AI Subtitle Studio
Free tool

Convert SAMI (.smi) to SRT

SAMI subtitles time each cue by when the next one starts, not by their own end time — this works that out and writes a normal SRT.

Nothing stored afterward No account needed SAMI (.smi) → SRT (SubRip)

Your file is processed and sent straight back — never saved on our servers.

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How it works

Upload SAMI (.smi), get SRT (SubRip) back

Upload one file

SAMI (.smi) — .smi,.sami.

Converted instantly

Parsed and rewritten as SRT (SubRip) in memory, no queue and no waiting.

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The converted file downloads straight to your device.

About this conversion

Converting SAMI (.smi) to SRT (SubRip)

Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI, .smi) is an older, HTML-flavored subtitle format Microsoft originally created — still commonly found on older Korean movie and drama subtitle packs, where it was the standard for years before SRT and ASS took over. A SAMI file marks where each cue starts with a <SYNC Start=milliseconds> tag, but has no matching end time — the cue is simply assumed to run until the next <SYNC> tag appears, whether that's new dialogue or an empty cue used to clear the screen.

Converting to SRT works out a real end time for every cue from that next-cue rule, decodes the HTML entities and tags SAMI wraps its text in, and writes ordinary numbered SRT cues with actual start/end timestamps. SAMI files that carry more than one language as separate <P Class=...> tracks in the same file are also handled — only the first language class found is kept, since SRT has no way to hold more than one language per file.

FAQ

Questions about this converter

Why does the last cue sometimes look too long?
A SAMI file has no closing tag for its very last cue, so this converter gives it a default 4-second display window. Trim it in an editor afterward if that's too long or short for your video.
My SAMI file has multiple languages — which one gets converted?
Whichever language class appears first in the file. If you need a different language from a multi-language SAMI file, that support isn't available in this tool yet.
Will empty "clear screen" cues show up as blank subtitles?
No — a SAMI cue with no real text (or just a non-breaking space) is used purely to mark when the previous cue ends, and is never turned into a cue of its own.
Does this preserve any styling from the SAMI file?
No — SAMI's CSS-based styling (fonts, colors defined in its header) has no SRT equivalent and is dropped; only the readable dialogue text and its timing carry over.
Is there an API for this?
Yes — see the API reference for the sami-to-srt endpoint and curl examples.
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How to convert any subtitle format to SRT

One offline tool that converts 30+ subtitle formats to SRT: TTML/DFXP, SAMI/SMI, STL, SCC, MicroDVD, MPL2, SubViewer, LRC, SBV and more — with automatic encoding detection.