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How to fix overlapping subtitles

Updated 28 September 2026. Written by the team behind Subtidy.

In short: two subtitles overlap when the next one starts before the previous one ends. The fix is to end the earlier subtitle a little before the next one starts. Netflix asks for at least two frames between subtitles, about 83 ms at 24 fps. Subtidy closes every overlap in a file at once, in your browser, without deleting any text.

Fix overlaps in your file See it fix a sample

What counts as an overlapping subtitle?

An overlap is any cue whose in time is earlier than the out time of the cue before it. In this SRT, cue 7 is still on screen when cue 8 starts:

7
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,400
Did you export the captions?

8
00:00:28,100 --> 00:00:30,000
Yes, twice.

Cue 7 ends at 28.400 seconds but cue 8 starts at 28.100, so for 300 ms both are due on screen at the same time.

Before: cue 7 runs 300 milliseconds past the start of cue 8. After: cue 7 ends 83 milliseconds before cue 8 starts. Before Cue 7 Cue 8 300 ms overlap After Cue 7 Cue 8 83 ms gap 26 s27 s28 s29 s30 s
The earlier cue is shortened so it ends a fixed gap before the next one starts. No text is removed.

Why are overlapping subtitles a problem?

Players and editing apps handle overlaps differently, and none of them well. Some show both subtitles at once, stacked on top of each other. Others hide one of them. Editors importing auto-generated captions into Premiere Pro, for example, have reported doubled text on screen. For streaming and broadcast delivery an overlap is simply a failed file: Netflix requires a minimum gap between every pair of subtitles.

What causes overlapping subtitles?

How much gap should there be between subtitles?

At least two frames. Netflix sets a minimum of two frames between subtitles at any frame rate, and asks for gaps to be either two frames or half a second and more. Two frames is a different number of milliseconds at each frame rate:

Frame rateTwo framesHalf a second
23.976 or 24 fps83 ms12 frames
25 fps80 ms12 or 13 frames
29.97 or 30 fps67 ms15 frames

The BBC's guidance points the same way: if there is a pause in speech you may leave a gap, but it should be at least one second, because anything shorter looks jerky.

So there are two separate rules. The minimum gap stops subtitles touching or overlapping. Closing short gaps, sometimes called chaining, pulls the out time of a subtitle up to two frames before the next one when the gap between them is short, so the text does not blink off and on.

How to fix overlapping subtitles automatically

  1. Open your SRT, WebVTT or ASS file in Subtidy, or paste the text. It stays in your browser.
  2. Pick a preset. Streaming keeps an 83 ms gap, about two frames at 24 fps. Broadcast keeps 120 ms and Social vertical 40 ms.
  3. Fix overlaps and reading time is on by default. Every cue that runs into the next one is shortened so it ends the gap before the next cue starts. No text is deleted.
  4. Check the QC report. It shows Overlaps the next cue and No gap before the next cue before and after the fix.
  5. Download the fixed SRT.

Shortening a cue can make it read too fast. When that happens, Subtidy starts the cue up to 300 ms earlier if there is free time before it, and flags any cue it cannot rescue so you can edit the text.

What Subtidy does not do:

How to fix overlaps by hand

For a handful of overlaps, trim them in your editor. In Premiere Pro, captions sit on their own caption track and can be trimmed like clips. In a subtitle editor, set each out time to a couple of frames before the next in time. Subtitle Edit, a free desktop app, has a Fix overlapping display times option in its Fix common errors tool.

For a whole file, an automatic pass is faster and does not miss any.

Close every overlap in your file

Free for one file at a time, with SRT export. Nothing is uploaded.

Open with Streaming Broadcast Social vertical

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