How to remove SDH from an SRT file
- Open your
.srt(or.vtt,.ass,.sbv,.sub) or paste it. - Choose what to remove — the usual hearing-impaired clean-up is already ticked.
- Check the result and the summary under it (how many notes, names and lines were removed), then click Download SRT.
What each option removes
| Option | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Square brackets | [DOOR CREAKS] Hello? | Hello? |
| Parentheses | (sighs) Fine. | Fine. |
| Speaker names in capitals | - JOHN: Where are you? | - Where are you? |
| Music | ♪ Somewhere over the rainbow ♪ | line removed (or only the ♪ symbols) |
| Ads and credits | Subtitles by …, www.… | line removed |
A subtitle that becomes empty is deleted and the rest are renumbered. When one half of a two-speaker line disappears, the leftover dash is removed too.
Check before you download
The clean-up is rule-based. Parentheses that are part of the dialogue are removed along with sound notes, and descriptions written without brackets stay. Untick an option if it removes too much, and use any (John:) for speaker names only when names are written in normal case.
Frequently asked questions
What does SDH mean?
Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of hearing: besides dialogue they describe sounds ([thunder]), name speakers and mark music. Handy for some viewers, distracting for others.
Will every sound description disappear?
Those in square brackets or parentheses, speaker labels and lyric lines — that covers most SDH files. Descriptions written as normal text can't be told apart from dialogue and stay.
Is the timing changed?
No. Only text is removed; empty subtitles are dropped. Need to shift the timing too? Use the subtitle sync tool.
Are my files uploaded?
No. Text, subtitle files and videos are processed by your browser on your own computer. Nothing is sent to a server.
Accented or Cyrillic letters look garbled. How do I fix it?
The file uses an old encoding. Pick the right one in the Encoding menu under the input (for example Windows-1251 for Russian, Windows-1250 for Central European, Windows-1252 for Western languages). The output is always saved as UTF-8.