Repository navigation
Subtitles
VLC Redesign shows subtitles in your language by itself: from the video, from a file next to it, or found online. It learns the languages you pick, remembers the subtitle of each file and the timing of each series, and lets you fix early or late subtitles, and move or resize them, while you watch.
Everything here happens in the Subtitles tab of the Languages and tracks panel. The look of the subtitles (font, colours, outline, shadow, box) and the languages are also in Settings: Subtitles.
Three languages decide which subtitles show by themselves:
| Language | Where it is set | Until you choose |
|---|---|---|
| Default | Preferred language in Settings: Subtitles, the installer and the first-run setup | The language of Windows |
| Second | Second language (when there are none in the preferred one), same places | English (none when the default one is English) |
| Learned | Nothing to set: the language you pick most by hand (see Learning your languages) | None |
When a video opens, VLC shows its track in the default language; if it has none, in the second one; if it has neither, in the learned one. When the video has none of them, the online search looks for them (see Subtitles found online).
Before you choose any subtitle language, a video's own track in the language of Windows is shown, except for English: an English film would otherwise always show its English subtitles.
Languages and tracks in the control bar opens a panel above the button with three tabs, Video, Audio and Subtitles; it opens on Subtitles. A second click on the button, a click outside the panel or Esc closes it, without pausing the video.
From top to bottom:
-
The header: what the online search is doing or found (Subtitles of this video, Identifying the video…, Searching OpenSubtitles, Wizdom…, Breaking Bad · S01E02 · 24 found), and four buttons:
Button What it does Magnifier (The video is another one: search by its title) Opens the title search (see Wrong title). Arrows (Search subtitles online / Search subtitles online again) Runs the online search now. Pencil (Add subtitles to the library) The subtitle window of the library (see Attach subtitles for good). Dimmed for a stream or without the media library: Library association needs a local media file and media library. + (Load a subtitle file for playback) Opens a subtitle file for this playback only. -
The languages on the left, and the subtitles of the language chosen on the right.
-
Subtitle timing: the delay slider and the sync buttons, then Series preset.
-
Position and size.
A language or a subtitle you click shows at once on the video.
The list starts with Off (no subtitles). Then come the languages this video has, in its own tracks or among the subtitles found online, in this order:
| Order | Marker | Which languages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Default | Your default language. |
| 2 | Second | Your second language. |
| 3 | Often used | The languages you pick yourself, the most picked first. A language rises here from the first pick; the marker shows from the second pick in a row. |
| 4 | The other languages of the video's own tracks, by name. | |
| 5 | The other languages found online, by name. | |
| last | Unknown language: tracks that name no language. |
Each row shows the language's name in the language of the interface, its own name for itself (Deutsch, Français), and how many subtitles it has. A language you have no subtitle in does not show: there is nothing to pick.
The list on the right holds the subtitles of the language chosen: the video's own first, then those found online. The one showing has a check. Under each, where it comes from:
| Label | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| In the video | A track of the file itself. |
| Next to the video · file | A subtitle file VLC found next to the video, or in the folders of Load subtitles from these folders. |
| Opened · file (or Opened file) | A file you opened yourself. |
| Downloaded from service | A subtitle downloaded earlier: from the cache. |
| service · downloads | A subtitle found online, not downloaded yet: its service and how many times it was downloaded (12k downloads). |
Badges: For this file (made for this very file: the same fingerprint), HI (For the hearing impaired), Foreign parts only (only the lines of foreign speech).
Click a subtitle to show it. One found online is downloaded first (Downloading…).
Each time you pick a subtitle language by hand (a language row or one of its subtitles), it counts for that language, once per video. Every pick is worth 1, and each pick also makes the earlier ones fade: all the scores are multiplied by 0.9 first. So what you picked recently counts most.
- It rises. A language you pick moves up the list, under your default and second languages.
- It is marked. From a score of 1.5 (two picks in a row) it reads Often used.
- It is chosen for you. From a score of 2.5 (three picks in a row) it becomes the learned language, the third automatic one. A video with no track in your default or second language shows its track in the learned language by itself; and when the online search finds nothing in your default or second language either, it loads the best subtitle in the learned one.
- It fades. If you stop picking it, other picks make it fade, and the language you pick now takes its place. Only one language is learned at a time: the one with the highest score.
Your default and second languages never count as learned: they already come first.
Example: you watch with German subtitles three times. German is now marked Often used and is chosen for a film that has no subtitles in your default or second language.
When a video opens with no subtitles in your languages, VLC Redesign looks for some online (1.5 seconds after it starts) and loads the best one: in your default language, else the second one, else the learned one. This is Find subtitles online when a video has none in these languages (Settings: Subtitles), asked by the installer and the first-run setup. With it off, the search runs only when you click the search button of the header.
How it works:
-
The video is identified. Its file name gives the title, the year, and the season and episode (
S01E02,1x02, Season 1 Episode 2; the folder too, as in Show Name/Season 1/02.mkv). IMDb's suggestions, then Wikidata, then Stremio's Cinemeta give its IMDb id. The header shows Identifying the video…, then the title found (Breaking Bad · S01E02). - The services are asked together (Searching OpenSubtitles, Wizdom…). Their subtitles of every language are listed as they come, those made for this very file first (3 found for this file).
- A click loads one. It is downloaded, unpacked (only its subtitles, 16 MB at most), converted to UTF-8, kept in the cache and remembered for the file (Downloading…).
The services (each can be turned off in Settings: Subtitles):
| Service | What it has |
|---|---|
| OpenSubtitles | All languages, movies and series; finds those made for your very file. |
| Wizdom | Hebrew, movies and series. |
| Addic7ed | Series, many languages (through Gestdown). |
| YIFY Subtitles | Movies, many languages. |
What is sent: the video's title, its IMDb id, its file name and a fingerprint of the file (its size and its first and last 64 KB), nothing else. The cache keeps the subtitles of the last 500 media and drops those not used for 60 days.
Click the magnifier of the header (The video is another one: search by its title): a field opens, Title of the movie or series, with the titles that match as you type. Pick the right one; the search runs again for it, and the choice is remembered for the file.
Subtitle timing shows the delay (+250 ms) and a slider from −10 s to +10 s in steps of 50 ms: earlier on the left, later on the right. Then three buttons fix a delay by ear:
- Mark voice heard: click it when you hear a line spoken (it reads Voice marked).
- Mark text seen: click it when you see that line's text (it reads Text marked).
- Once both are marked, in either order, the subtitles move by the time between the two clicks.
Click a marked button again to unmark it. Reset puts the delay back to 0.
The keys do the same: Shift+H (the voice), Shift+J (the text), Shift+K (apply), Ctrl+Shift+K (reset). H and G move the subtitles later or earlier step by step. A delay for every video is Subtitle delay in Settings: Subtitles.
Series preset, under the timeline, keeps the choices of a series for its other episodes.
- Save keeps, from the episode playing: the audio track, the subtitle track (or Off), the subtitle delay, the delay of the second subtitles and the subtitle speed. The panel reads Saved for episodes of breaking bad., then Applies to episodes of breaking bad.
- The next episodes of the series apply it by themselves (Series preset applied.). If a track it names is not in an episode: A saved audio or subtitle track is unavailable in this episode.
- Remove forgets it (Series preset removed.).
A series is the folder of the file plus the name before its S01E02 (in lower case, dots and dashes read as
spaces). A file without such a name counts its whole folder as the series. Presets need a local file: Play a
local episode to save its track and timing choices.
Position and size, at the end of the Subtitles tab:
| Row | − / + | Range | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Move the subtitles down / Move the subtitles up, 1 % of the picture's height a click | −20 % (lower) to +60 % (higher); Usual at 0 | Back to Usual |
| Size | Smaller subtitles / Larger subtitles, 10 % a click | 30 % to 300 %; 100 % as usual | Back to 100 % |
- The buttons repeat while held.
- The subtitles move and grow on the video as you click, and the panel fades meanwhile so you see them behind it.
- The change stays for the next videos and the next starts.
Keys: Shift+Up / Shift+Down move them (1 % a press, same range); Ctrl+wheel makes them larger or smaller. The same position is Vertical position in Settings: Subtitles.
While the Continue where you left off? card shows, the subtitles rise above it and the controls, and go back down when it closes.
Settings: Subtitles › Appearance: the font (a list of the fonts installed), the size (relative or in pixels), bold, the text colour and opacity, the outline, the shadow, a box behind the text, and the vertical position. A change reaches the video playing from its next line.
With Show both languages at once (dual subtitles) (Settings: Subtitles, once a second language is chosen), the subtitles of the default language and those of the second one show together; the second one is found online too when the video lacks it. Ctrl+Shift+V (Toggle secondary subtitle control) makes the subtitle keys (delay, position) act on the second subtitles; the series preset keeps their delay too.
The pencil of the header (Add subtitles to the library), or Add Subtitle Tracks in the right-click menu of a video, folder or playlist of the library, opens the subtitle window of the library:
- From Computer (files you choose), From Link (a Direct HTTPS link to a subtitle file) or From OpenSubtitles (a search with your own OpenSubtitles API key, Username and Password).
- To This File, To This Folder or To This Playlist.
The subtitles attached play with the media every time. Add Audio Tracks does the same for audio files. It needs a local file and the media library.
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| The subtitle chosen for a file (a track, a file or one found online), shown again the next time; from the cache when it was downloaded | The last 500 media |
| The title chosen for the online search of a file | The last 500 media |
| The track and timing choices of a series | Until you remove the preset |
| The size and position of the subtitles | For every video, until you change them |
| The languages you pick (learning) | Fading with each new pick |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| V / Alt+V | Next / previous subtitle track |
| Shift+V | Subtitles on or off |
| H / G | Subtitle delay up / down |
| Shift+Up / Shift+Down | Subtitles higher / lower |
| Ctrl+wheel | Subtitles larger / smaller |
| Ctrl+0 | Normal size (taken by play the tenth media played last while the media library is on: see Keyboard shortcuts) |
| Shift+H, Shift+J, Shift+K, Ctrl+Shift+K | Sync: mark the voice, mark the text, apply, reset |
| Ctrl+Shift+V | Toggle secondary subtitle control |
All of them can be changed: see Keyboard shortcuts.
- No subtitles show. Check Off is not chosen in the list, and Shift+V (subtitles on or off). A video without subtitles in your languages needs the online search on, or a click on the search button.
- The wrong film's subtitles. The title was taken for another one: use the magnifier of the header.
- Out of sync. Use Mark voice heard / Mark text seen; for a whole series, Save a series preset.
- Too small or in the way. Use Position and size; the change stays for every video.
- A language keeps coming back. It was learned from your picks; pick the one you want a few times and it takes over.
The player · Settings: Subtitles · Languages · Keyboard shortcuts · Home