Remove special characters from an SRT file

Delete emoji and hidden characters from your SRT or VTT file, and straighten curly quotes. Letters of every language stay.

How to remove special characters from subtitles

  1. Add your file

    Drop the SRT or VTT file that has strange characters into the box.

  2. Choose what to clean

    The list shows each character in the file, with its count. Clear a box to keep that kind of character.

  3. Download

    Click Remove characters, then Download. Every letter stays in the file.

When to use Remove special characters

  • A video platform rejects your subtitle file because it has emoji.
  • A word search finds nothing, though the word is on the screen. A hidden character is inside it.
  • Your video editor shows curly quotes as empty boxes.
  • The first subtitle of your file breaks because the file starts with a byte order mark.
  • A translation tool added non-breaking spaces, and lines break in odd places.

Common questions

How do I remove special characters from an SRT file?

Add the file here and read the list of characters that the tool found. Keep the boxes that you want, click Remove characters, and download the new file.

How do I remove emoji from subtitles?

Keep the box Emoji checked. The tool removes each emoji, its skin tone, and the spaces around it. Music notes such as ♪ stay.

Can I remove all non-ASCII characters?

No. That would delete accents and the letters of most languages. This tool removes only emoji, hidden characters, and the quote and space types that you choose. If accents look broken, use the Fix encoding tool.

What are invisible characters in a subtitle file?

They are characters that take no space on screen, such as the zero-width space, the byte order mark, and control codes. Text copied from the web often has them.

Does it remove the zero-width joiner in Persian or Hindi?

No. The tool keeps a joiner or non-joiner next to a letter of those scripts, because the spelling needs it.

What happens to a subtitle that has only an emoji?

The tool removes the whole subtitle, because no text is left. The result shows how many subtitles it removed.

Is my file uploaded?

No. The tool runs in your browser. Your subtitle file never leaves your computer.

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