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Fix SRT encoding and accents online

Drag an .srt or .vtt file here, or click to choose

The file is read in your browser and is not uploaded to any server.

How to use it

  1. Drag in an .srt or .vtt file, or paste the caption text.
  2. Check the before and after on up to three lines and any warning about letters that are already lost.
  3. Pick the line ending and download as UTF-8 with BOM or without BOM.

Why é appears instead of é

In UTF-8 each accented letter takes two bytes. If a program reads those bytes as Windows-1252, it shows two symbols instead of one letter: "é" becomes "é" and "ñ" becomes "ñ". The tool reverses this: it turns the text back into bytes and decodes them as UTF-8, keeping the result only when it is valid.

Files saved as ANSI (Windows-1252) and UTF-16 are also read correctly. Mac Roman files are not detected and can come out with swapped letters.

With BOM or without BOM?

A BOM is a three-byte mark at the start of a file that helps some Windows programs recognize UTF-8. Other programs show it as stray characters. If an editor does not show your accents, try the BOM version; if you see symbols at the very start, use the version without BOM.

What cannot be fixed

If the file already contains "?" or "�" in place of letters, the original information is gone. The tool flags those lines, but the fix is to generate the captions again from the audio.

Frequently asked questions

Is my file uploaded to a server?

No. Reading, repairing and downloading all happen in your browser. You can go offline after the page loads and the tool keeps working.

Why does my SRT show é instead of é?

A UTF-8 file was read as Windows-1252. The tool reverses that and saves the file as UTF-8.

Should I download with or without BOM?

Start with BOM if your editor does not show accents. Use the version without BOM if you see symbols at the start of the file.

Does it work for Spanish, French and German?

Yes. The repair is language independent: it fixes the encoding of ñ, é, ü, ß and other non-ASCII letters.

Read next

Like it? Generate the SRT straight from audio, with the right encoding.

Get UTF-8 SRT files with at most 2 lines of 42 characters per caption. 10 free minutes at sign-up.

Generate SRT captions

Using CapCut? See captions for CapCut.