Upload your file.
Drop in an .srt or .vtt under 2 MB, with 1 to 5,000 cues.
Translate a subtitle file. Keep the timing.
Upload an SRT or VTT file, pick a language, and Cue translates the words in place. Your cue order and timestamps do not move, because they never leave Cue.
THE IMPORTANT PART
Keeping the timing when you translate
When translating a subtitle file, its timing and cue order need to stay intact. Cue sends the cue text for translation and reapplies the original timing.
HOW IT WORKS
Four steps to a file you can use.
Choose the language.
Pick from 20 translation languages, and add names, places, or terms you want kept consistent in the glossary field.
Cue translates the text.
Only cue IDs and text go to the translation model. The timestamps stay in Cue.
Review and export.
Read the translation beside your original, fix anything that needs fixing, and export SRT, VTT, or TXT.
A CLEAR BOUNDARY
What stays and what can change
Stays exactly where it was: the number of cues, the cue order, and every start and end timestamp.
Changes: the words. Machine translation can shift tone, idiom, or the exact shade of meaning, and a translated line is often longer than the original.
Format: translation rewrites the text inside the parsed cues. Styling and format metadata in the original file, such as inline tags and VTT NOTE, STYLE, or REGION blocks, are not carried over, and the export is a clean SRT, VTT, or TXT file.
Also worth knowing: Cue keeps your original timing, so it does not re-time cues for reading speed. If a translated line is too long to read comfortably, edit the text or the cue times before you export.
A REAL BEFORE AND AFTER
Sample before and after
All 22 cues kept their start and end timestamps. The full comparison is in the CSV.
| Cue | Source (English) | Cue output (Spanish) | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome to the city market. | Bienvenido al mercado de la ciudad. | 00:00:00,500 to 00:00:03,200 in both files |
| 2 | Every Saturday morning, the stalls open at eight. | Todos los sábados por la mañana, los puestos abren a las ocho. | 00:00:03,600 to 00:00:06,800 in both files |
| 3 | Farmers arrive with fresh vegetables and warm bread. | Los agricultores llegan con verduras frescas y pan caliente. | 00:00:07,200 to 00:00:10,400 in both files |
Download the source SRT (English)Download the translated SRT (Spanish)Download the cue-by-cue timestamp comparison (CSV)
Both files are plain SRT text. The translated file uses the same cue numbers, start times, and end times as the source file.
One row per cue, with the source and output start and end times in milliseconds and the difference between them.
Sample: Cue’s output for a 22-cue English to Spanish test file, generated on 8 September 2026 by our translation pipeline in a local evaluation build. Cue order and timestamps came back unchanged. One small sample of one language pair, not a benchmark.
THE DETAILS
Questions worth answering.
Does Cue translate VTT files too?
Yes. SRT and VTT go through the same steps and cost the same.
Will my timestamps change?
No. Cue sends only cue IDs and text to the translation model, then puts the translated text back on your cues in order. If the model returns a different number of cues or a different order, Cue rejects the result instead of guessing.
Which subtitle formats can I upload?
.srt and .vtt, under 2 MB, with 1 to 5,000 cues and up to 3,000 characters per cue. Other formats such as ASS, SSA, SBV, or TTML are not supported; convert them to SRT first.
Which languages can I translate into?
20: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Polish.
What is the glossary field for?
Drop in names, places, and product terms and Cue will keep them in mind while translating. It is optional and capped at 2,000 characters.
How do I know the translation is any good?
We publish our own test result instead of a promise: in the 22-cue English to Spanish sample above, every cue kept its meaning, and the wording differed from our reference translation only in style. That is one small sample of one language pair, not a benchmark. Machine translation can misread names, technical terms, and humor, so read the file before you publish it.
How much does subtitle translation cost?
1 credit per 1,000 characters of subtitle text, rounded up. Timing lines and cue numbers are not counted. A file containing 900 characters of subtitle text costs 1 credit, and one containing 1,400 characters costs 2. New accounts start with 5 free credits, and editing and exports are always free.
Where does my file go?
Projects are private to your account, and Cue does not train its own models on your uploads. Subtitle text goes to Fal.ai for processing when you ask for translation, and their terms apply. You can delete a project in Settings at any time. The privacy page has the details.
Can I edit the translated lines?
Yes. Open the project, click a line, and edit the text, the start time, or the end time. Your original stays alongside the translation, and exports have no watermark.
Do I need an account?
To translate your own file, yes, because translation uses credits. To look around first, open the demo. It loads a sample project you can edit and export without signing up.