Audio Visualizer

The audio visualizer displays the audio waveform (and/or spectrogram) of the loaded video, enabling precise visual timing of subtitles.

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Display Modes

• Waveform — Shows audio amplitude over time
• Spectrogram — Shows frequency distribution over time

The spectrogram can be generated and toggled independently of the waveform. If you disable spectrogram generation, Subtitle Edit hides the spectrogram layer and keeps the waveform view available.

Mouse Controls

Navigation

Mouse Action	Effect
Scroll wheel	Scroll waveform left/right
Alt+Scroll wheel	Horizontal zoom in/out
Shift+Scroll wheel	Vertical zoom in/out

Subtitle Timing

Mouse Action	Effect
Click + Ctrl (cmd on mac) + Shift	Set start and offset the rest
Click + Shift	Set start of current
Click + Ctrl (cmd on mac)	Set end of current
Click on empty area	Set video position
Click on subtitle	Select the subtitle
Double-click on subtitle	Set video position and select subtitle
Drag subtitle left/right edge	Adjust start/end time
Drag subtitle body	Move entire subtitle
Right-click	Context menu

Creating New Subtitles

Mouse Action	Effect
Click+Drag in empty area	Mark a new subtitle range; press Enter to insert it (Escape cancels)

Keyboard Shortcuts (Waveform)

Shortcut	Action
Set start	Set the start time of the selected subtitle
Set end	Set the end time of the selected subtitle
Set end and go to next	Set end time and move to next subtitle
Set start and offset the rest	Set start and shift all following subtitles
Set end and offset the rest	Set end and shift all following subtitles
Center on video position	Center the waveform on the current video position
Insert at position (focus text)	Insert a new subtitle at video position and focus the text editor
Insert at position (no focus)	Insert a new subtitle at video position
Seek silence	Find the next silent section

Note: Actual key bindings depend on your shortcut configuration. See Options → Shortcuts to view or change them.

Toolbar

The waveform toolbar (when visible) provides buttons for:

• Zoom in/out (horizontal and vertical)
• Toggle waveform/spectrogram mode
• Toggle grid lines
• Navigate to previous/next shot change
• Apply common subtitle timing actions

The toolbar can be toggled from Video → More → Toggle waveform toolbar. Subtitle Edit 5 also supports waveform toolbar customization, including button visibility/order and import/export of toolbar settings.

Waveform Themes

Waveform theme settings can be imported and exported. Use this to copy waveform colors and toolbar preferences between installations or share a timing workspace with another user.

Spectrogram

The spectrogram view helps locate speech, music, and noise by frequency. It can be used together with the waveform when amplitude alone is not enough to identify a sound or silence boundary.

Shot Changes

Shot changes (scene cuts) are displayed as vertical lines on the waveform. These help align subtitle timing with scene transitions.

• Toggle shot change at video position — Add or remove a shot change marker
• Go to previous/next shot change — Navigate between shot changes
• Snap to nearest shot change — Align subtitle edges to nearby shot changes. The snap distance follows the In cues / Out cues red zones in the Beautify time codes profile. Out-cues snap to one frame before the shot change. Hold Shift while dragging to bypass the snap.
• Extend to next shot change — Extend subtitle to the next scene cut

The shot change line color can be customized in Subtitle Edit 5, which is useful when your waveform or spectrogram theme makes the default color hard to see.

Context Menu

Right-click on the waveform for options including:

• Add subtitle at position
• Split subtitle
• Merge subtitles
• Delete subtitle
• Go to subtitle
• Zoom controls

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