ToolPouch.ai

Subtitles

Subtitles show as garbled text.

Wrong encoding, not a broken file: tell Big5, GBK and UTF-8 apart.

Wondershare UniConverterPartner

Need captions generated from the audio?

This site only converts, repairs and shifts subtitle files. To turn speech into subtitles and fine-tune the timing, use Wondershare UniConverter — free to start.

  • Speech to subtitles
  • Adjust text and timing
  • Export the subtitle file
Open Wondershare UniConverter

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Check first

Check these three things first

  • It looks fine on your computer but breaks for someone else: the encoding is not stored, so each app guesses.
  • A “�” or “锟斤拷” means the characters were already lost; that cannot be undone.
  • Old Traditional Chinese files are often Big5, old Simplified ones GBK, while browsers and editors expect UTF-8.

How to fix

How to fix it

Drop the file into Subtitle Format Repair: it detects the encoding and shows which one it used. If it guesses wrong, pick Big5 or GBK in the encoding dropdown and the text is decoded again instantly.

Re-decode this file

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can garbled subtitles be fully recovered?

Yes, as long as the characters still exist and were only read with the wrong encoding. If the file contains “�” or “锟斤拷”, the characters were lost when it was saved and must be retyped.

Will the file break again for someone else?

No. The tool writes UTF-8, which CapCut, Premiere and browsers all read correctly.