SRT to SMI converter
SAMI (.smi), Microsoft’s subtitle format for Windows Media, is still expected by some players and devices, especially in Korea. Convert an SRT file into a SAMI file with one caption class, keeping each caption’s timing, line breaks and italics.
Convert your subtitle file
Drop subtitle files here
SRT, VTT, ASS, SBV, TTML, SUB, SMI, LRC and more · up to 100 files
Or paste subtitle text
Your file is read by this page in your browser. It is not uploaded anywhere.
Letters look wrong? Choose the language group the file was made for.
MicroDVD and Spruce STL files count video frames. Choose the frame rate of the video the subtitles belong to.
Your result
The preview shows the beginning of the file. The download contains everything.
How to use it
Open the SRT file
Drop the .srt file. If Korean or other letters look broken in the preview, choose the right Text encoding first.
Check the SAMI preview
SMI (SAMI) is already selected. Every caption starts with a SYNC tag, and gaps get a clearing line.
Download the .smi file
Give it the same name as the video, such as film.mp4 and film.smi, so players load it automatically.
How SRT timing becomes SAMI
SAMI marks only when text appears. Each caption becomes a SYNC tag with its start time in milliseconds, such as <SYNC Start=1000>. When there is a gap before the next caption, an extra SYNC holding a non-breaking space, , clears the screen at the caption’s end time. Captions that follow each other directly need no clearing line.
Before and after
Two SRT captions and the SAMI file. Each caption starts at a SYNC in milliseconds, a SYNC with clears the screen at each end time, the line break becomes <br>, and the italic tags stay as they are.
1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500
<i>Where were you last night?</i>
2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,250
At the station,
waiting for you & the kids.<SAMI>
<HEAD>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
<!--
P { margin-left: 8pt; margin-right: 8pt; margin-bottom: 2pt; margin-top: 2pt; text-align: center; font-size: 20pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: white; }
.SUBTTL { Name: Subtitles; lang: und; SAMIType: CC; }
-->
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<SYNC Start=1000><P Class=SUBTTL><i>Where were you last night?</i></P></SYNC>
<SYNC Start=3500><P Class=SUBTTL> </P></SYNC>
<SYNC Start=4000><P Class=SUBTTL>At the station,<br>waiting for you & the kids.</P></SYNC>
<SYNC Start=6250><P Class=SUBTTL> </P></SYNC>
</BODY>
</SAMI>What the file holds
The head has a short style block: centered white Arial text at 20 points, and one caption class called SUBTTL with the language set to und, meaning undetermined. To label the language, change Name and lang in that class, for example to Name: Korean and lang: ko-KR.
Line breaks become <br>, and italic, bold and underline stay as <i>, <b> and <u>. Characters such as & and < are written as & and <. The file is saved as UTF-8; if a very old player shows broken letters, save a copy in its regional encoding with a text editor.
Need it the other way round? Use the SMI to SRT converter. More about these formats: Why subtitles show strange characters, and how to fix the encoding
Questions and answers
Can one SMI file hold two languages?
SAMI can, but this converter writes one language. To show two languages together, combine two SRT files with the subtitle merger first, then convert the result.
Why does the file have lines?
They clear the screen. SAMI has no end times, so a SYNC with a single space ends the caption before it.
Are italics kept in the SAMI file?
Yes. Italic, bold and underline are written as <i>, <b> and <u> tags, which SAMI players read like HTML.