diff --git a/RELEASENOTES.md b/RELEASENOTES.md
index 8df1b1f698..0810d4fd97 100644
--- a/RELEASENOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASENOTES.md
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
   * Improve support for G.711 A-law and mu-law encoded data.
 * Fix MKV subtitles to disappear when intended instead of lasting until the
   next cue ([#6833](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/6833)).
+* Parse \<ruby\> and \<rt\> tags in WebVTT subtitles (rendering is coming
+  later).
 
 ### 2.11.1 (2019-12-20) ###
 
diff --git a/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParser.java b/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParser.java
index f4c0f26fc8..6de57783e0 100644
--- a/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParser.java
+++ b/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParser.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import androidx.annotation.IntDef;
 import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
 import androidx.annotation.Nullable;
 import com.google.android.exoplayer2.text.Cue;
+import com.google.android.exoplayer2.text.span.RubySpan;
 import com.google.android.exoplayer2.util.Assertions;
 import com.google.android.exoplayer2.util.Log;
 import com.google.android.exoplayer2.util.ParsableByteArray;
@@ -120,11 +121,13 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
   private static final String ENTITY_NON_BREAK_SPACE = "nbsp";
 
   private static final String TAG_BOLD = "b";
-  private static final String TAG_ITALIC = "i";
-  private static final String TAG_UNDERLINE = "u";
   private static final String TAG_CLASS = "c";
-  private static final String TAG_VOICE = "v";
+  private static final String TAG_ITALIC = "i";
   private static final String TAG_LANG = "lang";
+  private static final String TAG_RUBY = "ruby";
+  private static final String TAG_RUBY_TEXT = "rt";
+  private static final String TAG_UNDERLINE = "u";
+  private static final String TAG_VOICE = "v";
 
   private static final int STYLE_BOLD = Typeface.BOLD;
   private static final int STYLE_ITALIC = Typeface.ITALIC;
@@ -197,6 +200,7 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
     ArrayDeque<StartTag> startTagStack = new ArrayDeque<>();
     List<StyleMatch> scratchStyleMatches = new ArrayList<>();
     int pos = 0;
+    List<Element> nestedElements = new ArrayList<>();
     while (pos < markup.length()) {
       char curr = markup.charAt(pos);
       switch (curr) {
@@ -225,8 +229,14 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
                 break;
               }
               startTag = startTagStack.pop();
-              applySpansForTag(id, startTag, spannedText, styles, scratchStyleMatches);
-            } while(!startTag.name.equals(tagName));
+              applySpansForTag(
+                  id, startTag, nestedElements, spannedText, styles, scratchStyleMatches);
+              if (!startTagStack.isEmpty()) {
+                nestedElements.add(new Element(startTag, spannedText.length()));
+              } else {
+                nestedElements.clear();
+              }
+            } while (!startTag.name.equals(tagName));
           } else if (!isVoidTag) {
             startTagStack.push(StartTag.buildStartTag(fullTagExpression, spannedText.length()));
           }
@@ -256,9 +266,15 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
     }
     // apply unclosed tags
     while (!startTagStack.isEmpty()) {
-      applySpansForTag(id, startTagStack.pop(), spannedText, styles, scratchStyleMatches);
+      applySpansForTag(
+          id, startTagStack.pop(), nestedElements, spannedText, styles, scratchStyleMatches);
     }
-    applySpansForTag(id, StartTag.buildWholeCueVirtualTag(), spannedText, styles,
+    applySpansForTag(
+        id,
+        StartTag.buildWholeCueVirtualTag(),
+        /* nestedElements= */ Collections.emptyList(),
+        spannedText,
+        styles,
         scratchStyleMatches);
     return SpannedString.valueOf(spannedText);
   }
@@ -442,6 +458,8 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
       case TAG_CLASS:
       case TAG_ITALIC:
       case TAG_LANG:
+      case TAG_RUBY:
+      case TAG_RUBY_TEXT:
       case TAG_UNDERLINE:
       case TAG_VOICE:
         return true;
@@ -453,6 +471,7 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
   private static void applySpansForTag(
       @Nullable String cueId,
       StartTag startTag,
+      List<Element> nestedElements,
       SpannableStringBuilder text,
       List<WebvttCssStyle> styles,
       List<StyleMatch> scratchStyleMatches) {
@@ -467,6 +486,29 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
         text.setSpan(new StyleSpan(STYLE_ITALIC), start, end,
             Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
         break;
+      case TAG_RUBY:
+        @Nullable Element rubyTextElement = null;
+        for (int i = 0; i < nestedElements.size(); i++) {
+          if (TAG_RUBY_TEXT.equals(nestedElements.get(i).startTag.name)) {
+            rubyTextElement = nestedElements.get(i);
+            // Behaviour of multiple <rt> tags inside <ruby> is undefined, so use the first one.
+            break;
+          }
+        }
+        if (rubyTextElement == null) {
+          break;
+        }
+        // Move the rubyText from spannedText into the RubySpan.
+        CharSequence rubyText =
+            text.subSequence(rubyTextElement.startTag.position, rubyTextElement.endPosition);
+        text.delete(rubyTextElement.startTag.position, rubyTextElement.endPosition);
+        end -= rubyText.length();
+        text.setSpan(
+            new RubySpan(rubyText.toString(), RubySpan.POSITION_OVER),
+            start,
+            end,
+            Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
+        break;
       case TAG_UNDERLINE:
         text.setSpan(new UnderlineSpan(), start, end, Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
         break;
@@ -787,4 +829,19 @@ public final class WebvttCueParser {
     }
 
   }
+
+  /** Information about a complete element (i.e. start tag and end position). */
+  private static class Element {
+    private final StartTag startTag;
+    /**
+     * The position of the end of this element's text in the un-marked-up cue text (i.e. the
+     * corollary to {@link StartTag#position}).
+     */
+    private final int endPosition;
+
+    private Element(StartTag startTag, int endPosition) {
+      this.startTag = startTag;
+      this.endPosition = endPosition;
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/library/core/src/test/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParserTest.java b/library/core/src/test/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParserTest.java
index ec4ed10f3d..aa83fbc8ed 100644
--- a/library/core/src/test/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParserTest.java
+++ b/library/core/src/test/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/text/webvtt/WebvttCueParserTest.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
 
 import android.text.Spanned;
 import androidx.test.ext.junit.runners.AndroidJUnit4;
+import com.google.android.exoplayer2.text.span.RubySpan;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
@@ -48,6 +49,36 @@ public final class WebvttCueParserTest {
     assertThat(text).hasNoSpans();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testParseRubyTag() throws Exception {
+    Spanned text =
+        parseCueText("Some <ruby>base text<rt>with ruby</rt></ruby> and undecorated text");
+
+    // The text between the <rt> tags is stripped from Cue.text and only present on the RubySpan.
+    assertThat(text.toString()).isEqualTo("Some base text and undecorated text");
+    assertThat(text)
+        .hasRubySpanBetween("Some ".length(), "Some base text".length())
+        .withTextAndPosition("with ruby", RubySpan.POSITION_OVER);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testParseRubyTagWithNoTextTag() throws Exception {
+    Spanned text = parseCueText("Some <ruby>base text with no ruby text</ruby>");
+
+    assertThat(text.toString()).isEqualTo("Some base text with no ruby text");
+    assertThat(text).hasNoSpans();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testParseRubyTagWithEmptyTextTag() throws Exception {
+    Spanned text = parseCueText("Some <ruby>base text with<rt></rt></ruby> empty ruby text");
+
+    assertThat(text.toString()).isEqualTo("Some base text with empty ruby text");
+    assertThat(text)
+        .hasRubySpanBetween("Some ".length(), "Some base text with".length())
+        .withTextAndPosition("", RubySpan.POSITION_OVER);
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testParseWellFormedUnclosedEndAtCueEnd() throws Exception {
     Spanned text = parseCueText("An <u some trailing stuff>unclosed u tag with "