Import ASS or SSA and export SRT, VTT or TXT

Decide whether a text-and-timing copy is enough

Use this workflow when you need ordinary captions or a text transcript from an ASS/SSA source. If precise typesetting, animated signs or karaoke effects are essential, keep the original and continue in a native ASS editor.

Aegisub documents ASS override tags for presentation and the hard line break \N. CueRefine extracts readable dialogue and line breaks; it does not reproduce the original presentation. The linked format reference explains the source syntax, not a promise of full support here.

Import and review the losses

Import requires UTF-8 and accepts .ass or .ssa files up to 2 MiB and 10,000 event records. A file with no readable cues is rejected without replacing the current draft.

1. Open the file in the subtitle workspace. Read the Import ASS/SSA as text and timing dialog before confirming.
2. Check the readable cue count and the listed omissions. Fonts, styles, positioning, layers, effects and karaoke are not rendered. Comments, drawing-only and empty events do not become playable cues.
3. Choose Import text and timing to load the working copy, or Cancel to keep your current work. Mixed text/drawing events retain readable text; drawing portions are omitted.
4. Review any diagnostics. Partially malformed events block processed export, even if other cues could be read.

Edit and choose SRT, VTT or TXT

Imported ASS/SSA uses the same text/time editor, local-media preview, search and repair tools as other files. The preview shows the extracted captions, not ASS typesetting.

1. Select a cue to edit its text or start/end time and save the change.
2. Choose VTT to SRT for SRT output or SRT to VTT for VTT output. The tab names describe the common conversion routes; both accept the shared ASS/SSA working copy.
3. Choose Plain text for TXT without timestamps. When using Shift timing with an ASS/SSA source, the saved subtitle download is SRT.
4. Review Export summary and format losses, then download and check the result in your destination player.

Keep the original and edited result distinct

Download original preserves the imported ASS/SSA byte for byte, including its original effects. It never includes edits made in CueRefine. Downloading an original ASS and an edited SRT gives you two different files with different purposes.

The synthetic example below has two lines of readable text and one italic override. The SRT output retains the two lines and times but does not carry the italic styling. Download the sample to reproduce it in the workspace.

ASS dialogue text
{\i1}Hello there.{\i0}\N你好。

SRT output
1
00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:03,400
Hello there.
你好。