What this tool does
Converting between simplified and traditional is not just writing each character differently. The same simplified word corresponds to different words in different regions — the word for "software" differs between Taiwan and the mainland, and Hong Kong has yet another version. The converter keeps these apart:
- Simplified to traditional (generic / Taiwan / Hong Kong)
- Traditional to simplified (generic / from Taiwan / from Hong Kong)
- Switching character forms between traditional varieties (Taiwan forms / Hong Kong forms)
- One-to-many mappings resolved correctly (resolved by word, not by blindly swapping each character)
Upload and detection
Drag a file in or browse for one — SRT, VTT, ASS and TXT are supported — or paste subtitle content straight into the box. The format is detected automatically and shown next to "Detected format".
Choosing among the nine directions
The nine directions under "Convert to" fall into three groups. Simplified → traditional: generic traditional, Taiwanese (change wording), Taiwanese (glyphs only), Hong Kong. Traditional → simplified: generic, from Taiwanese, from Hong Kong. Traditional to traditional: Taiwan forms, Hong Kong forms.
Choosing "Taiwan wording" swaps regional vocabulary as well: the word for "software" becomes the Taiwanese one and so does the word for "information"; "Taiwan glyphs" changes only how characters are written and leaves your wording alone. Hong Kong is another case entirely and uses yet another word for "software". To convert back to simplified, use the group below — you have to say which traditional variety you are coming from, because Taiwanese and Hong Kong text take different routes back.
Result and export
The result area shows the converted subtitle immediately, with a stat bar giving the total line count and how many lines changed. If nothing changed at all you get a hint that the file may contain no Chinese characters — only Han characters are converted, so an all-Latin or all-numeric subtitle stays exactly as it was.
Then download or copy. A language tag is inserted into the filename — `demo.srt` becomes `demo.zh-TW.srt` for Taiwanese traditional, `.zh-Hant` for generic traditional, and `.zh-Hans` when converting back to simplified.
What never gets touched
Only dialogue is converted. Timings, index numbers and ASS style lines are not touched at all — the result is ready to use without redoing any formatting.
FAQ
Why didn't the converter change the word for "clean"? One-to-many mappings are resolved by word: the "clean" sense and the "dry" sense share one traditional form, while the "tree trunk" sense uses a different one. The tables come from OpenCC, matching whole phrases rather than single characters.
What is the difference between Taiwanese and Hong Kong traditional? The vocabulary: the word for "software" differs between the two. Pick the direction for the region you are delivering to.
The character count changed after conversion? Only Han characters are swapped — no entries are added or removed and no timing is moved. If the line count changed, check whether the format was detected correctly.
The dictionary failed to load? The page tells you to refresh and retry. It loads locally, so there is no need to upload subtitles anywhere.
Privacy
Conversion runs entirely in your browser. No subtitle content is ever sent to a server.
Related tools and guides
If all you need is simplified to traditional, see Convert simplified subtitles to traditional; why it is about more than swapping characters, see Simplified vs traditional is not a character swap; to translate into another language, Subtitle translation.