WebVTT

WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks) is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard for displaying timed text in connection with the HTML5 <track> element.

The early drafts of its specification were written by the WHATWG in 2010 after discussions about what caption format should be supported by HTML5—the main options being the relatively mature, XML-based Timed Text Markup Language (TTML) or an entirely new but more lightweight standard based on the widely used SubRip format. The final decision was for the new standard, initially called WebSRT (Web Subtitle Resource Tracks). It shared the .srt file extension and was broadly based on the SubRip format, though not fully compatible with it. The prospective format was later renamed WebVTT. In the January 13, 2011, version of the HTML5 Draft Report, the <track> element was introduced and the specification was updated to document WebVTT cue text rendering rules. The WebVTT specification is a W3C Candidate Recommendation, and the basic features are supported by all major browsers.