Caption conversion

Convert SCC to SRT

Scenarist Closed Caption (SCC) to SubRip Subtitle (SRT). Convert in the web app, automate with the REST API, or run it offline with the CLI.

Convert SCC to SRT free How to convert

Converting SCC to SRT turns raw CEA-608 broadcast caption data into plain, readable subtitles for web players, editors and translators. Closed Caption Converter decodes every 608 control code, rebuilds each caption as text, and converts 29.97 fps timecode to SRT’s millisecond timing.

What carries over

Caption text, including 608 special and accented characters, mapped to Unicode
Line breaks within each caption
Italics, written as <i> tags
Accurate timing: drop-frame timecode is converted to real (wall-clock) time

What changes

Caption position on screen is lost, because SRT has no positioning
Colors and underline are dropped
Roll-up and paint-on captions build word by word. Enable Convert to Pop-On to merge them into readable blocks
Caption channel selection: only one channel (for example CC1) is converted at a time

How to convert SCC to SRT

The same conversion engine powers all three, so a job you set up in the web app produces identical output from the API or CLI.

In the web app

Sign in to the web app, or start a free trial.
Upload your .scc file and select Scenarist V1.0 as the source profile.
Select SubRip Video Subtitle Script as the target profile.
Review the recommended settings for this conversion.
Run the conversion and download your .srt file.

With the API

POST /jobs

curl -X POST https://api.closedcaptionconverter.com/jobs \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "source=@input.scc" \
  -F 'config={
    "job_type": "convert",
    "source_profile": "Scenarist V1.0",
    "target_profile": "SubRip Video Subtitle Script",
    "convert_to_pop_on": true,
    "fix_overlap": true
  }'

See API Getting Started for authentication and response handling.

With the CLI

Command line

ccconverter \
  --source input.scc \
  --target output.srt \
  --source_profile "Scenarist V1.0" \
  --target_profile "SubRip Video Subtitle Script" \
  --convert_to_pop_on true \
  --fix_overlap true

The CLI runs fully offline on macOS, Windows and Linux. See the CLI docs for every flag.

Recommended settings

Source frame rate	29.97 fps. Drop-frame is detected from the `;` separator in the timecode.
Convert to Pop-On	Turn on for roll-up or paint-on sources, such as live or news captions.
Fix overlap	Removes overlaps where one caption has not been cleared before the next appears.

Format-specific options are covered in Encoding & Decoding Options and Profiles & Formats.

SCC to SRT questions

Drop-frame timecode skips frame numbers to stay in sync with real time, so 00:10:00;00 in SCC is not exactly 10 minutes of frames. SRT uses real time in milliseconds, so the converter calculates each actual time instead of copying the numbers.

Roll-up captions add a few words at a time, which turns into many short, overlapping SRT cues. Enable Convert to Pop-On and the converter merges them into complete caption blocks.

Yes, but anything SRT cannot hold, such as positioning and color, will not come back. Keep the original SCC if you need to redeliver broadcast captions.

Learn more about these formats

Source

Scenarist Closed Caption (SCC)

What an SCC (.scc) caption file is, how CEA-608 hex codes, 29.97 drop-frame timecode and pop-on/roll-up modes work, and how to convert SCC files.

Target

SubRip Subtitle (SRT)

What an SRT (.srt) subtitle file is, its timing and numbering rules, supported tags and encoding, and how to convert SRT to SCC, WebVTT, EBU-STL and more.

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