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SBV to JSON converter, without the upload.

Turn SBV captions into JSON. 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 JSON

  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. JSON is already chosen

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

  3. Download

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

Why ToAny

  • Private by construction

    The SBV to JSON 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 JSON: what to expect

SBV is understood mainly by YouTube and a few caption tools. JSON is what APIs and most programming languages read natively. SBV is at home in uploading and downloading YouTube captions; JSON is the usual choice for APIs and data exchanged between programs.

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. The result is a JSON list with one object per cue: its number, start and end as clock times and in milliseconds, and its text.

SBV vs JSON

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
JSON

JSON data

JSON represents data as nested objects and lists in plain text. It is the default language of web APIs. Unlike a spreadsheet it can be nested to any depth, which is also why turning it into rows and columns takes a decision about how to flatten it.

Opens in Any text editor, every programming language, browser developer tools

JSON converter
SBV compared with JSON
SBVYouTube SBV subtitlesJSONJSON data
Stands forYouTube caption fileJavaScript Object Notation
TypeSubtitlesStructured data (text)
CompressionNoneNone
IntroducedThe late 2000s, by Google (YouTube)2001, by Douglas Crockford
Opens inYouTube Studio and some caption tools; few media playersAny text editor, every programming language, browser developer tools
Best forUploading and downloading YouTube captionsAPIs and data exchanged between programs
File extension.sbv.json

Questions

Are my captions uploaded anywhere?

No. The SBV to JSON 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 JSON?

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

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 JSON 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 JSON. 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.