The individual subtitles in files in SUB (preSub) format consist of a single line. The lines are separated from each other by paragraph marks and must have the following form:
- §
- {0}{50}Sample subtitle text
The first and last frame in which the text should be displayed are shown between curly frames. The subtitle text is shown after them, without a space between.
The SRT (SubRip) subtitle format consists of 3-line blocks. They are separated from each other by empty breaks and must have the following format:
- §
- 1
Continuous number that begins with one and is increased by one for each block.
- §
- 00:01:36,480 –> 00:01:38,360
The first time indication specifies in hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds when the text begins to be displayed.
An arrow that consists of two hyphens and a angle bracket follows, separated by a space.
After another space, the time indication that specifies when the text should cease to be displayed follows.
- §
- Sample subtitle text
Contains the subtitle’s text.
The SMI (SAMI) subtitle format is based on HTML syntax. Milliseconds are used as the basis for time values. This format is a standard developed by Microsoft and is intended mainly for the use of subtitles in videos. SMI can only be played back with Windows Media Player and other Microsoft products.
The subtitle format SSA (Sub Station Alpha) has the widest range of functionality. The syntax consists of sections and the included code lines. The sections begin with a bracket (e.g. “[Script Info]“) followed by predefined code lines (e.g. Title, Original timing), containing the respective information. This allows the use of colors, fonts, font sizes and similar.
The subtitle format ASS (Advanced Sub Station Alpha) is an enhanced version of SSA and offers all the features of SSA. It also allows subtitles to be graphically edited, e.g. for Karaoke.
The PSB (MPsub) subtitle format was developed for the Mplayer, a movie player for Linux. Its main feature is the use of dynamic time dependencies. The code consists of numbers and of the subtitle’s text. The first number in the code represents the waiting time, in seconds, for the next subtitle to be displayed after the last subtitle has elapsed. The second number shows the current subtitle for the time, in seconds, that it represents.
See also