After you bring a subtitle file (.srt) exported from Subanana into editing software such as Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, you may run into two common issues: the subtitle timing doesn't match the picture, or the subtitles come in tiny with no styling at all. This usually isn't a problem with the subtitle file itself — it comes down to how the SRT format works and how your editing software is set up. This article explains the common causes and how to address them.
💡 Exporting .srt subtitle files is a paid-plan feature. The Free plan does not support downloading subtitle files — it can only export videos with burned-in subtitles, and videos exported on the Free plan are capped at 720p, carry the default watermark, and include only the first 5 minutes of the video.
Why is the subtitle timing out of sync with the picture?
An SRT file records each subtitle's start and end times as timecodes (hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds — for example, 00:01:23,400). When importing, your editing software places these times onto the timeline according to the settings of the sequence you created.
If the subtitle timing doesn't match the picture, the common things to check are:
The sequence frame rate doesn't match the original footage. Check the actual frame rate of your original video footage (you can see it under "Interpret Footage" in Premiere, or in the clip info in Final Cut), make sure the sequence/project frame rate matches the footage, and then import the subtitles. Fractional frame rates (such as 23.976 or 29.97) mixed with whole-number settings (24, 30) are especially prone to drift.
The subtitles don't correspond to the version currently on your timeline. If the video has been cut, trimmed, or re-aligned, subtitles generated against the timing of the full original video will no longer line up with the new version. Import them against the same version of the video the subtitles were generated from.
If you only notice the mismatch after importing, you can delete the imported subtitles, fix the sequence settings, and re-import the SRT.
If it still won't line up after these adjustments, let us know what's happening and we can help investigate further.
Why do the subtitles come in tiny, with no styling?
The SRT format records only the subtitle text and timecodes — it carries no styling information at all (font, size, color, position, outline, and so on). So after importing into Premiere / Final Cut, the subtitles take on the editing software's default caption appearance, which often looks small or doesn't fit your layout. This is normal, not a corrupted subtitle file.
You can:
In your editing software, select the imported subtitles (captions/titles) and adjust the font, size, color, and position yourself to apply the styling you need.
If you don't plan to do any further styling in your editing software, export a video with burned-in subtitles instead. In the Subanana editor you can adjust the subtitles' font, size, color, position, and other styling, and these styles are rendered onto the picture when the video is exported — no need to apply them again in editing software. Paid plans can export burned-in subtitle videos at up to 4K and can hide the default watermark; the Free plan is capped at 720p, carries the default watermark, and outputs only the first 5 minutes of the video.
In other words, subtitle styling settings only apply to videos with burned-in subtitles exported from Subanana; the .srt subtitle file itself contains no styling, so after importing it into editing software you need to set up the appearance within that software.
Proofread in the editor before exporting
Whether you end up exporting an .srt to take into your editing software or exporting a video with burned-in subtitles, we recommend a proofreading pass in the Subanana editor first: subtitles are generated automatically by AI, and accuracy varies with the language and audio quality. The editor lets you edit the subtitle text line by line — proofreading before you export reduces the time spent redoing things in your editing software.
If you still have questions, contact us at hello@subanana.com or via the in-app live chat.