Edit and replace a subtitle file

If you are the original uploader of a video on the Video Portal (i.e the video appears in your My Videos list) you can replace the existing subtitle file with another valid VTT file.

This can be useful if you need to correct errors in the existing file.

PLEASE NOTE – you must use a plain text editor to edit the subtitle file, do not use Microsoft Word, or other rich-text editors, as this will add incorrect formatting and the subtitles will not display in the player.

The process for editing/replacing subtitle is:

 

Download existing VTT file > Edit in a text editor > Upload to replace

 

If a video does not yet have subtitles generated or it, you will first need to request these by clicking the ‘Options‘ button under the video and selecting ‘Request subtitles‘.

Once subtitles are available, follow the steps below to edit and replace them.

Download the existing subtitle (.vtt) file

1. If the video already has subtitles generated for it, you can download them from the Video Portal by clicking the ‘Options‘ button under the video and selecting ‘Download subtitles‘. The file will have a .vtt extension.
2. A VTT file can be opened in any text editor, such as Notepad on Windows, or Textedit on a Mac. Do not use Microsoft Word or other rich-text editors, as this will add incompatible formatting to the file, and the subtitles will not display.
3. The VTT file will contain the timings and subtitle text to be displayed. It is not recommended to edit the timings unless you are familiar with how to do so – but you can modify any of the text as necessary. There are some tools available to assist in editing subtitle files, such as:
   • VTT Creator – can be used in the browser
   • Gaupol subtitle editor – needs to be downloaded and installed

Editing and saving on Windows

1. Go to the start menu and type in ‘notepad’, you should be able to open the app as a blank window
2. Click File > Open.
3. At the bottom of right of the window there is a drop down menu that defaults to “Text Documents (*.txt)”, change this to “All Files (*.*)”. You should now be able to select your downloaded .vtt subtitle file and edit the text within notepad. Leave the timestamps as they are.
4. Once finished, save the file. It should keep the .vtt extension automatically. If it does not, ensure you select “All files (*.*)” in the ‘Save as type’ box, and add .vtt at the end of your filename.

The video below takes you through the steps of editing a VTT files in Windows.

Editing and saving on a Mac

1. Double-click the downloaded VTT file to open it in textedit and edit as necessary.
2. The file should save with the .vtt extension automatically but if it does not, choose Format > Make plain text from the menu and select File > Save as.
3. In the ‘Save as’ dialog box, add .vtt at the end of the filename and click Save.

Upload edited subtitle file to Video Portal

The edited subtitle file can now be uploaded to replace the existing subtitles on the Video Portal following the instructions below.

1. Log into the My Videos tab and switch to the Manage Videos view.
2. Find the video in the list and click details on the right hand side.
3. On the edit video page, where it says ‘Replace subtitles’ at the bottom, click the “choose file” button and select your edited VTT file.
4. Click Update to save your changes.
5. Once processing is complete, you should see the updated subtitles appear on the Video Portal. This process can take up to ten minutes to occur, so if the subtitles are not available after this time, it is possible there was a problem, so you can contact us to let us know.

The video below takes you through the steps of replacing a subtitle file on the Video Portal.