YouTube SRV3 subtitles reportedly being disabled, users report custom captions no longer working

Update 19/01/26 – 09:10 am (IST): Jacob Star, creator of Caption+, which is the tool used for Tom Scott’s Jet Lag subtitles, issued a statement (via) confirming YouTube disabled SRV3 uploads after last Wednesday afternoon, with existing tracks now disappearing from videos.

Despite the site’s claim of being “Developed with YouTube,” this offered no protection, though high-profile creators, TV networks, and media outlets are pushing back in hopes of a reversal. No word yet from YouTube.

Original article published on January 18, 2026, follows:

Creators who rely on stylized caption files say YouTube has started acting strangely: SRV3 and YTT subtitle tracks that used to upload cleanly now publish as if they worked, but never show up on the video. Others say the captions were already there for months or years, and then suddenly disappeared.

User maymei.cc on X put the spotlight on the problem yesterday, claiming YouTube is “SLOWLY DELETING all custom subtitles,” including work used by big creators and companies such as hololive. In follow-up posts, they emphasized that this is not about normal closed captions, but rather advanced, formatted subtitles created with .srv3 and .ytt files.

On Reddit, a r/youtube thread titled “Uploading SRV3 subtitles got broken/disabled. Please restore it.” describes the same failure. The original poster, u/MatthewHinson, noted that SRV3 uploads stopped appearing after publication, and later updated the post to claim YouTube began “randomly deleting SRV3 subtitles from existing videos.”

A commenter, u/NanatsuEtc, said the change is blocking paid work in progress: “This is my job… I literally have commissions in progress that I cannot complete.” The same account later posted an update saying their “proudest work just got removed,” referring to .ytt and .srv3 tracks.

So what is SRV3, and why are people upset? It’s a YouTube-associated subtitle format that’s never been officially documented for creators, but it has circulated for years in subtitling circles. Users describe it as YouTube’s older internal format, sometimes called YTT, that supports styling options most standard subtitle uploads cannot.

Those options are the whole point. People use SRV3/YTT for colored speaker labels, custom placement, outlines, shadows, and language-specific formatting like ruby text. It’s common in communities where captions are part accessibility tool, part production value.

Hololive fans have been especially vocal because many official translations on hololive videos use styled captions. In the same Reddit thread, u/MatthewHinson claimed they spotted the first hololive video losing these subtitles, pointing to Tsunomaki Watame’s “What an amazing swing.” A separate discussion post on r/Hololive about YouTube “removing custom subtitles” quickly climbed into the thousands of upvotes, with users trading examples and venting frustration.

Some posters are blaming YouTube’s recent push around auto-translation and AI dubbing, but there’s no proof that those systems are directly connected to SRV3 being blocked. Right now, it’s mostly a pattern: SRV3 upload fails, then older tracks start vanishing.

YouTube has not published an explanation for SRV3/YTT caption issues at the time of writing. For creators worried about losing work, the most practical advice shared in these threads is simple: back up your .srv3 and .ytt files locally, and grab exports of any projects you can still access in YouTube Studio.

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