Universal Subtitle Format

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title: "Universal Subtitle Format" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["subtitle-file-formats"] topic_path: "general/subtitle-file-formats" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Subtitle_Format" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox file format"]

FieldValue
nameUSF
extension.usf
mimetext/xml
released
latest_release_version1.1
latest_release_date
genreTimed text
urlhttp://www.titlevision.dk/usf.htm
openYes
freeProprietary
::

| name = USF | icon = | screenshot = | extension = .usf | mime = text/xml | released = | latest_release_version = 1.1 | latest_release_date = | genre = Timed text | url = http://www.titlevision.dk/usf.htm | open = Yes | free = Proprietary Universal Subtitle Format (USF) was a CoreCodec project that attempted to create a clean, documented, powerful and easy to use subtitle file format. It is based on XML for flexibility, unicode support, hierarchical system, and ease of administration.

USF subtitles are usually used in Matroska containers.

The format has come under criticism, especially from the fansub community,{{cite web | url = http://blog.aegisub.org/2008/07/universal-subtitle-format-post-mortem.html | title = Universal Subtitle Format: a post-mortem? | author = amz | date = 23 July 2008 | publisher = Aegisub blog

No known media player software implements more than basic support for this format. VSFilter, and VLC media player (starting with the 0.9.0 release) can extract the subtitle text, timing information and very restricted formatting.

Documentation for the format is now hosted by the Danish subtitling software company Titlevision here.

Example

Below is the example USF file as presented in the v1.1 specification: ::code[lang=xml] 

<!-- All others styles herite from the default style -->
<style name="NarratorSpeaking">
  <fontstyle italic="yes" />
</style>

<style name="MusicLyrics">
  <fontstyle back-color="#550000" color="#FFFF00" bold="yes" />
</style>
TCMP_Logo.bmp 
<subtitle start="00:00:06.000" stop="00:00:10.000">
  <text style="NarratorSpeaking" speaker="Toff">Hi! This is a <font size="16">
    small</font> sample, let's sing a song.</text>
</subtitle>

<subtitle start="00:00:06.000" stop="00:00:10.000">
  <karaoke style="MusicLyrics"><k t="700"/>La! La! La! <k t="1000"/>
    Karokeeeeeeeee <k t="100"/>is <k t="200"/>fun !</karaoke>
</subtitle>
::

References

References

  1. "USF FORMAT".
  2. [http://titlevision.dk/usf.htm USF Specification v1.1]

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

subtitle-file-formats