VisualSubSync 2.0.0.1

VisualSubSync is a subtitle editor built around an audio waveform, so you time each line by looking at where the speech actually is.

It is free, it is Windows-only, and it has been a fansubbing staple for twenty years.

It has also forked twice, which is why this page carries three different versions - the section below says which one to take.

What The Waveform Actually Gets You

Most subtitle editors show you a list of lines and timecodes, and you nudge the numbers until the text lines up with the speech. VisualSubSync shows you the sound instead: a waveform with your subtitle blocks drawn underneath it, so a line that starts too early is something you can see rather than something you have to play back and guess at.

You drag the edges of a block to the edges of the speech, and the timing is done. For a dense dialogue scene this is several times faster than the list-and-timecode approach, and it is why the program is still in use two decades on.

The waveform view also shows silent zones, so gaps between speakers are obvious, and the Enhanced build marks scene changes on the same timeline - useful because a subtitle that crosses a cut reads badly even when the timing is technically correct.

Which Version To Download

Three separate projects share the name, and the download page carries all of them.

The short version: take Enhanced 1.2.33 for a known quantity, take 2.x if you work in a non-Latin script or want a portable copy, and treat the original as a fallback.

You Probably Do Not Need VobSub Any More

Both forks carry their own copy of VSFilter and play video through an internal filter graph built on MPC-HC and LAV Filters, which is also why they open MKV, MP4 and most other containers without a codec pack on the system.

If you are running the original 1.0.1, the old procedure still applies and DirectVobSub is still the filter to install - name the subtitle file exactly like the video, and save the file whenever you want the preview to catch up.

Subtitle Formats It Reads and Writes

The working formats are SRT, SSA and ASS, which covers almost everything anyone is asked to deliver. Projects are saved as VSSPRJ files, which hold the timing work plus a reference to the video and its extracted waveform.

The Enhanced build adds Save As targets the original never had: WebVTT for web video, SBV for YouTube and Netflix Timed Text DFXP for broadcast delivery, alongside plain text and CSV for anyone pushing lines through a spreadsheet.

It will not touch the picture-based formats. For subtitles burnt into a DVD or Blu-ray as images, SubRip and CCExtractor are the tools that turn them into text first.

What Else Is In The Enhanced Build

The quality-control side is the part that surprises people. Error checking flags lines that are too fast to read, overlap each other, run too long or break in awkward places, and the rules are JavaScript plugins you can edit rather than fixed settings.

There is spell checking with downloadable dictionaries, a karaoke timing mode, dialogue merging and line delaying, and a set of bundled command-line tools - MediaInfo, FFmpeg and MKVToolNix - that it calls for extraction work.

That last point matters if you are starting from a video with subtitles already inside it: the program can pull an existing subtitle track out of an MKV so you have something to correct rather than starting from an empty file.

The Waveform Extraction Warning

When you create a project, the program extracts the audio to an uncompressed WAV so it can draw the waveform, and that file is large - a feature-length video can produce a WAV of a gigabyte or more.

It does not check whether you have room for it first, so on a nearly full drive the extraction fails in confusing ways. Clear some space before you start a long project, and delete the WAV when the project is finished.

Answering The Oldest Review Here

The one review on this page is from 2007 and asks for one thing: preview support for MKV files. It arrived. The Enhanced fork plays MKV in the preview through its bundled filters, and can extract subtitle tracks from one as well.

If you would rather handle the container side separately, MKVToolNix muxes your finished subtitle file back into the MKV without re-encoding the video, and MPC-HC is the quickest way to check the result plays as expected.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

This is a specialist tool with no active maintainer on its main branch, so it is not the right answer for everyone. The tell is in the left column.

Quick questions

Download VisualSubSync and see how it handles your first timing pass, or tell us how you got on - the only review here is from 2007, so yours would be overdue.