--- title: Web Video Text Tracks Format (WebVTT) slug: Web/API/WebVTT_API translation_of: Web/API/WebVTT_API --- {{DefaultAPISidebar("WebVTT")}} **Web Video Text Tracks Format** (**WebVTT**) est un format pour afficher du texte en fonction du temps (comme des sous-titres ou des légendes) en utilisant l'élément HTML {{HTMLElement("track")}}. L'objectif de ce format est d'afficher du texte sur {{HTMLElement("video")}}. WebVTT est un format texte codé en {{Glossary("UTF-8")}}. On peut utiliser aussi bien des espaces que des tabulations. Il y a aussi une petite API capable de représenter et de modifier ces pistes ainsi que les données nécéssaires à la synchornisation du texte. ## Les fichiers WebVTT Les fichiers WebVTT ont pour type MIME `text/vtt`. Un fichier WebVTT (`.vtt`) contient les répliques qui peuvent être sur une ou plusieurs lignes. WEBVTT 00:01.000 --> 00:04.000 Ne jamais boire de l'azote liquide. 00:05.000 --> 00:09.000 - Cela peut perforer l'estomac. - On peut en mourir. ## Le corps WebVTT La structure d'un fichier WebVTT consiste en une série de composants, certains d'entre-eux sont optionnels. Dans l'ordre: - Indicateur d'ordre des octets {{optional_inline}} - La chaîne de caractères "`WEBVTT`". - Titre à droite de "`WEBVTT`". {{optional_inline}} - Il doit y avoir au moins un espace après "`WEBVTT`". - Vous pouvez l'utiliser pour mettre une description. - Vous pouvez utiliser n'importe quoi à part une nouvelle ligne ou la chaîne "`-->`". - Une ligne vide équivalente à deux lignes consécutives. - Zéros ou plusieurs répliques ou commenatiaires. - Zéro ou plusieurs lignes vides. ##### Exemple 1 - Plus petit fichier WebVTT WEBVTT ##### Exemple 2 - Simple fichier WebVTT contenant un entête WEBVTT - Ce fichier ne possède pas de réplique. ##### Exemple 3 - Fichier WebVTT courant avec un entête et des répliques WEBVTT - Ce fichier possède des répliques. 14 00:01:14.815 --> 00:01:18.114 - Quoi? - Où sommes-nous? 15 00:01:18.171 --> 00:01:20.991 - C'est le pays des grandes chauves-souris. 16 00:01:21.058 --> 00:01:23.868 - [ Cris perçant de chauves-souris ] - Elles ne veulent pas aller dans vos cheveux. Elles attrapent les insectes. ### Structure interne d'un fichier WebVTT Réexaminons le premier exemple, et observons la structure plus précisément. WEBVTT 00:01.000 --> 00:04.000 Ne jamais boire de l'azote liquide. 00:05.000 --> 00:09.000 - Cela peut perforer l'estomac. - On peut en mourir. NOTE Cette ligne est la dernière ligne du fichier Dans chaque réplique: - La première ligne commence par un temps correspondant au moment où il apparait. - Sur la même ligne nous avons une chaîne `-->`. - Nous finissions la ligne par un second temps indiquant la fin de l'affichage du texte. - Nous pouvons alors afficher une ou plusieurs lignes commençant par un tiret (-), chacune contenant une partie du texte à afficher. Nous pouvons aussi mettre des commentaires dans notre fichier `.vtt` afin de nous aider à nous remémorer des informations importantes à propos du fichier. Ils doivent être séparés par une ligne vide et commencer par `NOTE`. Nous en reparlerons dans la prochaine section. Il est important de ne pas utiliser de ligne vide sans réplique, par exemple entre la ligne indiquant le temps et le texte en lui même. WebVTT est basé sur les lignes, une ligne vide ferme la réplique. ## Les commentaires WebVTT Les commentaires sont des composants optionels qui peuvent être utilisés pour ajouter des informations à un fichier WebVTT. Les commentaires sont prévus pour ceux qui liront le fichier, ils ne seront pas vus par les utilisateurs. Les commentaires peuvent contenir de nouvelles ligne mais ne peuvent pas contenir de ligne vide ce qui équivaut à deux nouvelles lignes. Une ligne vide correspond à la fin d'un commentaire. Un  commentaire ne peut contenir la chaîne "`-->`", l'esperluette `&` ou bien le symbole plus-petit que `<`. Si vous voulez utiliser ces caractères, vous devez utiliser les caractères échapés comme `&`pour l'esperluette et `<` pour le plus petit que. Il est aussi recommandé `>` pour le plus grand que, afin d'éviter toutes confusions. Un commentaire est constitué de ces trois composants: - La chaîne `NOTE`. - Un espace ou une nouvelle ligne. - Aucun ou plusieurs caractères sauf ceux indiqué ci-dessus. ##### Exemple 4 - Simple commentaire WebVTT NOTE Ceci est un simple commentaire ##### Exemple 5 - Multi-line comment NOTE Un autre commentaire qui est coupé sur plusieurs lignes. NOTE Vous pouvez aussi faire un commentaire sur plusieurs lignes de cette façon. ##### Exemple 6 - Usage commun des commentaires WEBVTT - Traduction de ce film que j'aime NOTE Cette traduction a été faite par Kyle pour que ses amis puissent la voir avec leurs parents. 1 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.000 - Ta en kopp varmt te. - Det är inte varmt. 2 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:25.000 - Har en kopp te. - Det smakar som te. NOTE Cette dernière ligne n'est pas forcément bien traduite. 3 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:30.000 - Ta en kopp ## Styliser les répliques WebTT Vous pouvez styliser des répliques WebVTT en cherchant les éléments qui correspondent à la pseudo-classe {{cssxref("::cue")}}. ### Avec du CSS ```css video::cue { background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, dimgray, lightgray); color: papayawhip; } video::cue(b) { color: peachpuff; } ``` Here, all video elements are styled to use a gray linear gradient as their backgrounds, with a foreground color of `"papayawhip"`. In addition, text boldfaced using the {{HTMLElement("b")}} element are colored `"peachpuff"`. The HTML snippet below actually handles displaying the media itself. ```html ``` ### Within the WebVTT file itself You can also define the style directly in the WebVTT file. In this case, you insert your CSS rules into the file with each rule preceded by the string `"STYLE"` all by itelf on a line of text, as shown below: ```plain WEBVTT STYLE ::cue { background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, dimgray, lightgray); color: papayawhip; } /* Style blocks cannot use blank lines nor "dash dash greater than" */ NOTE comment blocks can be used between style blocks. STYLE ::cue(b) { color: peachpuff; } 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.000 - Hello world. NOTE style blocks cannot appear after the first cue. ``` We can also use identifiers inside WebVTT file, which can be used for defining a new style for some particular cues in the file. The example where we wanted the transcription text to be red highlighted and the other part to remain normal, we can define it as follows using CSS. Where it must be noted that the CSS uses escape sequences the way they are used in HTML pages: ```plain WEBVTT 1 00:00.000 --> 00:02.000 That’s an, an, that’s an L! crédit de transcription 00:04.000 --> 00:05.000 Transcrit par Célestes™ ``` ```css ::cue(#\31) { color: lime; } ::cue(#crédit\ de\ transcription) { color: red; } ``` Positioning of text tracks is also supported, by including positioning information after the timings in a cue, as seen below (see {{anch("Cue settings")}} for more information): ```plain WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 position:10%,line-left align:left size:35% Where did he go? 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:06.500 position:90% align:right size:35% I think he went down this lane. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.500 position:45%,line-right align:center size:35% What are you waiting for? ``` ## WebVTT cues A cue is a single subtitle block that has a single start time, end time, and textual payload. Example 6 consists of the header, a blank line, and then five cues separated by blank lines. A cue consists of five components: - An optional cue identifier followed by a newline. - Cue timings. - Optional cue settings with at least one space before the first and between each setting. - A single newline. - The cue payload text. ##### Example 7 - Example of a cue ```plain 1 - Title Crawl 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 line:0 position:20% size:60% align:start Some time ago in a place rather distant.... ``` ### Cue identifier The identifier is a name that identifies the cue. It can be used to reference the cue from a script. It must not contain a newline and cannot contain the string "`-->"`. It must end with a single newline. They do not have to be unique, although it is common to number them (e.g., 1, 2, 3, ...). ##### Example 8 - Cue identifier from Example 7 ```plain 1 - Title Crawl ``` ##### Example 9 - Common usage of identifiers ```plain WEBVTT 1 00:00:22.230 --> 00:00:24.606 This is the first subtitle. 2 00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:34.074 This is the second. 3 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:35.743 Third ``` ### Cue timings A cue timing indicates when the cue is shown. It has a start and end time which are represented by timestamps. The end time must be greater than the start time, and the start time must be greater than or equal to all previous start times. Cues may have overlapping timings. If the WebVTT file is being used for chapters ({{HTMLElement("track")}} {{htmlattrxref("kind")}} is `chapters`) then the file cannot have overlapping timings. Each cue timing contains five components: - Timestamp for start time. - At least one space. - The string "`-->".` - At least one space. - Timestamp for end time. - Which must be greater than the start time. The timestamps must be in one of two formats: - `mm:ss.ttt` - `hh:mm:ss.ttt` Where the components are defined as follows: - `hh` is hours. - Must be at least two digits. - Hours can be greater than two digits (e.g., 9999:00:00.000). - `mm` is minutes. - Must be between 00 and 59 inclusive. - `ss` is seconds. - Must be between 00 and 59 inclusive. - `ttt` is milliseconds. - Must be between 000 and 999 inclusive. ##### Example 10 - Basic cue timing examples ```plain 00:00:22.230 --> 00:00:24.606 00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:34.074 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:35.743 00:00:35.827 --> 00:00:40.122 ``` ##### Example 11 - Overlapping cue timing examples ```plain 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.000 00:00:05.000 --> 00:01:00.000 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:50.000 ``` ##### Example 12 - Non-overlapping cue timing examples ```plain 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.000 00:00:10.000 --> 00:01:00.581 00:01:00.581 --> 00:02:00.100 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:01.000 ``` ### Cue settings Cue settings are optional components used to position where the cue payload text will be displayed over the video. This includes whether the text is displayed horizontally or vertically. There can be zero or more of them, and they can be used in any order so long as each setting is used no more than once. The cue settings are added to the right of the cue timings. There must be one or more spaces between the cue timing and the first setting and between each setting. A setting's name and value are separated by a colon. The settings are case sensitive so use lower case as shown. There are five cue settings: - **vertical** - Indicates that the text will be displayed vertically rather than horizontally, such as in some Asian languages.
Table 1 - vertical values
vertical:rl writing direction is right to left
vertical:lr writing direction is left to right
- **line** - Specifies where text appears vertically. If vertical is set, line specifies where text appears horizontally. - Value can be a line number. - The line height is the height of the first line of the cue as it appears on the video. - Positive numbers indicate top down. - Negative numbers indicate bottom up. - Or value can be a percentage. - Must be an integer (i.e., no decimals) between 0 and 100 inclusive. - Must be followed by a percent sign (%).
Table 2 - line examples
vertical omitted vertical:rl vertical:lr
line:0 top right left
line:-1 bottom left right
line:0% top right left
line:100% bottom left right
- **position** - Specifies where the text will appear horizontally. If vertical is set, position specifies where the text will appear vertically. - Value is a percentage. - Must be an integer (no decimals) between 0 and 100 inclusive. - Must be followed by a percent sign (%).
Table 3 - position examples
vertical omitted vertical:rl vertical:lr
position:0% left top top
position:100% right bottom bottom
- **size** - Specifies the width of the text area. If vertical is set, size specifies the height of the text area. - Value is a percentage. - Must be an integer (i.e., no decimals) between 0 and 100 inclusive. - Must be followed by a percent sign (%).
Table 4 - size examples
vertical omitted vertical:rl vertical:lr
size:100% full width full height full height
size:50% half width half height half height
- **align** - Specifies the alignment of the text. Text is aligned within the space given by the size cue setting if it is set.
Table 5 - align values
vertical omitted vertical:rl vertical:lr
align:start left top top
align:center centred horizontally centred vertically centred vertically
align:end right bottom bottom
##### Example 13 - Cue setting examples The first line demonstrates no settings. The second line might be used to overlay text on a sign or label. The third line might be used for a title. The last line might be used for an Asian language. ```plain 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 line:63% position:72% align:start 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 line:0 position:20% size:60% align:start 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 vertical:rt line:-1 align:end ``` ### Cue payload The payload is where the main information or content is located. In normal usage the payload contains the subtitles to be displayed. The payload text may contain newlines but it cannot contain a blank line, which is equivalent to two consecutive newlines. A blank line signifies the end of a cue. A cue text payload cannot contain the string "`-->"`, the ampersand character (&), or the less-than sign (<). Instead use the escape sequence "\&" for ampersand and "\<" for less-than. It is also recommended that you use the greater-than escape sequence "\>" instead of the greater-than character (>) to avoid confusion with tags. If you are using the WebVTT file for metadata these restrictions do not apply. In addition to the three escape sequences mentioned above, there are fours others. They are listed in the table below.
Table 6 - Escape sequences
Name Character Escape Sequence
Ampersand & &amp;
Less-than < &lt;
Greater-than > &gt;
Left-to-right mark &lrm;
Right-to-left mark &rlm;
Non-breaking space &nbsp;
### Cue payload text tags There are a number of tags, such as ``, that can be used. However, if the WebVTT file is used in a {{HTMLElement("track")}} element where the attribute {{htmlattrxref("kind")}} is `chapters` then you cannot use tags. - **Timestamp tag** - The timestamp must be greater that the cue's start timestamp, greater than any previous timestamp in the cue payload, and less than the cue's end timestamp. The _active text_ is the text between the timestamp and the next timestamp or to the end of the payload if there is not another timestamp in the payload. Any text before the _active text_ in the payload is _previous text_ . Any text beyond the _active text_ is _future text_ . This enables karaoke style captions. ##### Example 12 - Karaoke style text ```plain 1 00:16.500 --> 00:18.500 When the moon <00:17.500>hits your eye 1 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:20.500 Like a <00:19.000>big-a <00:19.500>pizza <00:20.000>pie 1 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:21.500 That's <00:00:21.000>amore ``` The following tags are the HTML tags allowed in a cue and require opening and closing tags (e.g., `text`). - **Class tag** (``) - Style the contained text using a CSS class. ##### Example 14 - Class tag ```html text ``` - **Italics tag** (``) - Italicize the contained text. ##### Example 15 - Italics tag ```html text ``` - **Bold tag** (``) - Bold the contained text. ##### Example 16 - Bold tag ```html text ``` - **Underline tag** (``) - Underline the contained text. ##### Example 17 - Underline tag ```html text ``` - **Ruby tag** (``) - Used with ruby text tags to display [ruby characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_character) (i.e., small annotative characters above other characters). ##### Example 18 - Ruby tag ```html WWWWorld Wide Webouiyes ``` - **Ruby text tag** (``) - Used with ruby tags to display [ruby characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_character) (i.e., small annotative characters above other characters). ##### Example 19 - Ruby text tag ```html WWWWorld Wide Webouiyes ``` - **Voice tag** (``) - Similar to class tag, also used to style the contained text using CSS. ##### Example 20 - Voice tag ```html text ``` ## Methods and properties The methods used in WebVTT are those which are used to alter the cue or region as the attributes for both interfaces are different. We can categorize them for better understanding relating to each interface in WebVTT: - ### VTTCue - The methods which are available in this interface are: - GetCueAsHTML to get the HTML of that Cue. - VTT Constructor for creating new objects of Cues. - Autokeyword. - DirectionSetting: to set the direction of caption or text in a file. - LineAlignment: to adjust the line alignment. - PositionAlignSetting: to adjust the position of text. - ### VTTRegion - The methods used for region are listed below along with description of their functionality: - ScrollSetting: For adjusting the scrolling setting of all nodes present in given region. - VTT Region Constructor: for construction of new VTT Regions. ## Tutorial on how to write a WebVTT file There are few steps that can be followed to write a simple webVTT file. Before start, it must be noted that you can make use of a notepad and then save the file as ‘.vtt’ file. Steps are given below: 1. Open a notepad. 2. The first line of WebVTT is standardized similar to the way some other languages require you to put headers as the file starts to indicate the file type. On the very first line you have to write: ```plain WEBVTT ``` Leave the second line blank, and on the third line the time for first cue is to be specified. For example, for a first cue starting at time 1 second and ending at 5 seconds, it is written as: ```plain 00:01.000 --> 00:05.000 ``` 1. On the next line you can write the caption for this cue which will run from the first second to the fifth second, inclusive. 2. Following the similar steps, a complete WebVTT file for specific video or audio file can be made. ## CSS pseudo-classes CSS pseudo classes allow us to classify the type of object which we want to differentiate from other types of objects. It works in similar manner in WebVTT files as it works in HTML file. It is one of the good features supported by WebVTT is the localization and use of class elements which can be used in same way they are used in HTML and CSS to classify the style for particular type of objects, but here these are used for styling and classifying the Cues as shown below: ```plain WEBVTT 04:02.500 --> 04:05.000 J’ai commencé le basket à l'âge de 13, 14 ans 04:05.001 --> 04:07.800 Sur les playground, ici à Montpellier ``` In the above example it can be observed that we can use the identifier and pseudo class name for defining the language of caption, where `` tag is for italics. The type of pseudo class is determined by the selector it is using and working is similar in nature as it works in HTML. Following CSS pseudo classes can be used: - Lang (Lanugage): e.g., p:lang(it). - Link: e.g., a:link. - Nth-last-child: e.g., p:nth-last-child(2). - Nth-child(n): e.g., p:nth-child(2). Where p and a are the tags which are used in HTML for paragraph and link, respectively and they can be replaced by identifiers which are used for Cues in WebVTT file. ## Specifications | Specification | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [WebVTT: The Web Video Text Tracks Format](https://w3c.github.io/webvtt/) | ## Browser compatibility ### `VTTCue` interface {{Compat("api.VTTCue", 0)}} ### `TextTrack` interface {{Compat("api.TextTrack", 0)}} ### Notes Prior to Firefox 50, the `AlignSetting` enum (representing possible values for {{domxref("VTTCue.align")}}) incorrectly included the value `"middle"` instead of `"center"`. This has been corrected. WebVTT was implemented in Firefox 24 behind the preference {{pref("media.webvtt.enabled")}}, which is disabled by default; you can enable it by setting this preference to `true`. WebVTT is enabled by default starting in Firefox 31 and can be disabled by setting the preference to `false`. Prior to Firefox 58, the `REGION` keyword was creating {{domxref("VTTRegion")}} objects, but they were not being used. Firefox 58 now fully supports `VTTRegion` and its use; however, this feature is disabled by default behind the preference `media.webvtt.regions.enabled`; set it to `true` to enable region support in Firefox 58. Regions are enabled by default starting in Firefox 59 (see bugs {{bug(1338030)}} and {{bug(1415805)}}).