From 13760a9291a2702a1a29ecac142533d52ec10ae2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Shubham Padkonde <shubhampadkonde12@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2026 23:14:34 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix: reject negative subtitle word limits

---
 tests/test_utils.py | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 whisper/utils.py    |  2 ++
 2 files changed, 44 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 tests/test_utils.py

diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9598075b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import pytest
+
+from whisper.utils import WriteSRT, WriteVTT
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("writer_class", [WriteSRT, WriteVTT])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("use_options", [False, True])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("empty", [False, True])
+def test_negative_word_limit(writer_class, use_options, empty):
+    writer = writer_class(".")
+    limits = {"max_words_per_line": -1}
+    kwargs = {"options": limits} if use_options else limits
+    segments = (
+        []
+        if empty
+        else [{"start": 0.0, "words": [{"start": 0.0, "end": 1.0, "word": "one"}]}]
+    )
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="max_words_per_line"):
+        list(writer.iterate_result({"segments": segments}, **kwargs))
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("writer_class", [WriteSRT, WriteVTT])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "limit,expected",
+    [(None, ["one two"]), (0, ["one two"]), (1, ["one", "two"]), (2, ["one two"])],
+)
+def test_word_limit(writer_class, limit, expected):
+    result = {
+        "segments": [
+            {
+                "start": 0.0,
+                "end": 2.0,
+                "text": "one two",
+                "words": [
+                    {"start": 0.0, "end": 1.0, "word": "one"},
+                    {"start": 1.0, "end": 2.0, "word": " two"},
+                ],
+            }
+        ]
+    }
+    subtitles = writer_class(".").iterate_result(result, max_words_per_line=limit)
+    assert [text for _, _, text in subtitles] == expected
diff --git a/whisper/utils.py b/whisper/utils.py
index 79658fc75..65a386eef 100644
--- a/whisper/utils.py
+++ b/whisper/utils.py
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ def iterate_result(
         max_line_count = max_line_count or options.get("max_line_count")
         highlight_words = highlight_words or options.get("highlight_words", False)
         max_words_per_line = max_words_per_line or options.get("max_words_per_line")
+        if max_words_per_line is not None and max_words_per_line < 0:
+            raise ValueError("max_words_per_line must be non-negative")
         preserve_segments = max_line_count is None or max_line_width is None
         max_line_width = max_line_width or 1000
         max_words_per_line = max_words_per_line or 1000