Overlapping subtitles: find the conflict before changing the timing
Use a reproducible SRT example to distinguish a timing collision from deliberate simultaneous speech.
The practical problem
A subtitle can start before an earlier cue has finished. Some players display both, some stack them, and some appear to replace the earlier text. A structural check can locate the interval; it cannot decide which person is speaking or how the final player should render it.
The workbench labels overlaps as review warnings. It leaves the text and timestamps unchanged. This is deliberate: automatically shortening every preceding cue could erase a second speaker, an on-screen translation or a caption for a sound that continues under dialogue.
A small example you can reproduce
1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000 The first speaker is still speaking. 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:05,000 A second speaker starts here.
Cue 2 begins at 3,800 milliseconds while cue 1 ends at 4,000. The overlap is 200 milliseconds. Load this text in the checker: it should report the relationship, not silently rewrite either cue.
A longer earlier cue can also overlap a later cue even when the immediately previous cue has already ended. The checker tracks the furthest active end time, so this relationship is not hidden by a short cue in the middle.
Choose a repair with the final video
Listen to the interval first. If the first person really finishes before the second begins, edit the first end time after checking legibility. If speech is simultaneous, keep the overlap and inspect the positioning in the actual delivery player. If the transcript repeats the same sentence, remove the duplicate after checking the audio rather than treating it as only a timing issue.
Keep the original file. Use Compare to check timing and text changes between the source and the edited version. Position-based comparison is useful for a controlled edit; it is less reliable after inserting or deleting cues.
What a clean report does not establish
A report with no overlapping intervals does not prove that the subtitles match the audio, convey all meaningful sounds or satisfy a particular delivery contract. Two sequential subtitles can still be late, mistranslated or too difficult to read. Treat a structural check as one part of review, then watch the final video.