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SBV to ASS converter, without the upload.

Turn SBV captions into ASS. It is converted in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.

Drop SBV files here

or choose from your computer paste with Ctrl V

Ready · other file types work too0 bytes uploaded, ever

Convert to

How to convert SBV to ASS

  1. Add your SBV captions

    Drop SBV 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. ASS is already chosen

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

  3. Download

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

Why ToAny

  • Private by construction

    The SBV to ASS 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.

SBV to ASS: what to expect

SBV is understood mainly by YouTube and a few caption tools. ASS gives full control over how subtitles look. SBV is at home in uploading and downloading YouTube captions; ASS is the usual choice for anime and karaoke subtitles with fonts, colours and positioning.

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 file is written with a single Default style (Arial, white with a black outline) that the player or Aegisub can restyle, and times are rounded to hundredths of a second, the precision ASS has.

SBV vs ASS

SBV

YouTube SBV subtitles

SBV is the plain caption format YouTube exports and accepts: a time range such as 0:00:01.000,0:00:04.000 followed by the text. It carries no styling and few other programs read it.

Opens in YouTube Studio and some caption tools; few media players

SBV converter
ASS

ASS/SSA subtitles

ASS adds styles to subtitles: fonts, colours, outlines, shadows, exact screen positions and animation effects. Fan-subbed anime and karaoke use it heavily. SSA is the earlier version, and the .ssa extension is read as the same format.

Opens in VLC, mpv, Aegisub and most fan-subtitling and media-server software; not browsers

ASS converter
SBV compared with ASS
SBVYouTube SBV subtitlesASSASS/SSA subtitles
Stands forYouTube caption fileAdvanced SubStation Alpha
TypeSubtitlesStyled subtitles
CompressionNoneNone
IntroducedThe late 2000s, by Google (YouTube)The 2000s, by the SubStation Alpha program and the Aegisub community
Opens inYouTube Studio and some caption tools; few media playersVLC, mpv, Aegisub and most fan-subtitling and media-server software; not browsers
Best forUploading and downloading YouTube captionsAnime and karaoke subtitles with fonts, colours and positioning
File extension.sbv.ass, .ssa

Questions

Are my captions uploaded anywhere?

No. The SBV to ASS 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 SBV to ASS?

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

Can I convert several SBV 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 SBV to ASS 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 SBV file, press Convert and save the ASS. 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.