Universal Subtitle Format: Difference between revisions

USF
Filename extension	.usf
Internet media type	text/xml
Initial release	November 10, 2002; 22 years ago
Latest release	1.1; November 28, 2010; 14 years ago
Type of format	Timed text
Open format?	Yes
Free format?	Proprietary
Website	http://www.titlevision.dk/usf.htm

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 07:07, 24 February 2023

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,^[2] because compared to the format it aimed to replace, Advanced Substation Alpha (which is based on comma-separated values), it is more verbose and far harder for software to read, write and manipulate. Also, it is not easily human readable and much harder to edit "by hand" in text editors such as Notepad. For these reasons, as well as the lack of a generic cross-platform parsing/rasterizing library and mature editing programs that natively support it, the format has not gained wide acceptance.

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:^[3]

<USFSubtitles version="1.0">
  <metadata>
    <title>The Universal Subtitle Format sample</title>
    <author>
      <name>[Toff]</name>
      <email>christophe.paris@free.fr</email>
      <url>http://christophe.paris.free.fr/</url>
    </author>
    <language code="eng">English</language>
    <date>2002-11-08</date>
    <comment>This is a short example of USF.</comment>
  </metadata>

  <styles>
    <!-- Here we redefine the default style -->
    <style name="Default" >
      <fontstyle face="Arial" size="24" color="#FFFFFF" back-color="#AAAAAA" />
      <position alignment="BottomCenter" vertical-margin="20%"
                relative-to="Window" />
    </style>
        
    <!-- 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>
  </styles>
  
  <subtitles>
    <subtitle start="00:00:00.000" stop="00:00:05.000">         
      <text alignment="MiddleCenter">Welcome to 
        '''The Core Media Player'''</text>
      <image alignment="TopRight" vertical-margin="20" horizontal-margin="20"
             colorkey="#FFFFFF">TCMP_Logo.bmp</image>
    </subtitle>
    
    <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>
  </subtitles>
  
</USFSubtitles>

References

^ "USF FORMAT". Retrieved 1 December 2024.
^ amz (23 July 2008). "Universal Subtitle Format: a post-mortem?". Aegisub blog.
^ USF Specification v1.1

External links

Related media at Wikimedia Commons:
- Timed Text
- Universal Subtitles

[1] "USF FORMAT". Retrieved 1 December 2024.

[2] z (23 July 2008). "Universal Subtitle Format: a post-mortem?". Aegisub blog.

[3] USF Specification v1.1

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Notability|date=February 2023}}
-'''Universal Subtitle Format (USF)''' is a CoreCodec project to create a clean, documented, powerful and easy to use subtitle file format. It is based on [[XML]] for some of the following reasons: flexibility, unicode support, a hierarchical system, and ease of administration.
+{{Infobox file format
+| name = USF
+| icon =
+| screenshot =
+| extension = .usf
+| mime = text/xml
+| released = {{start date and age|2002|11|10}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.titlevision.dk/usf.htm|title=USF FORMAT|accessdate={{TODAY}} }}</ref>
+| latest_release_version = 1.1
+| latest_release_date = {{start date and age|2010|11|28}}
+| 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.
+USF subtitles are usually used in [[Matroska]] containers.
 The format has come under criticism, especially from the [[fansub]] community,<ref>{{cite web
@@ Line 9: / Line 24: @@
   | date = 23 July 2008
   | publisher = [[Aegisub]] blog
-}}</ref> because compared to the format it aims to replace, [[SubStation Alpha|Advanced Substation Alpha]] (which is based on [[comma-separated values]]), it is more verbose and far harder for software to read, write and manipulate. It is also much harder to edit "by hand" in text editors such as notepad. For these reasons, as well as the lack of a generic cross-platform parsing/rasterizing library and mature editing programs that natively support it, the format has not gained wide acceptance.
+}}</ref> because compared to the format it aimed to replace, [[SubStation Alpha|Advanced Substation Alpha]] (which is based on [[comma-separated values]]), it is more verbose and far harder for software to read, write and manipulate. Also, it is not easily human readable and much harder to edit "by hand" in text editors such as Notepad. For these reasons, as well as the lack of a generic cross-platform parsing/rasterizing library and mature editing programs that natively support it, the format has not gained wide acceptance.
 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.
@@ Line 16: / Line 31: @@
 == Example ==
-Below is the example USF file as presented in the v1.1 specification:<ref>[http://www.titlevision.com/usf.htm USF Specification v1.1]</ref>
+Below is the example USF file as presented in the v1.1 specification:<ref>[http://titlevision.dk/usf.htm USF Specification v1.1]</ref>
-<source lang="xml">
+<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
 <USFSubtitles version="1.0">
   <metadata>
@@ Line 52: / Line 67: @@
     <subtitle start="00:00:00.000" stop="00:00:05.000">
       <text alignment="MiddleCenter">Welcome to
-        <b>The Core Media Player</b></text>
+        '''The Core Media Player'''</text>
       <image alignment="TopRight" vertical-margin="20" horizontal-margin="20"
              colorkey="#FFFFFF">TCMP_Logo.bmp</image>
@@ Line 64: / Line 79: @@
     <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 !</text>
+        Karokeeeeeeeee <k t="100"/>is <k t="200"/>fun !</karaoke>
     </subtitle>
-  <subtitles>
+  </subtitles>
 </USFSubtitles>
+</syntaxhighlight>
-</source>
 == References ==
 {{reflist}}
+== External links==
-[[Category:Subtitle file formats]]
+* {{Commons-inline|list=
+** [[Commons:Commons:Timed Text|Timed Text]]
+** [[Commons:Commons:Universal Subtitles|Universal Subtitles]]
+}}
-[[es:Universal Subtitle Format]]
-[[fr:Universal Subtitle Format]]
+[[Category:Subtitle file formats]]