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What Is Timecode?

Timecode is a label for every frame of video, written as hours:minutes:seconds:frames — 01:02:03:12 is frame 12 of the third second. Editors use it to find the same moment in every copy of a project. Subtitle files usually count time in milliseconds instead, which is where mix-ups start.

Example
Same moment, three notations (25 fps):
Timecode:  00:01:02:12
SRT:       00:01:02,480
VTT:       00:01:02.480

Timecode vs subtitle timestamps

SRT writes 00:01:02,500 and VTT 00:01:02.500 — half a second in milliseconds. Timecode would write 00:01:02:12 at 25 fps or 00:01:02:15 at 30 fps. Pasting one into the other's place shifts the subtitles.

Drop-frame timecode

NTSC video runs at 29.97 frames per second, so frame numbers drift from the clock. Drop-frame timecode skips some numbers to stay in sync and is written with a semicolon: 00:01:00;02.

Start offsets

Broadcast and camera files often start at 01:00:00:00, not zero. Subtitles exported against that timeline appear an hour late on a normal player, so check the start time before you export.

Questions

What do the four numbers in timecode mean?

Hours, minutes, seconds and frames. The last number counts frames within the second, so it never reaches the frame rate.

Why are my subtitles an hour late?

The edit timeline probably starts at 01:00:00:00. Shift the subtitles back by one hour or export with a zero start.

Is timecode the same as a timestamp?

Not quite. A timestamp is any time label; timecode is the frame-based standard used in video production.

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Related terms

  • SRT file

    An SRT file (SubRip Subtitle, .srt) is a plain-text subtitle file. Each subtitle is a numbered cue with a start and end time and one or two lines of text. Players and platforms show the text over the video at those times, and viewers can switch it on or off.

  • VTT file

    A VTT file (WebVTT, .vtt) is the subtitle and caption format of web video. It is plain text like SRT, but starts with the line WEBVTT, writes milliseconds after a full stop and can carry styles, positions and speaker tags that browsers understand.

  • Forced subtitles

    Forced subtitles appear even when the viewer has subtitles turned off. They cover only what a viewer in the film's language would otherwise miss: dialogue in another language, signs, letters and on-screen text. Streaming services call them forced narrative subtitles.

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