diff --git a/whisper/transcribe.py b/whisper/transcribe.py
index ed6d820..84feb12 100644
--- a/whisper/transcribe.py
+++ b/whisper/transcribe.py
@@ -401,6 +401,9 @@ def cli():
     parser.add_argument("--word_timestamps", type=str2bool, default=False, help="(experimental) extract word-level timestamps and refine the results based on them")
     parser.add_argument("--prepend_punctuations", type=str, default="\"\'“¿([{-", help="if word_timestamps is True, merge these punctuation symbols with the next word")
     parser.add_argument("--append_punctuations", type=str, default="\"\'.。,，!！?？:：”)]}、", help="if word_timestamps is True, merge these punctuation symbols with the previous word")
+    parser.add_argument("--highlight_words", type=str2bool, default=False, help="(requires --word_timestamps True) underline each word as it is spoken in srt and vtt")
+    parser.add_argument("--max_line_width", type=optional_int, default=None, help="(requires --word_timestamps True) the maximum number of characters in a line before breaking the line")
+    parser.add_argument("--max_line_count", type=optional_int, default=None, help="(requires --word_timestamps True) the maximum number of lines in a segment")
     parser.add_argument("--threads", type=optional_int, default=0, help="number of threads used by torch for CPU inference; supercedes MKL_NUM_THREADS/OMP_NUM_THREADS")
     # fmt: on
 
@@ -433,9 +436,17 @@ def cli():
     model = load_model(model_name, device=device, download_root=model_dir)
 
     writer = get_writer(output_format, output_dir)
+    word_options = ["highlight_words", "max_line_count", "max_line_width"]
+    if not args["word_timestamps"]:
+        for option in word_options:
+            if args[option]:
+                parser.error(f"--{option} requires --word_timestamps True")
+    if args["max_line_count"] and not args["max_line_width"]:
+        warnings.warn("--max_line_count has no effect without --max_line_width")
+    writer_args = {arg: args.pop(arg) for arg in word_options}
     for audio_path in args.pop("audio"):
         result = transcribe(model, audio_path, temperature=temperature, **args)
-        writer(result, audio_path)
+        writer(result, audio_path, writer_args)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/whisper/utils.py b/whisper/utils.py
index 490bdd1..ba5a10c 100644
--- a/whisper/utils.py
+++ b/whisper/utils.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import json
 import os
+import re
 import sys
 import zlib
-from typing import Callable, TextIO
+from typing import Callable, Optional, TextIO
 
 system_encoding = sys.getdefaultencoding()
 
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ class ResultWriter:
     def __init__(self, output_dir: str):
         self.output_dir = output_dir
 
-    def __call__(self, result: dict, audio_path: str):
+    def __call__(self, result: dict, audio_path: str, options: dict):
         audio_basename = os.path.basename(audio_path)
         audio_basename = os.path.splitext(audio_basename)[0]
         output_path = os.path.join(
@@ -81,16 +82,16 @@ class ResultWriter:
         )
 
         with open(output_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-            self.write_result(result, file=f)
+            self.write_result(result, file=f, options=options)
 
-    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO):
+    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO, options: dict):
         raise NotImplementedError
 
 
 class WriteTXT(ResultWriter):
     extension: str = "txt"
 
-    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO):
+    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO, options: dict):
         for segment in result["segments"]:
             print(segment["text"].strip(), file=file, flush=True)
 
@@ -99,33 +100,81 @@ class SubtitlesWriter(ResultWriter):
     always_include_hours: bool
     decimal_marker: str
 
-    def iterate_result(self, result: dict):
-        for segment in result["segments"]:
-            segment_start = self.format_timestamp(segment["start"])
-            segment_end = self.format_timestamp(segment["end"])
-            segment_text = segment["text"].strip().replace("-->", "->")
+    def iterate_result(self, result: dict, options: dict):
+        raw_max_line_width: Optional[int] = options["max_line_width"]
+        max_line_count: Optional[int] = options["max_line_count"]
+        highlight_words: bool = options["highlight_words"]
+        max_line_width = 1000 if raw_max_line_width is None else raw_max_line_width
+        preserve_segments = max_line_count is None or raw_max_line_width is None
 
-            if word_timings := segment.get("words", None):
-                all_words = [timing["word"] for timing in word_timings]
-                all_words[0] = all_words[0].strip()  # remove the leading space, if any
-                last = segment_start
-                for i, this_word in enumerate(word_timings):
-                    start = self.format_timestamp(this_word["start"])
-                    end = self.format_timestamp(this_word["end"])
-                    if last != start:
-                        yield last, start, segment_text
+        def iterate_subtitles():
+            line_len = 0
+            line_count = 1
+            # the next subtitle to yield (a list of word timings with whitespace)
+            subtitle: list[dict] = []
+            last = result["segments"][0]["words"][0]["start"]
+            for segment in result["segments"]:
+                for i, original_timing in enumerate(segment["words"]):
+                    timing = original_timing.copy()
+                    long_pause = not preserve_segments and timing["start"] - last > 3.0
+                    has_room = line_len + len(timing["word"]) <= max_line_width
+                    seg_break = i == 0 and len(subtitle) > 0 and preserve_segments
+                    if line_len > 0 and has_room and not long_pause and not seg_break:
+                        # line continuation
+                        line_len += len(timing["word"])
+                    else:
+                        # new line
+                        timing["word"] = timing["word"].strip()
+                        if (
+                            len(subtitle) > 0
+                            and max_line_count is not None
+                            and (long_pause or line_count >= max_line_count)
+                            or seg_break
+                        ):
+                            # subtitle break
+                            yield subtitle
+                            subtitle = []
+                            line_count = 1
+                        elif line_len > 0:
+                            # line break
+                            line_count += 1
+                            timing["word"] = "\n" + timing["word"]
+                        line_len = len(timing["word"].strip())
+                    subtitle.append(timing)
+                    last = timing["start"]
+            if len(subtitle) > 0:
+                yield subtitle
 
-                    yield start, end, "".join(
-                        [
-                            f"<u>{word}</u>" if j == i else word
-                            for j, word in enumerate(all_words)
-                        ]
-                    )
-                    last = end
+        if "words" in result["segments"][0]:
+            for subtitle in iterate_subtitles():
+                subtitle_start = self.format_timestamp(subtitle[0]["start"])
+                subtitle_end = self.format_timestamp(subtitle[-1]["end"])
+                subtitle_text = "".join([word["word"] for word in subtitle])
+                if highlight_words:
+                    last = subtitle_start
+                    all_words = [timing["word"] for timing in subtitle]
+                    for i, this_word in enumerate(subtitle):
+                        start = self.format_timestamp(this_word["start"])
+                        end = self.format_timestamp(this_word["end"])
+                        if last != start:
+                            yield last, start, subtitle_text
 
-                if last != segment_end:
-                    yield last, segment_end, segment_text
-            else:
+                        yield start, end, "".join(
+                            [
+                                re.sub(r"^(\s*)(.*)$", r"\1<u>\2</u>", word)
+                                if j == i
+                                else word
+                                for j, word in enumerate(all_words)
+                            ]
+                        )
+                        last = end
+                else:
+                    yield subtitle_start, subtitle_end, subtitle_text
+        else:
+            for segment in result["segments"]:
+                segment_start = self.format_timestamp(segment["start"])
+                segment_end = self.format_timestamp(segment["end"])
+                segment_text = segment["text"].strip().replace("-->", "->")
                 yield segment_start, segment_end, segment_text
 
     def format_timestamp(self, seconds: float):
@@ -141,9 +190,9 @@ class WriteVTT(SubtitlesWriter):
     always_include_hours: bool = False
     decimal_marker: str = "."
 
-    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO):
+    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO, options: dict):
         print("WEBVTT\n", file=file)
-        for start, end, text in self.iterate_result(result):
+        for start, end, text in self.iterate_result(result, options):
             print(f"{start} --> {end}\n{text}\n", file=file, flush=True)
 
 
@@ -152,8 +201,10 @@ class WriteSRT(SubtitlesWriter):
     always_include_hours: bool = True
     decimal_marker: str = ","
 
-    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO):
-        for i, (start, end, text) in enumerate(self.iterate_result(result), start=1):
+    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO, options: dict):
+        for i, (start, end, text) in enumerate(
+            self.iterate_result(result, options), start=1
+        ):
             print(f"{i}\n{start} --> {end}\n{text}\n", file=file, flush=True)
 
 
@@ -169,7 +220,7 @@ class WriteTSV(ResultWriter):
 
     extension: str = "tsv"
 
-    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO):
+    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO, options: dict):
         print("start", "end", "text", sep="\t", file=file)
         for segment in result["segments"]:
             print(round(1000 * segment["start"]), file=file, end="\t")
@@ -180,11 +231,13 @@ class WriteTSV(ResultWriter):
 class WriteJSON(ResultWriter):
     extension: str = "json"
 
-    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO):
+    def write_result(self, result: dict, file: TextIO, options: dict):
         json.dump(result, file)
 
 
-def get_writer(output_format: str, output_dir: str) -> Callable[[dict, TextIO], None]:
+def get_writer(
+    output_format: str, output_dir: str
+) -> Callable[[dict, TextIO, dict], None]:
     writers = {
         "txt": WriteTXT,
         "vtt": WriteVTT,
@@ -196,9 +249,9 @@ def get_writer(output_format: str, output_dir: str) -> Callable[[dict, TextIO],
     if output_format == "all":
         all_writers = [writer(output_dir) for writer in writers.values()]
 
-        def write_all(result: dict, file: TextIO):
+        def write_all(result: dict, file: TextIO, options: dict):
             for writer in all_writers:
-                writer(result, file)
+                writer(result, file, options)
 
         return write_all