diff --git a/gst/subparse/gstsubparse.c b/gst/subparse/gstsubparse.c
index 3f4ee18840..fa98efd1ef 100644
--- a/gst/subparse/gstsubparse.c
+++ b/gst/subparse/gstsubparse.c
@@ -1211,7 +1211,8 @@ gst_sub_parse_data_format_autodetect_regex_once (GstSubParseRegex regtype)
       }
       break;
     case GST_SUB_PARSE_REGEX_SUBRIP:
-      result = (gpointer) g_regex_new ("^ {0,3}[ 0-9]{1,4}\\s*(\x0d)?\x0a"
+      result = (gpointer)
+          g_regex_new ("^[\\s\\n]*[\\n]? {0,3}[ 0-9]{1,4}\\s*(\x0d)?\x0a"
           " ?[0-9]{1,2}: ?[0-9]{1,2}: ?[0-9]{1,2}[,.] {0,2}[0-9]{1,3}"
           " +--> +[0-9]{1,2}: ?[0-9]{1,2}: ?[0-9]{1,2}[,.] {0,2}[0-9]{1,2}",
           G_REGEX_RAW | G_REGEX_OPTIMIZE, 0, &gerr);