Decide whether a subtitle overlap needs fixing
Measure adjacent overlaps and distinguish a timing problem from an intentional presentation choice.
Measure the shared interval first
If cue A ends at 4.000 seconds and cue B begins at 3.750 seconds, the intervals share a quarter of a second. Whether that needs correction depends on how the captions are used. Simultaneous speakers or independently positioned text can be intentional.
WebVTT explicitly permits overlapping cue timings. SRT is less formally specified, and players differ in how they present simultaneous cues. Subtitle Workbench therefore reports an overlap as a review finding rather than a universal format error.
Cue A: 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Cue B: 00:00:03,750 --> 00:00:06,500 Shared interval: 3.750 through 4.000 seconds Overlap: 0.250 seconds
Compare the two boundary changes
Ending A at 3.750 seconds removes the overlap by shortening A. Starting B at 4.000 seconds removes it by delaying B. The first change reduces reading time for the earlier subtitle; the second moves the later subtitle’s start.
A fixed shift applied to every cue preserves the distance between timestamps, so it cannot remove an overlap. Renumbering also has no effect on timing. A cleaner-looking export is not necessarily a correction to the viewing experience.
| Change | What it preserves | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| End A at 3.750 | B’s start | A’s reading time |
| Start B at 4.000 | A’s end | B’s start time |
- For an accidental overlap, use the audio and source project to choose the right boundary. Then check cue duration, reading speed, and any minimum-gap requirement from the client. An overlap warning does not supply that required gap.
- For an intentional overlap, test the target player. A format can represent simultaneous cues without every player laying them out as expected. Look for conflicting lines or text that obscures important visual content.
Know what the current check covers
The checker compares each readable cue with the preceding readable cue in file order and also reports a start time that moves backward. It does not detect every pairwise overlap in an arbitrarily unordered timeline.
A long cue can span several later cues. The tool may report its overlap with the next cue without reporting every later pair. Use a subtitle editor to review dense, multi-speaker, or independently positioned material. Export keeps the original order and does not silently resolve overlaps.