Add your SMI file
Drop one or more .smi files onto the converter above, or browse for them. They load into browser memory only — nothing is uploaded, so there is no size-based pricing and no server queue.
SMI to SAMI
Converting a .smi file to .sami extracts the document's content from its office package into a portable form. Free, private, and validated — the file never leaves your browser.
Private for supported formats — processed in your browser
Runs on your deviceConvert supported files
Drop SMI files here
Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.
Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.About converting SAMI captions to SAMI captions
Converting a .smi file to .sami extracts the document's content from its office package into a portable form. An .smi file is a SAMI caption document: HTML-like markup in which <SYNC Start=…> elements mark the millisecond at which a caption appears, and the caption runs until the next SYNC. Microsoft designed it as an accessibility format, so a single file can carry several languages selected by CSS class.
A .sami file is the same Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange caption document as .smi, written with the long form of the extension. The contents are identical — <SYNC Start=…> elements inside an HTML-like SAMI document — and the long extension is chosen mainly to avoid colliding with SMIL files, which also claim .smi. For this route the practical draw is unambiguous about which format the file actually is and identical tooling support to .smi wherever SAMI is recognised — balanced against some players recognise only .smi and must be given a renamed copy, which is worth knowing before you commit a large batch.
Why convert SMI to SAMI?
The practical trigger for this conversion is usually a mismatch: with .smi, never formally standardised, so real-world files vary in structure. Switching to .sami buys you unambiguous about which format the file actually is, which is why it is the better fit for storing SAMI captions where .smi would collide with SMIL files. Because the conversion runs locally, trying it costs nothing but a few seconds of compute on your own machine.
SMI vs SAMI at a glance
| Aspect | SAMI captions (.smi) | SAMI captions (.sami) |
|---|---|---|
| Format type | Text-based — characters and structure, so there is no visual quality loss | Text-based — characters and structure, so there is no visual quality loss |
| How it stores data | the document has an HTML shape: <SAMI> wrapping <HEAD> with a <STYLE> block and <BODY> with the SYNC elements | byte for byte the same format as .smi: <SAMI>, <HEAD> with a <STYLE> block, and <BODY> with SYNC elements |
| Strongest at | captioning legacy Windows Media and Silverlight content | storing SAMI captions where .smi would collide with SMIL files |
| Weak spot | never formally standardised, so real-world files vary in structure | some players recognise only .smi and must be given a renamed copy |
| Metadata | style-class and title information describes presentation and language selection, not the cues; conversion keeps timing and text | as with .smi, the style block and language classes describe presentation; only cue timing and text are carried into other formats |
Pick SAMI as the output
Select .sami in the output menu next to each file. The menu only offers targets this engine can genuinely produce, so if SAMI is selectable, the route is real and validated.
Convert on your device
Press Convert. The package is unzipped in memory and its XML content parsed locally; nothing is uploaded.
Verify and download
Each result is signature-checked before the download unlocks, so a failed encode can never masquerade as a valid SAMI file. Outputs keep the original filename with the .sami extension.
SMI to SAMI questions, answered
Will converting SMI to SAMI lose quality?
There is no visual quality to lose — smi is text-oriented and sami is text-oriented, so the question is structural fidelity. Text, ordering, and basic structure are preserved; complex layout, embedded objects, and styling beyond the target's model are simplified.
Is it private to convert SMI files here?
Yes — the .smi file is processed inside your browser tab and never uploaded. The package is unzipped in memory and its XML content parsed locally; nothing is uploaded. Close the tab and the file is gone from memory.
Where will the SAMI file work?
Players that read SAMI generally accept .sami as well, though a few match on .smi alone. Novus Convert treats the two identically, running the same hardened SAMI parser — no document types, no external entities, script and style content stripped — and exports any of the twelve timed-text targets.
Will the SAMI file be bigger or smaller than my SMI?
It depends on the content: byte for byte the same format as .smi: <SAMI>, <HEAD> with a <STYLE> block, and <BODY> with SYNC elements. Convert one representative file first and compare before batch-processing a large set.
What happens to the metadata in my SMI file?
In .smi, style-class and title information describes presentation and language selection, not the cues; conversion keeps timing and text. Re-encoding through the browser pipeline does not carry embedded metadata into the output, which doubles as a privacy scrub — check the exported file if you specifically need tags preserved.
Can I convert SAMI back to SMI?
Yes — the reverse route exists as a separate tool. Bear in mind that round-tripping .smi → .sami → .smi is not a perfect undo when any lossy step is involved; keep your original if fidelity matters.