Any way to change the default length of subtiles from file?

Martin L wrote on 2/9/2026, 6:06 AM

I just began a large project of several weeks of work to subtitle videos for a client. I got all the text lines and can load them into subtitles using Vegas feature Insert subtitles from file, and it works fine. The subtitles are automatically loaded onto the timeline and each one is 5 sec long. That is too long in this project and it would be good to get that down to 3 seconds or so, that would save a lof of time manually adjusting each event. But I can't find any way of changing the default length.

Any tips?

Comments

Dexcon wrote on 2/9/2026, 6:16 AM

I seriously don't know for sure because I don't use subtitles, but 5" is the default setting in Options/Preferences/Editing (tab) for the 'New still image length (seconds)' field. I wonder if altering this field to 3" or another custom setting will make any difference to the subtitle length. Just a thought.

Last changed by Dexcon on 2/9/2026, 6:20 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

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Martin L wrote on 2/9/2026, 6:21 AM

I thought so too and tried it, but it didn't affect the subtitles length.

Dexcon wrote on 2/9/2026, 6:35 AM

A Bing search resulted in:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=subtitle+length+in+vegas+pro&cvid=e306f5f4910349ca80b71d517a55f1f6&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgkIABBFGDsY-QcyCQgAEEUYOxj5BzIGCAEQRRg7MgYIAhBFGDkyBggDEEUYPNIBCDYyMjJqMGo0qAIIsAIB&FORM=ANAB01&PC=EDGEDSE

... which to my mind is gobbedigook ... and the link to Vegas Pro's user manual doesn't seem to provide any clarification.

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Installed: Vegas Pro 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23, HitFilm Pro 2021.3, DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.3, BCC 2026, Mocha Pro 2026, NBFX TotalFX 7, Neat NR 6, DVD Architect 6.0, MAGIX Travel Maps, Sound Forge Pro 16, SpectraLayers Pro 12, iZotope RX11 Advanced and many other iZ plugins, Vegasaur 4.0

Windows 11 25H2

Dell Alienware Aurora 11:

10th Gen Intel i9 10900KF - 10 cores (20 threads) - 3.7 to 5.3 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 - liquid cooled

64GB RAM - Dual Channel HyperX FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz

C drive: 2TB Samsung 990 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD

D: drive: 4TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD (used for media for editing current projects)

E: drive: 2TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD

F: drive: 6TB WD 7200 rpm Black HDD 3.5"

Dell Ultrasharp 32" 4K Color Calibrated Monitor

 

LAPTOP:

Dell Inspiron 5310 EVO 13.3"

i5-11320H CPU

C Drive: 1TB Corsair Gen4 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD (upgraded from the original 500 GB SSD)

Monitor is 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

Martin L wrote on 2/9/2026, 6:49 AM

True...

I am trying to find a way to select multiple Title & Text events and change length to all of them in one go, but so far I haven't found how to do that. That could be a workaround, inserting them all (hundreds) to their default 5 seconds and them selecting them all and change the length to whatever is better.

Selectively pasting events attributes deosn't have event length...

 

3POINT wrote on 2/9/2026, 7:15 AM

@Martin L Take a look at free script from HOS: https://tools4vegas.com/set-event-length/

Gid wrote on 2/9/2026, 7:41 AM

I am trying to find a way to select multiple Title & Text events and change length to all of them in one go

@Martin L Does this work for you -

  • Select your text on the timeline.
  • Open 'Edit Details'
  • Choose 'Selected Events'.
  • Click the top one in the 'Length' column, hold the Shift key & click on the bottom one - selecting all.
  • Change length - Enter.
  • On the timeline 'Close gaps' if wanted.

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Martin L wrote on 2/9/2026, 7:45 AM

@Martin L Take a look at free script from HOS: https://tools4vegas.com/set-event-length/

Oh, that script worked like a charm! Thanks. That will speed up the work. 👍

DMT3 wrote on 2/9/2026, 7:54 AM

When you insert the Subtitles, there is a checkbox to use the Default text settings. If you open the Text tool, there is a default length near the top. IF you change that, it should change the length of each imported text.

3POINT wrote on 2/9/2026, 7:55 AM

Just tested with a srt.file: Indeed works as expected. Important is to disable the "auto ripple" function with subtitles, they should stay in place and just be shortened.

Martin L wrote on 2/9/2026, 8:00 AM

I am trying to find a way to select multiple Title & Text events and change length to all of them in one go

@Martin L Does this work for you -

  • Select your text on the timeline.
  • Open 'Edit Details'
  • Choose 'Selected Events'.
  • Click the top one in the 'Length' column, hold the Shift key & click on the bottom one - selecting all.
  • Change length - Enter.
  • On the timeline 'Close gaps' if wanted.

Yes, that worked too! Great. Thanks!

Martin L wrote on 2/9/2026, 8:01 AM

When you insert the Subtitles, there is a checkbox to use the Default text settings. If you open the Text tool, there is a default length near the top. IF you change that, it should change the length of each imported text.

I tried that and it didn't work.

Martin L wrote on 2/9/2026, 8:06 AM

Just tested with a srt.file: Indeed works as expected. Important is to disable the "auto ripple" function with subtitles, they should stay in place and just be shortened.

I don't have any srt file, just txt files with the text lines.

But what is that clock icon you pressed? I don't have that.

3POINT wrote on 2/9/2026, 8:25 AM

That icon comes together with the script, it can be manually added to the toolbar for quick access:

How to:

Last changed by 3POINT on 2/9/2026, 8:31 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

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