diff --git a/externs/shaka/player.js b/externs/shaka/player.js
index 87abd72a266..17a681fa64e 100644
--- a/externs/shaka/player.js
+++ b/externs/shaka/player.js
@@ -782,6 +782,7 @@ shaka.extern.HlsManifestConfiguration;
  *   disableText: boolean,
  *   disableThumbnails: boolean,
  *   defaultPresentationDelay: number,
+ *   textOffsetMode: boolean,
  *   dash: shaka.extern.DashManifestConfiguration,
  *   hls: shaka.extern.HlsManifestConfiguration
  * }}
@@ -813,6 +814,11 @@ shaka.extern.HlsManifestConfiguration;
  *   configured or set as 0.
  *   For HLS, the default value is 3 segments duration if not configured or
  *   set as 0.
+ * @property {boolean} textOffsetMode
+ *   Option to use alternative text timings calculation. Currently allows
+ *   to change VTT text timings to be relative to segment start instead of
+ *   being absolute (which is the default).
+ *   Defaults to <code>false</code>.
  * @property {shaka.extern.DashManifestConfiguration} dash
  *   Advanced parameters used by the DASH manifest parser.
  * @property {shaka.extern.HlsManifestConfiguration} hls
diff --git a/externs/shaka/text.js b/externs/shaka/text.js
index 6403664c6e5..eb7a64e1935 100644
--- a/externs/shaka/text.js
+++ b/externs/shaka/text.js
@@ -442,7 +442,8 @@ shaka.extern.TextParser = class {
  * @typedef {{
  *   periodStart: number,
  *   segmentStart: number,
- *   segmentEnd: number
+ *   segmentEnd: number,
+ *   offsetStart: number
  * }}
  *
  * @property {number} periodStart
@@ -451,6 +452,9 @@ shaka.extern.TextParser = class {
  *     The absolute start time of the segment in seconds.
  * @property {number} segmentEnd
  *     The absolute end time of the segment in seconds.
+ * @property {number} offsetStart
+ *     The start time relative to either segment or period start
+ *     depending on <code>textOffsetMode</code> configuration.
  *
  * @exportDoc
  */
diff --git a/lib/media/media_source_engine.js b/lib/media/media_source_engine.js
index 3f5fe6be23a..69bae448b2b 100644
--- a/lib/media/media_source_engine.js
+++ b/lib/media/media_source_engine.js
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ shaka.media.MediaSourceEngine = class {
     /** @private {shaka.text.TextEngine} */
     this.textEngine_ = null;
 
+    /** @private {boolean} */
+    this.textOffsetMode_ = false;
+
     const onMetadataNoOp = (metadata, timestampOffset, segmentEnd) => {};
 
     /** @private {!function(!Array.<shaka.extern.ID3Metadata>,
@@ -367,7 +370,7 @@ shaka.media.MediaSourceEngine = class {
     if (!this.textEngine_) {
       this.textEngine_ = new shaka.text.TextEngine(this.textDisplayer_);
     }
-    this.textEngine_.initParser(mimeType, sequenceMode);
+    this.textEngine_.initParser(mimeType, sequenceMode, this.textOffsetMode_);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1113,6 +1116,13 @@ shaka.media.MediaSourceEngine = class {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @param {boolean} textOffsetMode
+   */
+  setTextOffsetMode(textOffsetMode) {
+    this.textOffsetMode_ = textOffsetMode;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Apply platform-specific transformations to this segment to work around
    * issues in the platform.
diff --git a/lib/player.js b/lib/player.js
index b22b5023720..f855a3dfbfc 100644
--- a/lib/player.js
+++ b/lib/player.js
@@ -1571,6 +1571,8 @@ shaka.Player = class extends shaka.util.FakeEventTarget {
         (metadata, offset, endTime) => {
           this.processTimedMetadataMediaSrc_(metadata, offset, endTime);
         });
+    const {textOffsetMode} = this.config_.manifest;
+    mediaSourceEngine.setTextOffsetMode(textOffsetMode);
 
     // Wait for media source engine to finish opening. This promise should
     // NEVER be rejected as per the media source engine implementation.
@@ -3005,6 +3007,9 @@ shaka.Player = class extends shaka.util.FakeEventTarget {
     }
 
     if (this.mediaSourceEngine_) {
+      const {textOffsetMode} = this.config_.manifest;
+      this.mediaSourceEngine_.setTextOffsetMode(textOffsetMode);
+
       const textDisplayerFactory = this.config_.textDisplayFactory;
       if (this.lastTextFactory_ != textDisplayerFactory) {
         const displayer =
@@ -4849,6 +4854,7 @@ shaka.Player = class extends shaka.util.FakeEventTarget {
         periodStart: 0,
         segmentStart: 0,
         segmentEnd: this.video_.duration,
+        offsetStart: 0,
       };
       const data = shaka.util.BufferUtils.toUint8(buffer);
       const cues = obj.parseMedia(data, time);
diff --git a/lib/text/text_engine.js b/lib/text/text_engine.js
index 151ff0898d2..2ef055e200c 100644
--- a/lib/text/text_engine.js
+++ b/lib/text/text_engine.js
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ shaka.text.TextEngine = class {
     /** @private {shaka.extern.TextDisplayer} */
     this.displayer_ = displayer;
 
+    /** @private {boolean} */
+    this.textOffsetMode_ = false;
+
     /** @private {number} */
     this.timestampOffset_ = 0;
 
@@ -130,8 +133,9 @@ shaka.text.TextEngine = class {
    *
    * @param {string} mimeType
    * @param {boolean} sequenceMode
+   * @param {boolean} textOffsetMode
    */
-  initParser(mimeType, sequenceMode) {
+  initParser(mimeType, sequenceMode, textOffsetMode) {
     // No parser for CEA, which is extracted from video and side-loaded
     // into TextEngine and TextDisplayer.
     if (mimeType == shaka.util.MimeUtils.CEA608_CLOSED_CAPTION_MIMETYPE ||
@@ -149,6 +153,7 @@ shaka.text.TextEngine = class {
       shaka.log.alwaysWarn(
           'Text parsers should have a "setSequenceMode" method!');
     }
+    this.textOffsetMode_ = textOffsetMode;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -179,6 +184,7 @@ shaka.text.TextEngine = class {
       periodStart: this.timestampOffset_,
       segmentStart: startTime,
       segmentEnd: endTime,
+      offsetStart: this.textOffsetMode_ ? startTime : this.timestampOffset_,
     };
 
     // Parse the buffer and add the new cues.
diff --git a/lib/text/vtt_text_parser.js b/lib/text/vtt_text_parser.js
index 73334e545f4..ea905b60649 100644
--- a/lib/text/vtt_text_parser.js
+++ b/lib/text/vtt_text_parser.js
@@ -62,9 +62,12 @@ shaka.text.VttTextParser = class {
           shaka.util.Error.Code.INVALID_TEXT_HEADER);
     }
 
+    // Depending on configuration, "offsetStart" will correspond to either
+    // "periodStart" (default) or "segmentStart" for segmented VTT where timings
+    // are relative to the beginning of each segment.
     // NOTE: "periodStart" is the timestamp offset applied via TextEngine.
     // It is no longer closely tied to periods, but the name stuck around.
-    let offset = time.periodStart;
+    let offset = time.offsetStart;
 
     // Do not honor the 'X-TIMESTAMP-MAP' value when in sequence mode.
     // That is because it is used mainly (solely?) to account for the timestamp
diff --git a/lib/util/player_configuration.js b/lib/util/player_configuration.js
index fe4f5d27e9f..38a80596408 100644
--- a/lib/util/player_configuration.js
+++ b/lib/util/player_configuration.js
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ shaka.util.PlayerConfiguration = class {
       disableText: false,
       disableThumbnails: false,
       defaultPresentationDelay: 0,
+      textOffsetMode: false,
       dash: {
         clockSyncUri: '',
         ignoreDrmInfo: false,