SRT vs TXT is the export choice people get wrong after a perfectly fine transcription. Same words from the same audio. Different jobs. Pick wrong and you either paste a wall of caption fragments into a Google Doc, or rename a `.txt` to `.srt` and wonder why YouTube rejects it.
Related deep dives: difference between transcript and captions, what is an SRT file, how to export SRT from any transcript.
Direct answer
| Need | Export |
|---|---|
| Document to read, search, quote, or code | TXT (or DOCX/PDF) |
| Timed text on a video player or NLE | SRT (or VTT) |
| Both | Transcribe once, export twice |
If the file must show lines at exact times on screen, you need SRT (or VTT). If a human will read it as a document, you need TXT.
What TXT is
A TXT transcript is plain text. Maybe with speaker labels and occasional timestamps. No requirement for per-line start/end cues. You open it in Notepad, Notion, Word, or a coding tool. Line breaks follow reading, not screen real estate.
Use TXT when:
- Interview writeups and pull quotes
- Meeting notes and action items
- Research coding and search archives
- Podcast show notes drafts
- Anything headed into a CMS as an article
Async notes workflow: best AI tools for async meeting notes.
What SRT is
An SRT file is timed captions. Each cue has an index, a start time, an end time, and short dialogue lines. Players and editors use those times to show and hide text. Rename a TXT to SRT and you still have no timing. The player cannot invent it.
Use SRT when:
- YouTube Studio or Vimeo captions
- Premiere, DaVinci, CapCut subtitle tracks
- Webinar replay pages
- Social clips that need burned-in or soft captions
Webinar path: how to transcribe a webinar recording. MP4 path: convert MP4 to text.
Side-by-side
Timing
- TXT
- Optional / coarse
- SRT
- Required per cue
Line length
- TXT
- Full sentences OK
- SRT
- Short, readable on screen
Typical consumer
- TXT
- Humans reading
- SRT
- Video players / NLEs
Extension games
- TXT
- `.txt` is honest
- SRT
- `.txt` renamed to `.srt` is broken
Sibling format
- TXT
- DOCX, PDF
- SRT
- VTT
VTT is the web-native cousin of SRT. Same job family. See what is a VTT file.
Decision tree (30 seconds)
- Will this display on a video? Yes → SRT/VTT. No → TXT/DOCX.
- Do you need both a blog post and captions? Transcribe once on File Transcribe, export TXT and SRT.
- Do you only have a TXT with no times? You cannot make a real SRT without re-timing from the media. Re-upload the audio/video.
- Is the brief "verbatim transcript"? That usually means TXT (or a human verbatim doc), not caption-style SRT. See verbatim transcription.
How to get either from File Transcribe
- Upload the audio or video on the homepage
- Edit speakers and wording once
- Export TXT for the document job
- Sign in free and export SRT or VTT for the video job
Same transcript, two downloads. No second transcription fee for changing your mind about format.
Common mistakes
- Shipping SRT into a legal brief (ugly, hard to quote)
- Shipping TXT into YouTube's caption upload (rejected or useless)
- Captioning a rough cut, then publishing a different edit (every cue drifts)
- Asking for full verbatim inside SRT for mobile viewers (unreadable)
- Assuming DOCX "with timestamps" equals SRT (it does not)
FAQ
Is SRT better than TXT?
Neither is better. SRT is better for video. TXT is better for documents.
Can I convert TXT to SRT?
Only if the TXT already carries usable timing, or you re-transcribe the media with a tool that keeps timing. Plain prose TXT cannot become real SRT by renaming.
Should webinars export SRT or TXT?
Replay pages want SRT/VTT. Follow-up emails and CRM notes want TXT/DOCX. Export both from one upload when you need both.
Is VTT the same as SRT?
Same job family, different syntax. Most platforms accept both. Prefer what your player documents.
Does File Transcribe export both?
Yes. TXT (and other document formats) plus SRT/VTT after free signup. See pricing.
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Bottom line: Choose SRT when time on screen matters. Choose TXT when reading matters. Generate both from one upload on File Transcribe when the project needs a doc and a caption file.
Related: Transcript vs captions · How to get an SRT from a video · File Transcribe vs Happy Scribe for subtitles
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