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Timing on the waveform

The timeline shows the audio's waveform with each subtitle drawn over it. Move a subtitle by dragging it, retime it by dragging its edges, and let snapping and the keypad do the fine work.

Applies to 26.10

The timeline

The timeline below the player controls: a ruler in seconds, subtitle blocks over the waveform, and the red playhead
Tears of Steel © Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0
  1. Player controls. Play, record, snap, step and zoom.
  2. Ruler. Seconds from the start of the video.
  3. Subtitle. Its top edge takes the speaker's colour.
  4. Playhead. Where the video is now. Click anywhere to move it.
  5. Waveform. The sound, so you can see where speech starts and stops.

Move and retime

Every change you make here is reflected at once in the subtitle list and on the video.

Drag the body

Moves the subtitle; its duration stays the same.

Drag an edge

Changes the start or the end. A neighbour glued to that edge follows it.

Slice and merge

Split a subtitle at the playhead, or merge it with the one before or after.

The buttons beside play set the selected subtitle's start or end to the playhead, or send text to the previous or next subtitle. To protect a subtitle's length while you work, lock its duration with L.

One gesture, one undo. A whole drag, or a nudge key held down, counts as a single step for Ctrl+Z.

Snapping and grids

Snapping pulls an edge to the nearest target when it gets close. Set how close in the Snap field, in seconds; the default is 0.10.

Snap to What it does
Neighbours Edges meet the previous or next subtitle exactly, with no gap and no overlap.
Frames Edges land on the video's frames, as most broadcast specs require.
Seconds A grid of whole seconds, for rough timing.
Scenes Shot changes, so a subtitle doesn't hang over a cut.

The keypad

Timing by hand is faster on the numeric keypad. Each press moves by one Step, set beside the snap field in frames or seconds. The left column works on the start, the right on the end, the middle on the whole subtitle.

  • 7 / 1 start one step later or earlier.
  • 9 / 3 end one step later or earlier.
  • 4 / 6 move the whole subtitle back or forward.
  • 5 selects the subtitle under the playhead; 8 / 2 the next or previous one over it.
  • Enter adds a subtitle at the playhead; / slices; * removes.

Zoom and scrolling

Zoom in with + for frame-level work and out with − to see the whole scene. While playing, the timeline can follow the playhead in three ways:

Follow

The playhead stays put and the waveform slides under it.

Page

The view jumps a screen at a time when the playhead reaches the edge.

None

The view stays where you left it.

Shortcuts

The defaults. Change any of them in Keyboard shortcuts.

  • Play or pauseSpace
  • UndoCtrl+Z
  • RedoCtrl+Shift+Z
  • Add subtitle at playheadEnter
  • Slice subtitle/
  • Remove subtitle*
  • Lock durationL
  • Split dub at cursorShift+S
  • Zoom in / out+ / −
  • Leave the current timeline actionEsc

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