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How to use subtitles in Plex all you need to know

How to Add Subtitles to a Video How to Add Subtitles to a Movie or TV Show How to Add Subtitles to a Movie or TV Show Unfortunately, the content you download from the Internet usually doesn't come with subtitles. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to add subtitles to a movie or TV series. Here's how... Read More

There are many reasons why you might want to add subtitles. Of course, some of the world's best movies and TV shows won't be in your native language, but subtitles can also come in handy if you're trying to learn a foreign language. 6 Quick Ways to Learn a New Language in 5 Minutes a Day 6 Quick Ways to Learn a New Language in 5 Minutes a Day You can do a lot in the few minutes of free time you have. Learning a new language with microlearning is one of them. Try these great apps and websites for microlearning. Read more.

You may even want to add subtitles in the same language as the audio if the content includes heavy accents or periods of quiet speech, or if you are hard of hearing.

Unsurprisingly, Plex supports several subtitle solutions, but they're all disabled "out of the box." Here's everything you need to know about using subtitles in Plex.

Automatically download free subtitles

Let's assume you don't have any locally saved subtitle files, or at least most of your content doesn't have subtitles attached. You need to get your subtitles from a third-party provider.

By using a media scraping agent, Plex can rip subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org for free. You just need to start the process..

To get started, go to Settings> Server> Agents . Using the tabs at the top of the page, navigate to Movies> Plex Movie . Find OpenSubtitles.org and drag it to the top of the list.

Your list should now look like this:

How to use subtitles in Plex all you need to know

Next, go back to the tabs at the top of the screen, but this time go to Shows>TheTVDB . Again, drag OpenSubtitles.org to the top.

Making these changes ensures that Plex prioritizes downloading subtitles when you add new content to your library.

To tell Plex which languages ​​you want, you need to edit the agent settings. On the same screen, click gear Icon next to OpenSubtitles.org. If you have an account on the site, you can enter your username and password. It is not essential that the tool works.

You can specify up to three languages ​​using the dropdown boxes. As you can see in the image below, I want Spanish and English subtitles.

How to use subtitles in Plex all you need to know

Adding subtitles to your existing shows

The changes you just made to the media scanning agent will only work with any new content added to your library.

If you're just starting your media collection, that's fine, but in most cases, you'll probably want to add subtitles to your existing TV shows and movies.

To do this, you need to update your library's metadata. Locate the library you want to update in the list on the left side of the Plex home screen. Click on the three horizontal dots to access the context menu, then select Update all metadata .

How to use subtitles in Plex all you need to know

If you have a large library, the process could take a long time. So if you're in a hurry to get subtitles on a show (or an episode), navigate to the video in question, click the three horizontal dots in the bar at the top of the screen, and click Refresh metadata .

Adding local subtitle files

OpenSubtitles.org has a lot of free subtitle files, but it doesn't have everything. If the subtitle file for one of your favorite shows is missing, you may need to locate it somewhere else.

Subscene, SubtitleSeeker, and SRTFiles are three of the best places to check out. We cover other subtitle sources Top 3 Subtitle Sites for Your Movies and TV Shows Top 3 Subtitle Sites for Your Movies and TV Shows Subtitles elevate the viewing experience, but where can you get quality subtitles for free? We recommend these subtitle sites. Read more in a previous article. Plex supports subtitles in five formats:SRT , SMI , SSA , ASS , and WebVTT . Formats like VOBSUB and PGS will only work on some Plex players and should be avoided if possible.

Once you have downloaded the files you need, save them in the same directory as the media they are applicable to. For example, on my server, I would save the subtitle file for Series 1, Episode 1 of Red Dwarf at E:\TV\Red Dwarf\Season 01 .

You should also name your subtitle files The Optimal Way to Name Media Files in Plex The Optimal Way to Name Media Files in Plex Please Read Accurately:

  • Movies: Nombre de la película (Fecha de lanzamiento). [Language_Code]. [Ext]
    • eg. Cool Runnings (1993) .es.srt
  • TV shows: Show_Name SxxEyy. [Language_Code]. [Ext]
    • eg. Enana Roja S01E01.es.srt

The language code must follow the international standard.

To complete the process, scan your library (Context Menu> Scan Library Files ). Plex should find the subtitle files and link them to the associated videos.

Check what subtitles are available

Once you've completed all the steps we've detailed so far, you may want to check if they really worked.

To see what subtitles are available for a certain TV episode or movie, go to its Plex page. If the subtitle addition was successful, you will see all the languages ​​listed (expand the dropdown menu to see the full list).

How to use subtitles in Plex all you need to know

Click on a language to override the system-wide setting (explained below) and set the language file as the default for that particular video.

Turn on subtitles

Great, so now you have all the subtitle files you need. But how do you look at them? This is where you will finally start to see the fruits of your labor.

If you plan on using subtitles most of the time, it makes sense to modify your Plex settings to turn them on by default.

Go to Settings> Server> Languages . Clear the checkbox next to Automatically select audio tracks and subtitles. , and you can edit the settings below.

How to use subtitles in Plex all you need to know

For the purposes of this process, we are interested in Subtitle Mode and I prefer subtitles on . Set the preamp to Always on , and the latter to the language of your choice. Click Save Changes to complete the process.

Turn on subtitles during playback

Maybe you don't want subtitles to be on all the time. After all, if you're not using them, they can get annoying. But do not worry; It's just as easy to manage subtitles on a video-by-video basis.

How to use subtitles in Plex all you need to know

Once your video is playing, click on the speech bubble in the top right corner. In the dropdown menu, you'll see a list of all the subtitle files you have available for the video in question.

Click on a language to activate the file.

Do you use Subtitles in Plex?

Admittedly, it sounds like a lot of work to get subtitles working in Plex. But you only have to do it once, and then you'll have access to closed captions in all of your programs for as long as you use it.

Are you happy to let Plex do the work or would you prefer to record in subtitles How to create and record your own free video subtitles How to create and record your own free video subtitles? Here's how to create and sync your own. "Soft" subtitles for any video, and how to burn those subtitles directly into any video to create "hard" subtitles. Read More Do you use an app like Handbrake before adding the video files to your library? As always, you can leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.