Turn STL subtitle files into TXT text subtitles quickly—upload your .stl and download the converted .txt file right away.
This tool turns an STL subtitle file — the EBU Subtitling Data Exchange Format used in broadcast delivery — into a clean plain-text transcript, with the broadcast timecodes stripped away. It runs entirely in your browser: the file is parsed and rewritten on your own device, which matters when the STL belongs to unreleased or embargoed programme material. One thing to be clear about up front: this page is for subtitle STL files, not the identically-named 3D-printing mesh format — a 3D model has no dialogue to extract.
.stl subtitle file into the input panel. The converter reads the cue text out of the file's subtitle blocks..txt you can paste into a document, blog post, or review workflow.| Property | STL (EBU Tech 3264) | TXT (plain text) |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Binary broadcast subtitle exchange format | Human-readable text, no structure required |
| Specified by | European Broadcasting Union, first published February 1991 | None (informal) |
| Timing | Mandatory frame-based timecodes (25 fps or 29.97 fps) | None — timing is stripped in this conversion |
| Typical home | TV delivery specs, tape/MXF archives, post houses | Documents, editorial review, translation handoff |
| Opens in | Broadcast subtitle tools | Any text editor on any device |
An STL is a delivery artifact — built for playout systems, not for reading. The dialogue inside it, though, is often exactly what someone needs on its own:
If you need the timing to survive rather than disappear, convert to a timed format instead: STL to SRT keeps every cue's in/out times in the universal subtitle format, and STL to VTT targets web video. The STL converter hub lists every available direction.
| Element of the STL | In the TXT output |
|---|---|
| Cue dialogue text | Kept, in playback order |
| Line breaks within a cue | Kept |
| Frame-based timecodes | Dropped |
| GSI header metadata (programme title, language codes) | Dropped |
| Teletext styling and positioning | Dropped — plain text carries none |
No. The conversion is client-side. For pre-release broadcast material under embargo or NDA, that's the practical reason to prefer this over a server-based converter.
No — same extension, unrelated format. This page reads the EBU subtitle STL used in television delivery. A 3D-model .stl describes triangle meshes for printing and contains no dialogue, so there's nothing for a subtitle tool to extract from it.
Yes. Cues come out in playback order, and line breaks within a cue are preserved, so a two-line subtitle stays two lines in the transcript. What disappears is everything around the words: timecodes, header metadata, and any Teletext-era styling, none of which plain text can carry.
Not from the TXT alone — stripping timecodes is one-way. Keep the original STL if there's any chance you'll need timed subtitles again, or convert to SRT as the timed keeper alongside your transcript; SRT is plain text too, just with the timing intact.
EBU STL predates Unicode and stores text in legacy code pages declared in its header. Most files convert cleanly, but unusual language/code-page combinations can produce characters that need a quick manual fix in the output. If the source tool can export a newer format directly, that path may preserve exotic characters better.
EBU STL timecodes run at 25 fps (the PAL/European default) or 29.97/30 fps (NTSC). For this conversion it doesn't matter — the timecodes are dropped entirely — but it's the first thing to check when you convert the same file to a timed format instead.
Yes — TXT to STL goes the other way, mapping a timed text script into a compliant EBU STL. It needs timecodes in the text to build real cues, so a flat transcript works best as a starting point for adding timing, not as a finished broadcast file.
Copy it straight from the output panel — no download needed — and paste into your document or CMS. Because everything runs locally, the round-trip from upload to usable text takes seconds even for a feature-length programme's subtitles.