Fix subtitles that are consistently early or late.

Diagnose the mismatch before moving anything

If the words appear a second after the dialogue, moving the subtitles earlier may be enough. First compare speech and text near the beginning, middle and end. A similar mismatch throughout the recording suggests a constant offset; a growing mismatch points to drift or a different edit.

Use the exact video version associated with the subtitle file. A removed introduction or added title card can shift the whole track, while cuts within the film can create several different timing errors. Polyglot’s timing adjustment moves every cue by one amount; it does not solve those separate edits automatically.

Find your way in Polyglot

Open the track from Files, or import it through Translate. Attach the matching recording in its project if you want playback review. Apply the explicit timing offset from Export, check several moments, then save a new subtitle file.

Choose an explicit timing offset

Open Translate and import an SRT or VTT, or reopen your saved project. Attach the matching video if you want playback in the workspace. From Export, choose Adjust subtitle timing, select Earlier or Later and enter the offset in seconds, including milliseconds when needed.

Apply offset shifts the original, all completed translations and saved translation progress together. The words, cue order, overlaps and individual cue lengths stay intact. An adjustment that would move any cue before zero is rejected instead of trimming the opening subtitles.

Check, refine and reset

Listen again at the same reference points after the adjustment. If the result is close but still slightly early or late, apply another small offset. The dialog shows the accumulated offset so you can see the total change rather than keeping a separate calculation.

Reset timing removes the accumulated adjustment and restores the timing before those offsets. Changes are saved in the local project. Ordinary text edits do not alter the timing, and translation continues to use the shared cue structure.

Export a clearly named replacement

Export SRT or WebVTT with a new filename and load it in the destination player. Check the opening and ending once more, especially if you moved the track later. Polyglot keeps the original imported file so you can compare or return to it.

Name the export with its language and adjustment, such as an English track shifted earlier, so collaborators can distinguish it from the unadjusted version.

Timing adjustment and file export remain free after the seven-day trial. This tool is for a fixed delay: automatic speech alignment, frame-rate stretching, cue splitting and individual timeline editing are outside this workflow.

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