MICRODVD Subtitle Format
What this format can express
- Text styling
- Plain text only
- On-screen positioning
- No
- Karaoke timing
- No
- Line breaks inside a cue
- Yes
- Timeline
- Start and end time for every cue
- Timing resolution
- 1 ms
- Timing stored as frame numbers
- Yes
- Right-to-left text
- Yes
Examples
A typical MicroDVD file, and what is read out of it
File
{1}{1}25
{100}{150}The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
{200}{260}Faster than|the last one.
What it holds
2 cues, 3 lines of text
{100}{150} = 00:00:04.000 → 00:00:06.000
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
{200}{260} = 00:00:08.000 → 00:00:10.400
Faster than
the last one.
Outside the cues:
frame rate 25 fps, from the first line of the fileThe right-hand side is not a converted file — it is what this site reads out of the left-hand side, and what every conversion of that file starts from.
An awkward MicroDVD file, and what is still read out of it
File
{1}{1}23.976
{0100}{0150}Leading zeros in the frame numbers.
[INFORMATION]
{300}{340}An unrecognized line above was kept in place.
{400}{450}Trailing spaces are kept.
What it holds
3 cues, 3 lines of text
{100}{150} = 00:00:04.171 → 00:00:06.256
Leading zeros in the frame numbers.
{300}{340} = 00:00:12.513 → 00:00:14.181
An unrecognized line above was kept in place.
{400}{450} = 00:00:16.683 → 00:00:18.769
Trailing spaces are kept.
Outside the cues:
frame rate 23.976 fps, from the first line of the file
kept as it was [INFORMATION]Real files arrive with a byte-order mark, Windows line endings, a stray line before a timecode, or a timecode that cannot be read at all. None of it throws: whatever cannot be understood is reported rather than dropped in silence.
Convert MicroDVD to another format
Each of these runs entirely in your browser. The labels say what that direction costs before you open it.
- Frame rate
- Precision
- Timing
- Frame rate
- Precision
- Frame rate
- Precision
- Timing
- Line breaks
- Frame rate
Converting into this format
MicroDVD is one of the subtitle formats this site handles, and this page is its reference: what it can store, what it cannot, and a page for every format you can convert it to.
The table above is the whole of it — there is no hidden feature list. When a row says no, that is exactly what is lost by converting into MICRODVD, and each conversion page linked below says so before you open a file.
Every one of those conversions runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed, which matters for material under an NDA, a patient record or a broadcast embargo.
Frequently asked questions
What is a MICRODVD file?
`.microdvd` is a format from the DivX era that stores times as frame numbers rather than as clock times, which is why it needs a frame rate before it means anything. Players of that generation and ffmpeg still read it.
Does MICRODVD store styling?
No — it stores cues, and a cue is text with two times on it. Player defaults decide everything; the formatting codes some `.sub` files carry inside the braces are kept as text rather than acted on.
Does every MICRODVD cue store both a start and an end?
Yes, and a moment in a MICRODVD file reads `{103}{175}`. Those are frame numbers rather than clock times, which is the one thing to be careful about here: without the right frame rate the numbers mean nothing.
Which format should I convert MICRODVD to?
Nothing on this site takes everything a MICRODVD file holds, so there is no free direction — each conversion page names its own list of losses. Pick the target by which of those lists you can live with, not by which format you have seen most often.
Can I open a MICRODVD file in a text editor?
Yes. Yes, with one catch: the numbers in braces are frames, not seconds, so editing a line means doing the frame arithmetic in your head.