Reading Speed (CPS)

Pop-up menu: Setup/Preferences/Miscellaneous settings

Sub Machine can calculate and display the reading speed of each subtitle, helping subtitlers ensure that viewers have enough time to read the text comfortably.

Reading speed can be displayed in characters per second (CPS), which is the industry standard measurement for subtitle readability.

Configuration:

Reading speed settings are found in Miscellaneous settings under Preferences:

•Reading speed in characters per second – Enable this to display reading speed as CPS instead of the default words-per-minute calculation.

•Include whitespace characters – When enabled, space characters are counted in the reading speed calculation. This is relevant for some broadcast specifications that include whitespace in their character count.

The reading speed is visualized in the time bar using color zones: green for comfortable reading speed, yellow for fast, and red for too fast.

Typical broadcast standards:

•Standard TV subtitling: approximately 12–15 CPS

•Streaming platforms (Netflix, etc.): typically 17–20 CPS maximum

•SDH/accessibility subtitles: lower CPS is preferred

See also: Miscellaneous settings, Time bar, Global check settings