SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit · error · InvalidOperationException

Unknown type of event #{i + 1}: '{type}'

Error message

Unknown type of event #{i + 1}: '{type}'

What it means

Thrown by ClqttJson.LoadSubtitle when an entry in the events array has an eventType other than 'TIMED_TEXT_EVENT'. The importer only knows how to handle timed text events, so any other event type (or a missing/empty eventType field) aborts processing of that file.

Source

Thrown at src/libse/SubtitleFormats/ClqttJson.cs:96

                    }
                }
            }

            var eventsElement = rootElements.Find(element => element.Name.Equals("events", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase));
            if (eventsElement != null)
            {
                var eventElements = parser.GetRootElements(eventsElement.Json);

                for (var i = 0; i < eventElements.Count; i++)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        var eventJson = eventElements[i].Json;

                        var type = parser.GetFirstObject(eventJson, "eventType");
                        if (!type.Equals("TIMED_TEXT_EVENT", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
                        {
                            throw new InvalidOperationException($"Unknown type of event #{i + 1}: '{type}'");
                        }

                        var startString = parser.GetFirstObject(eventJson, "start");
                        var endString = parser.GetFirstObject(eventJson, "end");
                        var textString = parser.GetFirstObject(eventJson, "txt");
                        var region = parser.GetFirstObject(eventJson, "rgn");
                        var styles = parser.GetArrayElementsByName(eventJson, "styles");

                        var annotations = new List<string>();
                        var eventRootElements = parser.GetRootElements(eventJson);
                        var annotationsElement = eventRootElements.Find(element => element.Name.Equals("annotations", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase));
                        if (annotationsElement != null)
                        {
                            var annotationElements = parser.GetRootElements(annotationsElement.Json);
                            if (annotationElements != null && annotationElements.Count > 0)
                            {
                                foreach (var annotationElement in annotationElements)
                                {

View on GitHub (pinned to 17a9f07487)

Solutions

1. Open the .clqtt file and ensure every element in events[] has "eventType": "TIMED_TEXT_EVENT".
2. Remove or filter out non-text events before import.
3. Convert the file with its source tool to a format SubtitleEdit fully supports.
4. Upgrade SubtitleEdit for broader event-type coverage.

Example fix

// before
{ "eventType": "NOTE", "txt": "..." }
// after
{ "eventType": "TIMED_TEXT_EVENT", "txt": "..." }

// Pre-filter events to only TIMED_TEXT_EVENT entries
foreach (var evt in eventElements)
{
    var type = parser.GetFirstObject(evt.Json, "eventType");
    if (!type.Equals("TIMED_TEXT_EVENT", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
    {
        // skip or log non-text events instead of failing the whole import
        continue;
    }
    // process evt
}

try
{
    new ClqttJson().LoadSubtitle(sub, lines, fileName);
}
catch (InvalidOperationException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("Unknown type of event"))
{
    logger.Warning(ex.Message); // report and skip the file
}

When it happens

Trigger: A .clqtt events array containing entries with eventType set to something like 'NOTE', 'COMMENT', 'IMAGE', or an empty string. The check is case-insensitive but exact on the string value.

Common situations: CLQTT files that embed non-text events (images, styling notes); files from a newer spec revision; producer tools that emit a different event taxonomy.

Related errors

• Unknown time format '{timeFormat}'
• Element 'events' not found.
• Parse error in event #{i + 1} style: {ex.Message}
• Parse error in event #{i + 1}: {ex.Message}
• Invalid ASSA time code: {time}

AI-assisted analysis of SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit@17a9f07487 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4e5cce05e4084054. Report an issue: GitHub.