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Timing Guidelines

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Timing is possibly the most invisible part of fansubbing. That is, until a line is mistimed and the viewer's immersion is immediately broken.

This document aims to provide a set of guidelines for timing subtitles, to help ensure that the subtitles are correctly displayed, and consistently appear where they are expected. This document also covers karaoke timing.

Dialogue timing

  • Basic principles
  • Lead-in and lead-out times
  • Scene changes
  • Overlapping dialogue

Karaoke timing

  • Syllable-by-syllable timing techniques
  • Handling different musical styles and tempos
  • On-screen lyrics and similar