---
name: "kateenc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "libkate"
version: "0.4.3-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/kateenc"
---

# kateenc(1)

create Kate streams from text input

## NAME

kateenc - create Kate streams from text input

## SYNOPSIS

**kateenc** **\[-hVM\]** **\[-o** *outfile***\]** **\[-l** *language***\]** **\[-c** *category***\]** **\[-s** *serial***\]** **\[-C** *tag=value***\]** **\[-R** *threshold***\]** **\[-K** *threshold***\]** **-t** *filetype* \[ infile \]

## DESCRIPTION

**kateenc** creates Kate streams from input files (SubRip SRT subtitles, LRC lyrics, and libkate's custom description language). When saved to an Ogg stream (the default behavior), a Kate stream may then be merged with other Ogg streams (eg, a Theora video) using the oggz tools.

## OPTIONS

- **-h**

  Show command line help.

- **-V**

  Show version information.

- **-M**

  Allow simple HTML-like markup in SRT files. If this parameter is used, strings such as "\<i\>" will be interpreted to mean italics, rather than appear as such. Note that various players interpret a slightly different set of HTML tags, and some do not.

- **-o** outfile

  Write the output Kate stream to the given file name (writes to stdout if not specified).

- **-l** language

  Sets the language for the stream (default is the language specified in the input, or none).

- **-c** category

  Sets the category for the stream (default is the category specified in the input, or none).

- **-s** serial

  Sets the serial number for the output Kate stream (does not apply to raw streams).

- **-C** tag=value

  Adds a comment to encode into the output Kate stream. The comment must be of the form tag=value, and comply with the Vorbis comment rules (eg, tag is composed of a particular subset of ASCII characters, and value is valid UTF-8). Note that you might have to escape or quote the comment for it to be seen as a single command line parameter.

- **-t** filetype

  Specifies the type of the input (srt, lrc, kate)

- **-R** threshold

  Use repeat packets, with the given threshold (in seconds). Data packets will be repeated at intervals of roughly threshold seconds, while active.

- **-K** threshold

  Use keepalive packets, with the given threshold (in seconds). Keepalive packets will be emitted when no other packet has been emitted for roughly threshold seconds.

## EXAMPLES

Create a Kate stream for Welsh subtitles from a SubRip file:

    kateenc -t srt -l cy -c SUB -o output.ogg input.srt

## SEE ALSO

[**katedec**(1)](/katedec/1.md), [**katalyzer**(1)](/katalyzer/1.md)