Convert WebVTT to Premiere Pro markers
This reads a .vtt and writes FCP7 XML sequence markers for Premiere Pro, one per cue, on exact frames at the timebase you pick. Useful when the transcript you have came from a web workflow and the edit is happening in Premiere.
Drop a .vtt file here
or click to choose one. It is converted in this page and never uploaded.
Premiere marker XML addresses frames, not seconds. This has to match the timeline you are importing into, or every caption lands slightly off and drifts further as the video runs.
A web caption file as an editing aid
VTT files tend to arrive from somewhere other than an edit suite: a player's caption track, a browser-based tool, a transcription service that assumed the output was headed for the web. Premiere will not do anything useful with the file as it stands.
As markers, the same content becomes a searchable index of the footage. Every line lands in the Markers panel at the moment it was spoken, and double-clicking moves the playhead there.
Cue settings and styling are dropped
WebVTT's positioning settings, region blocks, and inline markup describe how a caption should sit inside a web player. A marker has a name, a comment, and two frame numbers, so none of it survives, and none of it would mean anything if it did.
The timebase has to match your sequence
Markers are stored as integer frame counts, not timecodes, so the timebase is not a hint: it is the unit. Pick the rate of the sequence you will paste these into.
A subtitle file records when each line appears, not when each word is spoken. Anything built from one is accurate to the line. If you need per-word timing (for karaoke-style captions, or to split a line without the second half drifting), transcribe the audio instead, which times every word individually.
Nothing is uploaded
The .vtt is read and the .xml is written in this page, by the same code that builds exports in the editor. The file never reaches a server and no copy is kept. A subtitle file is a transcript, and a transcript is often the part of a project that cannot leave the building.
Why it asks for a frame rate
A .vtt stores times in milliseconds and says nothing about frames. Premiere marker XML addresses frames directly, so something has to decide which frame each cue lands on, and only you know the timeline you are importing into. Pick the sequence's rate rather than the source video's: they are not always the same, and that mismatch is the usual cause of captions that start slightly off and get worse.
Frequently asked questions
Can Premiere read the .vtt directly?
Premiere imports WebVTT as a caption track in current versions. That gives you captions, not markers; this converter exists for the navigation use case, where you want the transcript in the Markers panel instead.
Is this the same as FCPXML?
No. This is FCP7 XML (xmeml), which is what Premiere reads. FCPXML is the Final Cut Pro 10 format, which Premiere cannot open.
No subtitle file yet?
Generate one from your audio or video with word-level timing, then export Premiere marker XML directly, no conversion step, and every word individually timed rather than every line. Free for 15 minutes and 5 transcriptions a month.
Transcribe a file instead