also cut silences or parts of the video, the SRT is timed to the edited video, not the original, so upload it together with the MP4 you export from Shycut. You can burn the same captions into the video as well, for example for a short vertical version.

Tips for a clean SRT

Private by construction

Runs on your device
Your browser decodes, analyses and encodes the video. There is no server to send it to.
Nothing is uploaded
The counter in the header measures every byte this page sends. It stays at zero.
Location data wiped
Phones hide GPS positions inside videos. The exported file never carries them.

Questions

What is an SRT file?

A plain text subtitle file. Each entry has a number, a start and end time such as 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,900, and the words spoken in that moment. Video platforms and players read it and show the words over the video.

Is my video uploaded to create the SRT?

No. The speech model runs in your browser and the audio is transcribed on your device. Only the model is downloaded, once: about 100 MB for “Fast” or 300 MB for “Accurate”.

Can I add the SRT file to YouTube?

Yes. In YouTube Studio, open the video’s subtitles, upload the file and choose the option with timing. Vimeo and most other platforms that accept subtitle files take an SRT in a similar way.

Will the SRT still match after I cut silences?

Yes, as long as you use it with the video you exported from Shycut. The SRT times follow your cuts, so every line appears when it is spoken in the shorter video.

Which languages can it transcribe, and can it translate?

Whisper recognises about a hundred languages, and Shycut detects the spoken one automatically. It always transcribes in the spoken language and does not translate. Translation is on our roadmap; until then, a translator can work from your SRT.

Can I get burned-in captions and an SRT from the same video?

Yes. Choose “Burn captions into the video” for the MP4 and also choose “Download SRT”. Both come from the same lines, including any fixes you made.

Your video stays with you.

Open Shycut, drop the video in and export. Free, with no account, and your video never leaves your device.

Choose your video

More free tools