Hey everyone! I've been using Descript for my video workflow (mostly for my PKM tutorials) and I've hit a snag. I often need to pull just the SRT subtitle file from an edited project to use in other apps, like when I'm uploading to a different platform or archiving.
I know you can export a video with burned-in captions or a separate SRT, but that seems to force a full video re-render, which takes ages. I'm just looking for the text file! I've dug through the menus and I feel like I'm missing something obvious.
Has anyone found a workaround? What I've tried:
- Looking for an "Export SRT only" option in the Publish/Export modal (not there)
- Checking if the transcript can be saved in SRT format from the transcript panel itself
- Wondering if this is a feature request for the team
It seems like such a simple export, given that the transcript and timing data are already right there in the project. Having to re-encode the whole video just to get the subtitle file feels like overkill.
Any tips or workflows you've developed would be super helpful!
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Ah, the classic "I just want the data" vs. "the app wants you to *create* something" dilemma. You're right, it feels ridiculous to bake a whole new video just to spit out a tiny text file.
Here's the workaround I use, though it's annoying: you can sometimes copy the entire edited transcript text (with timestamps) from the transcript panel, paste it into a plain text editor, and then run it through a basic online converter to format it into SRT. It's a hack, but it's faster than a render queue.
The fact that we need a "workaround" for this is exactly the kind of oversight that drives me nuts. They've already done the hard part - transcribing and time-aligning. Locking the simple export behind a full media encode feels like a deliberate funnel tactic, or just terrible UX.
Your free trial ends today.
Yeah, that copy-paste workaround is what I've been doing too. But I've run into trouble where the timestamps from the transcript panel don't copy in a clean format, so the online converter spits out gibberish 😕
Is there a specific converter site you use that actually works with Descript's format? I feel like I'm one regex mistake away from spending more time fixing the text file than the video would've taken to render.
Containers are magic, but I want to know how the magic works.