Shift Subtitle Timing

What this does

When subtitles are consistently early or late, every cue is off by the same amount. Rather than re-transcribing, shift the whole track by a fixed offset — the fix takes seconds and keeps the original text intact.

How to use it

1. Paste or drop your subtitle file.
2. Enter an offset such as +2.5 or -1.2 (seconds), or type a value directly in milliseconds.
3. Download the corrected file. Cues that would start before zero are clamped to 00:00:00.

Offset or resampling? Two different sync problems

Subtitles fall out of sync in two different ways, and they need different fixes. Tell them apart by checking a cue near the start of the file and another near the end.

Constant offset. Both cues are wrong by the same amount — for example every line appears two seconds late. This is what this tool fixes: apply one offset and the whole track lines up.

Progressive drift. The first cue is nearly right and the last one is badly wrong, with the error growing through the file. That is a frame-rate mismatch, usually 23.976 fps against 25 fps, and no single offset can fix it. The file needs resampling to the video's frame rate instead.

If you shift a drifting file until the middle lines up, you make both ends worse. Confirm which problem you have before entering an offset.

Worked example

1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000
Hello there.

2
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,000
How are you?

1
00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:06,500
Hello there.

2
00:00:06,700 --> 00:00:09,500
How are you?

Enter +2.5 and every start and end time moves 2.5 seconds later. The text is untouched — only the timing changes.

FAQ

Troubleshooting

1. All the cues piled up at 00:00:00The offset is too large and negative. Cues cannot start before zero, so they are clamped. Reduce the offset and check the first cue.
2. Subtitles drift progressively out of syncA fixed offset cannot fix drift. Drift means the subtitle frame rate differs from the video — typically 23.976 against 25 fps — which needs resampling, not shifting.
3. The picture and sound are out of sync with each otherThis tool only moves subtitles. Correct the audio delay in your video first, then resync the captions against the corrected video.
4. The offset box rejects my valueEnter a decimal number of seconds such as 2.5, or whole milliseconds in the second box. Timecode strings like 00:00:02,500 are not accepted here.

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