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MCC to EBU-STL converter, without the upload.

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

Drop MCC 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 MCC to EBU-STL

  1. Add your MCC captions

    Drop MCC (MacCaption) 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. EBU-STL is already chosen

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

  3. Download

    Save the EBU-STL, or download everything as one ZIP if you converted several files.

Why ToAny

  • Private by construction

    The MCC to EBU-STL converter is part of this page and runs inside your browser. Your captions 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.

MCC to EBU-STL: what to expect

MCC is a hex dump that most players, and people, cannot read. EBU STL is the file European broadcasters ask for when subtitles are delivered with a programme. MCC is at home in closed captions for broadcast and streaming delivery that carry CEA-708 as well as CEA-608; EBU-STL is the usual choice for subtitles delivered to European broadcasters.

The text is read as UTF-8 or UTF-16, whichever the file is. An older file in another code page is read using the charset it declares, or as Windows-1252 if it declares none, so accented letters in an unlabelled legacy file can come out wrong. A file that is not text, such as the picture-based subtitles of a DVD, is refused instead of being converted to nonsense. Of the styling, only italic, bold, underline and the position on screen (top, middle or bottom, left, centre or right) travel between formats; fonts, colours, outlines and effects do not. The CEA-608 caption data inside each packet is read, as for SCC. Captions that exist only as CEA-708 service data are not read. The file is written as STL25.01 in the Latin character set, 25 frames per second, with italics, underline, line breaks, position and justification. Characters outside the character set become a question mark.

MCC vs EBU-STL

MCC

MCC closed captions

MCC is MacCaption's caption file: one line per video frame, each a caption distribution packet in hexadecimal that can hold both CEA-608 and CEA-708 data. It exists so that captions can follow the video's own frame rate, 24 to 60 fps, and so that one file serves analogue and digital caption decoders.

Opens in MacCaption, CaptionMaker, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve

MCC converter
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
MCC compared with EBU-STL
MCCMCC closed captionsEBU-STLEBU STL subtitles
Stands forMacCaption Closed CaptionsEBU Subtitling data exchange format (STL)
TypeSubtitlesSubtitles
CompressionNone (hex text)None (binary)
IntroducedThe 2000s, by Computer Prompting and Captioning Company (CPC)1991, by the European Broadcasting Union
Opens inMacCaption, CaptionMaker, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and DaVinci ResolveBroadcast subtitling systems, Subtitle Edit, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve
Best forClosed captions for broadcast and streaming delivery that carry CEA-708 as well as CEA-608Subtitles delivered to European broadcasters
File extension.mcc.ebustl

Questions

Are my captions uploaded anywhere?

No. The MCC to EBU-STL 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 MCC to EBU-STL?

No further quality is lost: EBU-STL stores the decoded audio exactly. The result is identical in content.

Can I convert several MCC 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 MCC to EBU-STL 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 MCC file, press Convert and save the EBU-STL. 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.