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EBU-STL to TXT converter, without the upload.

Turn EBU-STL subtitles into TXT. It is converted in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.

Drop EBU-STL files here

or choose from your computer paste with Ctrl V

Ready · several at once0 bytes uploaded, ever

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How to convert EBU-STL to TXT

  1. Add your EBU-STL subtitles

    Drop EBU-STL (STL, Tech 3264) files onto the box above, or click it to choose them. ToAny reads the file's contents to detect the type, so a wrong extension does not matter.

  2. TXT is already chosen

    Press Convert. There is nothing else to set. The work happens in this tab.

  3. Download

    Save the TXT, or download everything as one ZIP if you converted several files.

Why ToAny

  • Private by construction

    The EBU-STL to TXT converter is part of this page and runs inside your browser. Your subtitles are never sent to ToAny or to anyone else.

  • No upload, no queue

    Nothing has to travel to a server and back, so the conversion starts the moment you press Convert, even on a slow connection.

  • Free, without an account

    No sign-up, no email address and no watermark. Add several files and download them together as a ZIP.

EBU-STL to TXT: what to expect

EBU STL is a binary file that web players and most consumer apps cannot read. Plain text opens on every device and is easy to search or paste elsewhere. EBU-STL is at home in subtitles delivered to European broadcasters; TXT is the usual choice for notes, logs and text that must be read by anything.

Only Latin-alphabet EBU STL files are read. Colours, boxes and double-height text are dropped; italics, underline, line breaks, position and justification are kept, and times are shifted back by the programme start the header declares. The result is a transcript with one cue per line, without times; a cue's own line breaks become spaces.

EBU-STL vs TXT

EBU-STL

EBU STL subtitles

EBU STL, defined in EBU Tech 3264, is the binary subtitle file of European broadcasters: a 1024-byte header followed by 128-byte blocks, each holding the in and out timecodes, position, justification and teletext-style text of one subtitle. It is usually named .stl, which is also the extension of 3D printing files, so ToAny tells them apart by the header inside.

Opens in Broadcast subtitling systems, Subtitle Edit, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve

EBU-STL converter
TXT

Plain text

A TXT file is characters and nothing else: no fonts, no images, no layout. That makes it the most portable document there is, and the easiest to search, diff or feed into another program.

Opens in Every device and every text editor

TXT converter
EBU-STL compared with TXT
EBU-STLEBU STL subtitlesTXTPlain text
Stands forEBU Subtitling data exchange format (STL)Plain text
TypeSubtitlesUnformatted text
CompressionNone (binary)None
Introduced1991, by the European Broadcasting UnionThe 1960s, by no single author
Opens inBroadcast subtitling systems, Subtitle Edit, Premiere Pro and DaVinci ResolveEvery device and every text editor
Best forSubtitles delivered to European broadcastersNotes, logs and text that must be read by anything
File extension.ebustl.txt, .text, .log

Questions

Are my subtitles uploaded anywhere?

No. The EBU-STL to TXT conversion runs inside your browser, on your own phone or computer. The file is not sent to ToAny or to anyone else.

Is anything lost when converting EBU-STL to TXT?

The content is carried over as faithfully as TXT allows; features that TXT does not have are left out.

Can I convert several EBU-STL files at once?

Yes. Add as many as you like, convert them together and download each result or all of them as one ZIP.

How do I convert EBU-STL to TXT on Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android?

The steps are the same everywhere because ToAny runs in the web browser: open this page in a current version of Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox, add the EBU-STL file, press Convert and save the TXT. There is nothing to install.

Is there a file size limit?

Yes, but a subtitle file is small. Files up to 50 MB are accepted, far more than any real subtitle file. Beyond that the limit is your device's memory, since nothing is uploaded; a computer copes with large files better than a phone.