How to merge subtitle to video?
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
How can I merge subtitle to a movie to play on my android TV?
I searched for a long time but almost program no longer work on ubuntu or I can't find the repository .
Here is some answer but I think it's no longer supported on 16.04
video
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
How can I merge subtitle to a movie to play on my android TV?
I searched for a long time but almost program no longer work on ubuntu or I can't find the repository .
Here is some answer but I think it's no longer supported on 16.04
video
4
You really tried all the 4 programs on that question? FFMPEG works.
– Braiam
Jun 11 '16 at 0:49
You can have a reference at this article: debugpoint.com/2015/08/…
– Sunderlandgreen201503
May 5 '17 at 9:40
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
How can I merge subtitle to a movie to play on my android TV?
I searched for a long time but almost program no longer work on ubuntu or I can't find the repository .
Here is some answer but I think it's no longer supported on 16.04
video
How can I merge subtitle to a movie to play on my android TV?
I searched for a long time but almost program no longer work on ubuntu or I can't find the repository .
Here is some answer but I think it's no longer supported on 16.04
video
video
edited May 5 '17 at 5:53
Varun Kamani
31
31
asked Jun 10 '16 at 23:26
user554187
4
You really tried all the 4 programs on that question? FFMPEG works.
– Braiam
Jun 11 '16 at 0:49
You can have a reference at this article: debugpoint.com/2015/08/…
– Sunderlandgreen201503
May 5 '17 at 9:40
add a comment |
4
You really tried all the 4 programs on that question? FFMPEG works.
– Braiam
Jun 11 '16 at 0:49
You can have a reference at this article: debugpoint.com/2015/08/…
– Sunderlandgreen201503
May 5 '17 at 9:40
4
4
You really tried all the 4 programs on that question? FFMPEG works.
– Braiam
Jun 11 '16 at 0:49
You really tried all the 4 programs on that question? FFMPEG works.
– Braiam
Jun 11 '16 at 0:49
You can have a reference at this article: debugpoint.com/2015/08/…
– Sunderlandgreen201503
May 5 '17 at 9:40
You can have a reference at this article: debugpoint.com/2015/08/…
– Sunderlandgreen201503
May 5 '17 at 9:40
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
13
down vote
accepted
I use Hand Brake on my ubuntu 16.04 great application and very simple to use .
https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archive/ubuntu/handbrake-releases
Installation:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake
How it work:
- Click on source and chose movie.
- From subtitle List tab click on Add.
- don't forget to tick on Burn into video.

- finally click on Start.
hey mohamed thanks , works like a charm :D
– user554187
Jun 10 '16 at 23:42
1
@PeterCordes i don't know ifmkvmergestill supported on 16.04 but when i tried on 14.04 was buggy (not appering arabic subtitle) for me hand brake quality of the original file is the same and is fast may because i have SSD anyway it's great to post new answer for another technology :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:18
1
mkvmerge does a 1GB file in a couple seconds with fast hard drives. Transcoding will take at least a few minutes (on a fast multi-core CPU), and that's only if you don't care at all about the file size of the output. If you use a high enough bitrate, you won't be able to notice the quality loss, but it's there. (And your new file will be significantly bigger than your original.)
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:23
2
I know you want to play it on your TV. My point was that it's not actuallymkvmergethat buggy, just that your TV's lack of support means muxing an srt probably can't work. If you're interested in trying out the bitmap-subtitle idea, google for "convert srt to vobsub", pick a program and try muxing that into an mkv. First check that it plays on your Ubuntu desktop, then see what happens on your TV. Your definition of "fine" is a lot different from mine; I wouldn't consider it acceptable to lose even a tiny bit of quality by transcoding, especially not to a larger file.
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:46
1
@PeterCordes Thanks for valuable information it worth to try :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:57
|
show 6 more comments
up vote
10
down vote
If your TV can play movies that have subtitles muxed into the same file as the video, there are many advantages to adding the subtitles as a subtitle track, instead of burning them into the video.
mkvmerge -o movie_with_subs.mkv movie.mp4 subs.srt
That will include all tracks from the mp4 (video, audio, chapters), and subs from the srt as a text subtitle track. It takes about as long as copying the file, since it doesn't have to decode/re-encode the video.
Ubuntu packages mkvmerge in mkvtoolnix. There's an mkvtoolnix-gui package, with a gui frontend. It has a lot of options to let you control things like the subtitle offset.
The major advantage to this is that you avoid degrading the quality with another decode/encode cycle of generation loss. It's impossible to avoid losing quality when transcoding, and it takes a lot of CPU time to even come close to the quality-per-filesize of a well-encoded source. (e.g. x264 with -preset slower, or if your player supports it, x265 if you're willing to spend a huge amount of CPU time to make smaller files that still look good). If you don't care about file size because you're just streaming it to your TV, transcoding with x264 with -preset veryfast -crf15 can run quickly and lose minimal quality.
Another advantage to muxing subs is that you can then toggle the subs on/off, or have your player show them in a different position on screen.
You can also extract them later and search them if you're trying to remember a line from the movie.
You can even extract them, fix typos, and mux them back in.
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
I think that MKVToolNix is the simplest and easiest-to-use free tool available for you to merge a video file with a subtitles file. Just install it by e.g. running a terminal/shell command such as:
sudo apt-get install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui -y
...and then run it, right-click the Source files area in order to add your video file and your subtitles file (step 1, at the picture below), specify the location of the destination MKV video file (step 2) and then click on Start multiplexing (step 3). Done.

MKVToolNix muxes/multiplexes the subtitles track/stream along with the video track/stream. This means that the output MKV file (e.g. /tmp/output.mkv) will be a video file that contains subtitles embedded in it and you will be able to turn the subtitles on and off, while such MKV video is playing.
PS: if your Android TV doesn't play MKV video files, use MX Player, Kodi Player or VLC Media Player to add MKV playback support.
What if you want subtitles "fused" (hardcoded) in the video, instead of just muxed/multiplexed?
In such case, a laborious-yet-rewarding approach consists of (1) converting your subtitles file to the SSA format, (2) editing the SSA's Style line and then (3) using avconv/ffmpeg to merge/hardcode such stylized subtitles into the video track/stream (the subtitles' characters will then be converted to pictograms or graphical symbols, i.e. pixels not only "laid over" the video's pictures/frames but replacing some of such pixels).
Here's how to do it:
- Use a subtitles editor such as GNOME Subtitles (to install it from the shell, run
sudo apt-get install gnome-subtitles -y) to convert your subtitles file (e.g.input.srt) to the SSA format (e.g.input.ssa) and then save the SSA file in/tmp(you'll thus have/tmp/input.ssa). - Use a simple text editor such as Gedit (install it with the shell command
sudo apt-get install gedit -y) to open your SSA file and then replace the entireStyleline by this one:
Style: Default,Arial,16,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H77000000,2,0,3,2,1,2,10,10,10,0,0
After replacing the Style line, save the SSA file and then close the text editor. The configuration line above will globally preset the subtitles with a 16pt yellow Arial font and will add a semi-transparent black background behind the subtitles (to make reading them easier).
Now it's time to use
avconv:
3.1. Install the
avconvandffmpegpackages by running this shell command:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libav-tools -y
3.2. Move your video file (e.g.
input.avi) to the/tmpfolder, in order to end up having e.g./tmp/input.aviand/tmp/input.ssa
3.3. Run the shell command
cd /tmpin order to cause the Linux shell to access the/tmpdirectory
3.4. Hardcode the SSA subtitles into the video file by running this shell command:
avconv -i input.avi -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -c:v libx264 -aspect 16:9 -q:v 1 -b:v 512k -strict -2 -c:a aac -ac 2 -filter:v subtitles=input.ssa output.mp4
The output of the command above will be /tmp/output.mp4 and you'll notice that such MP4 video file will have hardcoded bitmap subtitles.
If you want to decrease the quality of the merged/output video in order to make its file smaller and possibly wait less time for the merging process to end, decrease 512k to a smaller value (e.g. 256k). If you decide to increase the quality of the merged/output video at the cost of getting a bigger file size and possibly waiting more for the merging process to end, increase 512k to a bigger value (e.g. 768k).
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
13
down vote
accepted
I use Hand Brake on my ubuntu 16.04 great application and very simple to use .
https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archive/ubuntu/handbrake-releases
Installation:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake
How it work:
- Click on source and chose movie.
- From subtitle List tab click on Add.
- don't forget to tick on Burn into video.

- finally click on Start.
hey mohamed thanks , works like a charm :D
– user554187
Jun 10 '16 at 23:42
1
@PeterCordes i don't know ifmkvmergestill supported on 16.04 but when i tried on 14.04 was buggy (not appering arabic subtitle) for me hand brake quality of the original file is the same and is fast may because i have SSD anyway it's great to post new answer for another technology :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:18
1
mkvmerge does a 1GB file in a couple seconds with fast hard drives. Transcoding will take at least a few minutes (on a fast multi-core CPU), and that's only if you don't care at all about the file size of the output. If you use a high enough bitrate, you won't be able to notice the quality loss, but it's there. (And your new file will be significantly bigger than your original.)
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:23
2
I know you want to play it on your TV. My point was that it's not actuallymkvmergethat buggy, just that your TV's lack of support means muxing an srt probably can't work. If you're interested in trying out the bitmap-subtitle idea, google for "convert srt to vobsub", pick a program and try muxing that into an mkv. First check that it plays on your Ubuntu desktop, then see what happens on your TV. Your definition of "fine" is a lot different from mine; I wouldn't consider it acceptable to lose even a tiny bit of quality by transcoding, especially not to a larger file.
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:46
1
@PeterCordes Thanks for valuable information it worth to try :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:57
|
show 6 more comments
up vote
13
down vote
accepted
I use Hand Brake on my ubuntu 16.04 great application and very simple to use .
https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archive/ubuntu/handbrake-releases
Installation:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake
How it work:
- Click on source and chose movie.
- From subtitle List tab click on Add.
- don't forget to tick on Burn into video.

- finally click on Start.
hey mohamed thanks , works like a charm :D
– user554187
Jun 10 '16 at 23:42
1
@PeterCordes i don't know ifmkvmergestill supported on 16.04 but when i tried on 14.04 was buggy (not appering arabic subtitle) for me hand brake quality of the original file is the same and is fast may because i have SSD anyway it's great to post new answer for another technology :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:18
1
mkvmerge does a 1GB file in a couple seconds with fast hard drives. Transcoding will take at least a few minutes (on a fast multi-core CPU), and that's only if you don't care at all about the file size of the output. If you use a high enough bitrate, you won't be able to notice the quality loss, but it's there. (And your new file will be significantly bigger than your original.)
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:23
2
I know you want to play it on your TV. My point was that it's not actuallymkvmergethat buggy, just that your TV's lack of support means muxing an srt probably can't work. If you're interested in trying out the bitmap-subtitle idea, google for "convert srt to vobsub", pick a program and try muxing that into an mkv. First check that it plays on your Ubuntu desktop, then see what happens on your TV. Your definition of "fine" is a lot different from mine; I wouldn't consider it acceptable to lose even a tiny bit of quality by transcoding, especially not to a larger file.
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:46
1
@PeterCordes Thanks for valuable information it worth to try :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:57
|
show 6 more comments
up vote
13
down vote
accepted
up vote
13
down vote
accepted
I use Hand Brake on my ubuntu 16.04 great application and very simple to use .
https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archive/ubuntu/handbrake-releases
Installation:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake
How it work:
- Click on source and chose movie.
- From subtitle List tab click on Add.
- don't forget to tick on Burn into video.

- finally click on Start.
I use Hand Brake on my ubuntu 16.04 great application and very simple to use .
https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archive/ubuntu/handbrake-releases
Installation:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake
How it work:
- Click on source and chose movie.
- From subtitle List tab click on Add.
- don't forget to tick on Burn into video.

- finally click on Start.
edited Jun 10 '16 at 23:40
answered Jun 10 '16 at 23:28
Mohamed Slama
1,329833
1,329833
hey mohamed thanks , works like a charm :D
– user554187
Jun 10 '16 at 23:42
1
@PeterCordes i don't know ifmkvmergestill supported on 16.04 but when i tried on 14.04 was buggy (not appering arabic subtitle) for me hand brake quality of the original file is the same and is fast may because i have SSD anyway it's great to post new answer for another technology :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:18
1
mkvmerge does a 1GB file in a couple seconds with fast hard drives. Transcoding will take at least a few minutes (on a fast multi-core CPU), and that's only if you don't care at all about the file size of the output. If you use a high enough bitrate, you won't be able to notice the quality loss, but it's there. (And your new file will be significantly bigger than your original.)
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:23
2
I know you want to play it on your TV. My point was that it's not actuallymkvmergethat buggy, just that your TV's lack of support means muxing an srt probably can't work. If you're interested in trying out the bitmap-subtitle idea, google for "convert srt to vobsub", pick a program and try muxing that into an mkv. First check that it plays on your Ubuntu desktop, then see what happens on your TV. Your definition of "fine" is a lot different from mine; I wouldn't consider it acceptable to lose even a tiny bit of quality by transcoding, especially not to a larger file.
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:46
1
@PeterCordes Thanks for valuable information it worth to try :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:57
|
show 6 more comments
hey mohamed thanks , works like a charm :D
– user554187
Jun 10 '16 at 23:42
1
@PeterCordes i don't know ifmkvmergestill supported on 16.04 but when i tried on 14.04 was buggy (not appering arabic subtitle) for me hand brake quality of the original file is the same and is fast may because i have SSD anyway it's great to post new answer for another technology :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:18
1
mkvmerge does a 1GB file in a couple seconds with fast hard drives. Transcoding will take at least a few minutes (on a fast multi-core CPU), and that's only if you don't care at all about the file size of the output. If you use a high enough bitrate, you won't be able to notice the quality loss, but it's there. (And your new file will be significantly bigger than your original.)
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:23
2
I know you want to play it on your TV. My point was that it's not actuallymkvmergethat buggy, just that your TV's lack of support means muxing an srt probably can't work. If you're interested in trying out the bitmap-subtitle idea, google for "convert srt to vobsub", pick a program and try muxing that into an mkv. First check that it plays on your Ubuntu desktop, then see what happens on your TV. Your definition of "fine" is a lot different from mine; I wouldn't consider it acceptable to lose even a tiny bit of quality by transcoding, especially not to a larger file.
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:46
1
@PeterCordes Thanks for valuable information it worth to try :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:57
hey mohamed thanks , works like a charm :D
– user554187
Jun 10 '16 at 23:42
hey mohamed thanks , works like a charm :D
– user554187
Jun 10 '16 at 23:42
1
1
@PeterCordes i don't know if
mkvmerge still supported on 16.04 but when i tried on 14.04 was buggy (not appering arabic subtitle) for me hand brake quality of the original file is the same and is fast may because i have SSD anyway it's great to post new answer for another technology :D– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:18
@PeterCordes i don't know if
mkvmerge still supported on 16.04 but when i tried on 14.04 was buggy (not appering arabic subtitle) for me hand brake quality of the original file is the same and is fast may because i have SSD anyway it's great to post new answer for another technology :D– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:18
1
1
mkvmerge does a 1GB file in a couple seconds with fast hard drives. Transcoding will take at least a few minutes (on a fast multi-core CPU), and that's only if you don't care at all about the file size of the output. If you use a high enough bitrate, you won't be able to notice the quality loss, but it's there. (And your new file will be significantly bigger than your original.)
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:23
mkvmerge does a 1GB file in a couple seconds with fast hard drives. Transcoding will take at least a few minutes (on a fast multi-core CPU), and that's only if you don't care at all about the file size of the output. If you use a high enough bitrate, you won't be able to notice the quality loss, but it's there. (And your new file will be significantly bigger than your original.)
– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:23
2
2
I know you want to play it on your TV. My point was that it's not actually
mkvmerge that buggy, just that your TV's lack of support means muxing an srt probably can't work. If you're interested in trying out the bitmap-subtitle idea, google for "convert srt to vobsub", pick a program and try muxing that into an mkv. First check that it plays on your Ubuntu desktop, then see what happens on your TV. Your definition of "fine" is a lot different from mine; I wouldn't consider it acceptable to lose even a tiny bit of quality by transcoding, especially not to a larger file.– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:46
I know you want to play it on your TV. My point was that it's not actually
mkvmerge that buggy, just that your TV's lack of support means muxing an srt probably can't work. If you're interested in trying out the bitmap-subtitle idea, google for "convert srt to vobsub", pick a program and try muxing that into an mkv. First check that it plays on your Ubuntu desktop, then see what happens on your TV. Your definition of "fine" is a lot different from mine; I wouldn't consider it acceptable to lose even a tiny bit of quality by transcoding, especially not to a larger file.– Peter Cordes
Jun 11 '16 at 2:46
1
1
@PeterCordes Thanks for valuable information it worth to try :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:57
@PeterCordes Thanks for valuable information it worth to try :D
– Mohamed Slama
Jun 11 '16 at 2:57
|
show 6 more comments
up vote
10
down vote
If your TV can play movies that have subtitles muxed into the same file as the video, there are many advantages to adding the subtitles as a subtitle track, instead of burning them into the video.
mkvmerge -o movie_with_subs.mkv movie.mp4 subs.srt
That will include all tracks from the mp4 (video, audio, chapters), and subs from the srt as a text subtitle track. It takes about as long as copying the file, since it doesn't have to decode/re-encode the video.
Ubuntu packages mkvmerge in mkvtoolnix. There's an mkvtoolnix-gui package, with a gui frontend. It has a lot of options to let you control things like the subtitle offset.
The major advantage to this is that you avoid degrading the quality with another decode/encode cycle of generation loss. It's impossible to avoid losing quality when transcoding, and it takes a lot of CPU time to even come close to the quality-per-filesize of a well-encoded source. (e.g. x264 with -preset slower, or if your player supports it, x265 if you're willing to spend a huge amount of CPU time to make smaller files that still look good). If you don't care about file size because you're just streaming it to your TV, transcoding with x264 with -preset veryfast -crf15 can run quickly and lose minimal quality.
Another advantage to muxing subs is that you can then toggle the subs on/off, or have your player show them in a different position on screen.
You can also extract them later and search them if you're trying to remember a line from the movie.
You can even extract them, fix typos, and mux them back in.
add a comment |
up vote
10
down vote
If your TV can play movies that have subtitles muxed into the same file as the video, there are many advantages to adding the subtitles as a subtitle track, instead of burning them into the video.
mkvmerge -o movie_with_subs.mkv movie.mp4 subs.srt
That will include all tracks from the mp4 (video, audio, chapters), and subs from the srt as a text subtitle track. It takes about as long as copying the file, since it doesn't have to decode/re-encode the video.
Ubuntu packages mkvmerge in mkvtoolnix. There's an mkvtoolnix-gui package, with a gui frontend. It has a lot of options to let you control things like the subtitle offset.
The major advantage to this is that you avoid degrading the quality with another decode/encode cycle of generation loss. It's impossible to avoid losing quality when transcoding, and it takes a lot of CPU time to even come close to the quality-per-filesize of a well-encoded source. (e.g. x264 with -preset slower, or if your player supports it, x265 if you're willing to spend a huge amount of CPU time to make smaller files that still look good). If you don't care about file size because you're just streaming it to your TV, transcoding with x264 with -preset veryfast -crf15 can run quickly and lose minimal quality.
Another advantage to muxing subs is that you can then toggle the subs on/off, or have your player show them in a different position on screen.
You can also extract them later and search them if you're trying to remember a line from the movie.
You can even extract them, fix typos, and mux them back in.
add a comment |
up vote
10
down vote
up vote
10
down vote
If your TV can play movies that have subtitles muxed into the same file as the video, there are many advantages to adding the subtitles as a subtitle track, instead of burning them into the video.
mkvmerge -o movie_with_subs.mkv movie.mp4 subs.srt
That will include all tracks from the mp4 (video, audio, chapters), and subs from the srt as a text subtitle track. It takes about as long as copying the file, since it doesn't have to decode/re-encode the video.
Ubuntu packages mkvmerge in mkvtoolnix. There's an mkvtoolnix-gui package, with a gui frontend. It has a lot of options to let you control things like the subtitle offset.
The major advantage to this is that you avoid degrading the quality with another decode/encode cycle of generation loss. It's impossible to avoid losing quality when transcoding, and it takes a lot of CPU time to even come close to the quality-per-filesize of a well-encoded source. (e.g. x264 with -preset slower, or if your player supports it, x265 if you're willing to spend a huge amount of CPU time to make smaller files that still look good). If you don't care about file size because you're just streaming it to your TV, transcoding with x264 with -preset veryfast -crf15 can run quickly and lose minimal quality.
Another advantage to muxing subs is that you can then toggle the subs on/off, or have your player show them in a different position on screen.
You can also extract them later and search them if you're trying to remember a line from the movie.
You can even extract them, fix typos, and mux them back in.
If your TV can play movies that have subtitles muxed into the same file as the video, there are many advantages to adding the subtitles as a subtitle track, instead of burning them into the video.
mkvmerge -o movie_with_subs.mkv movie.mp4 subs.srt
That will include all tracks from the mp4 (video, audio, chapters), and subs from the srt as a text subtitle track. It takes about as long as copying the file, since it doesn't have to decode/re-encode the video.
Ubuntu packages mkvmerge in mkvtoolnix. There's an mkvtoolnix-gui package, with a gui frontend. It has a lot of options to let you control things like the subtitle offset.
The major advantage to this is that you avoid degrading the quality with another decode/encode cycle of generation loss. It's impossible to avoid losing quality when transcoding, and it takes a lot of CPU time to even come close to the quality-per-filesize of a well-encoded source. (e.g. x264 with -preset slower, or if your player supports it, x265 if you're willing to spend a huge amount of CPU time to make smaller files that still look good). If you don't care about file size because you're just streaming it to your TV, transcoding with x264 with -preset veryfast -crf15 can run quickly and lose minimal quality.
Another advantage to muxing subs is that you can then toggle the subs on/off, or have your player show them in a different position on screen.
You can also extract them later and search them if you're trying to remember a line from the movie.
You can even extract them, fix typos, and mux them back in.
edited Jun 12 '16 at 9:38
answered Jun 11 '16 at 2:11
Peter Cordes
841714
841714
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
I think that MKVToolNix is the simplest and easiest-to-use free tool available for you to merge a video file with a subtitles file. Just install it by e.g. running a terminal/shell command such as:
sudo apt-get install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui -y
...and then run it, right-click the Source files area in order to add your video file and your subtitles file (step 1, at the picture below), specify the location of the destination MKV video file (step 2) and then click on Start multiplexing (step 3). Done.

MKVToolNix muxes/multiplexes the subtitles track/stream along with the video track/stream. This means that the output MKV file (e.g. /tmp/output.mkv) will be a video file that contains subtitles embedded in it and you will be able to turn the subtitles on and off, while such MKV video is playing.
PS: if your Android TV doesn't play MKV video files, use MX Player, Kodi Player or VLC Media Player to add MKV playback support.
What if you want subtitles "fused" (hardcoded) in the video, instead of just muxed/multiplexed?
In such case, a laborious-yet-rewarding approach consists of (1) converting your subtitles file to the SSA format, (2) editing the SSA's Style line and then (3) using avconv/ffmpeg to merge/hardcode such stylized subtitles into the video track/stream (the subtitles' characters will then be converted to pictograms or graphical symbols, i.e. pixels not only "laid over" the video's pictures/frames but replacing some of such pixels).
Here's how to do it:
- Use a subtitles editor such as GNOME Subtitles (to install it from the shell, run
sudo apt-get install gnome-subtitles -y) to convert your subtitles file (e.g.input.srt) to the SSA format (e.g.input.ssa) and then save the SSA file in/tmp(you'll thus have/tmp/input.ssa). - Use a simple text editor such as Gedit (install it with the shell command
sudo apt-get install gedit -y) to open your SSA file and then replace the entireStyleline by this one:
Style: Default,Arial,16,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H77000000,2,0,3,2,1,2,10,10,10,0,0
After replacing the Style line, save the SSA file and then close the text editor. The configuration line above will globally preset the subtitles with a 16pt yellow Arial font and will add a semi-transparent black background behind the subtitles (to make reading them easier).
Now it's time to use
avconv:
3.1. Install the
avconvandffmpegpackages by running this shell command:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libav-tools -y
3.2. Move your video file (e.g.
input.avi) to the/tmpfolder, in order to end up having e.g./tmp/input.aviand/tmp/input.ssa
3.3. Run the shell command
cd /tmpin order to cause the Linux shell to access the/tmpdirectory
3.4. Hardcode the SSA subtitles into the video file by running this shell command:
avconv -i input.avi -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -c:v libx264 -aspect 16:9 -q:v 1 -b:v 512k -strict -2 -c:a aac -ac 2 -filter:v subtitles=input.ssa output.mp4
The output of the command above will be /tmp/output.mp4 and you'll notice that such MP4 video file will have hardcoded bitmap subtitles.
If you want to decrease the quality of the merged/output video in order to make its file smaller and possibly wait less time for the merging process to end, decrease 512k to a smaller value (e.g. 256k). If you decide to increase the quality of the merged/output video at the cost of getting a bigger file size and possibly waiting more for the merging process to end, increase 512k to a bigger value (e.g. 768k).
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
I think that MKVToolNix is the simplest and easiest-to-use free tool available for you to merge a video file with a subtitles file. Just install it by e.g. running a terminal/shell command such as:
sudo apt-get install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui -y
...and then run it, right-click the Source files area in order to add your video file and your subtitles file (step 1, at the picture below), specify the location of the destination MKV video file (step 2) and then click on Start multiplexing (step 3). Done.

MKVToolNix muxes/multiplexes the subtitles track/stream along with the video track/stream. This means that the output MKV file (e.g. /tmp/output.mkv) will be a video file that contains subtitles embedded in it and you will be able to turn the subtitles on and off, while such MKV video is playing.
PS: if your Android TV doesn't play MKV video files, use MX Player, Kodi Player or VLC Media Player to add MKV playback support.
What if you want subtitles "fused" (hardcoded) in the video, instead of just muxed/multiplexed?
In such case, a laborious-yet-rewarding approach consists of (1) converting your subtitles file to the SSA format, (2) editing the SSA's Style line and then (3) using avconv/ffmpeg to merge/hardcode such stylized subtitles into the video track/stream (the subtitles' characters will then be converted to pictograms or graphical symbols, i.e. pixels not only "laid over" the video's pictures/frames but replacing some of such pixels).
Here's how to do it:
- Use a subtitles editor such as GNOME Subtitles (to install it from the shell, run
sudo apt-get install gnome-subtitles -y) to convert your subtitles file (e.g.input.srt) to the SSA format (e.g.input.ssa) and then save the SSA file in/tmp(you'll thus have/tmp/input.ssa). - Use a simple text editor such as Gedit (install it with the shell command
sudo apt-get install gedit -y) to open your SSA file and then replace the entireStyleline by this one:
Style: Default,Arial,16,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H77000000,2,0,3,2,1,2,10,10,10,0,0
After replacing the Style line, save the SSA file and then close the text editor. The configuration line above will globally preset the subtitles with a 16pt yellow Arial font and will add a semi-transparent black background behind the subtitles (to make reading them easier).
Now it's time to use
avconv:
3.1. Install the
avconvandffmpegpackages by running this shell command:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libav-tools -y
3.2. Move your video file (e.g.
input.avi) to the/tmpfolder, in order to end up having e.g./tmp/input.aviand/tmp/input.ssa
3.3. Run the shell command
cd /tmpin order to cause the Linux shell to access the/tmpdirectory
3.4. Hardcode the SSA subtitles into the video file by running this shell command:
avconv -i input.avi -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -c:v libx264 -aspect 16:9 -q:v 1 -b:v 512k -strict -2 -c:a aac -ac 2 -filter:v subtitles=input.ssa output.mp4
The output of the command above will be /tmp/output.mp4 and you'll notice that such MP4 video file will have hardcoded bitmap subtitles.
If you want to decrease the quality of the merged/output video in order to make its file smaller and possibly wait less time for the merging process to end, decrease 512k to a smaller value (e.g. 256k). If you decide to increase the quality of the merged/output video at the cost of getting a bigger file size and possibly waiting more for the merging process to end, increase 512k to a bigger value (e.g. 768k).
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
I think that MKVToolNix is the simplest and easiest-to-use free tool available for you to merge a video file with a subtitles file. Just install it by e.g. running a terminal/shell command such as:
sudo apt-get install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui -y
...and then run it, right-click the Source files area in order to add your video file and your subtitles file (step 1, at the picture below), specify the location of the destination MKV video file (step 2) and then click on Start multiplexing (step 3). Done.

MKVToolNix muxes/multiplexes the subtitles track/stream along with the video track/stream. This means that the output MKV file (e.g. /tmp/output.mkv) will be a video file that contains subtitles embedded in it and you will be able to turn the subtitles on and off, while such MKV video is playing.
PS: if your Android TV doesn't play MKV video files, use MX Player, Kodi Player or VLC Media Player to add MKV playback support.
What if you want subtitles "fused" (hardcoded) in the video, instead of just muxed/multiplexed?
In such case, a laborious-yet-rewarding approach consists of (1) converting your subtitles file to the SSA format, (2) editing the SSA's Style line and then (3) using avconv/ffmpeg to merge/hardcode such stylized subtitles into the video track/stream (the subtitles' characters will then be converted to pictograms or graphical symbols, i.e. pixels not only "laid over" the video's pictures/frames but replacing some of such pixels).
Here's how to do it:
- Use a subtitles editor such as GNOME Subtitles (to install it from the shell, run
sudo apt-get install gnome-subtitles -y) to convert your subtitles file (e.g.input.srt) to the SSA format (e.g.input.ssa) and then save the SSA file in/tmp(you'll thus have/tmp/input.ssa). - Use a simple text editor such as Gedit (install it with the shell command
sudo apt-get install gedit -y) to open your SSA file and then replace the entireStyleline by this one:
Style: Default,Arial,16,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H77000000,2,0,3,2,1,2,10,10,10,0,0
After replacing the Style line, save the SSA file and then close the text editor. The configuration line above will globally preset the subtitles with a 16pt yellow Arial font and will add a semi-transparent black background behind the subtitles (to make reading them easier).
Now it's time to use
avconv:
3.1. Install the
avconvandffmpegpackages by running this shell command:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libav-tools -y
3.2. Move your video file (e.g.
input.avi) to the/tmpfolder, in order to end up having e.g./tmp/input.aviand/tmp/input.ssa
3.3. Run the shell command
cd /tmpin order to cause the Linux shell to access the/tmpdirectory
3.4. Hardcode the SSA subtitles into the video file by running this shell command:
avconv -i input.avi -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -c:v libx264 -aspect 16:9 -q:v 1 -b:v 512k -strict -2 -c:a aac -ac 2 -filter:v subtitles=input.ssa output.mp4
The output of the command above will be /tmp/output.mp4 and you'll notice that such MP4 video file will have hardcoded bitmap subtitles.
If you want to decrease the quality of the merged/output video in order to make its file smaller and possibly wait less time for the merging process to end, decrease 512k to a smaller value (e.g. 256k). If you decide to increase the quality of the merged/output video at the cost of getting a bigger file size and possibly waiting more for the merging process to end, increase 512k to a bigger value (e.g. 768k).
I think that MKVToolNix is the simplest and easiest-to-use free tool available for you to merge a video file with a subtitles file. Just install it by e.g. running a terminal/shell command such as:
sudo apt-get install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui -y
...and then run it, right-click the Source files area in order to add your video file and your subtitles file (step 1, at the picture below), specify the location of the destination MKV video file (step 2) and then click on Start multiplexing (step 3). Done.

MKVToolNix muxes/multiplexes the subtitles track/stream along with the video track/stream. This means that the output MKV file (e.g. /tmp/output.mkv) will be a video file that contains subtitles embedded in it and you will be able to turn the subtitles on and off, while such MKV video is playing.
PS: if your Android TV doesn't play MKV video files, use MX Player, Kodi Player or VLC Media Player to add MKV playback support.
What if you want subtitles "fused" (hardcoded) in the video, instead of just muxed/multiplexed?
In such case, a laborious-yet-rewarding approach consists of (1) converting your subtitles file to the SSA format, (2) editing the SSA's Style line and then (3) using avconv/ffmpeg to merge/hardcode such stylized subtitles into the video track/stream (the subtitles' characters will then be converted to pictograms or graphical symbols, i.e. pixels not only "laid over" the video's pictures/frames but replacing some of such pixels).
Here's how to do it:
- Use a subtitles editor such as GNOME Subtitles (to install it from the shell, run
sudo apt-get install gnome-subtitles -y) to convert your subtitles file (e.g.input.srt) to the SSA format (e.g.input.ssa) and then save the SSA file in/tmp(you'll thus have/tmp/input.ssa). - Use a simple text editor such as Gedit (install it with the shell command
sudo apt-get install gedit -y) to open your SSA file and then replace the entireStyleline by this one:
Style: Default,Arial,16,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H00FFFF,&H77000000,2,0,3,2,1,2,10,10,10,0,0
After replacing the Style line, save the SSA file and then close the text editor. The configuration line above will globally preset the subtitles with a 16pt yellow Arial font and will add a semi-transparent black background behind the subtitles (to make reading them easier).
Now it's time to use
avconv:
3.1. Install the
avconvandffmpegpackages by running this shell command:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libav-tools -y
3.2. Move your video file (e.g.
input.avi) to the/tmpfolder, in order to end up having e.g./tmp/input.aviand/tmp/input.ssa
3.3. Run the shell command
cd /tmpin order to cause the Linux shell to access the/tmpdirectory
3.4. Hardcode the SSA subtitles into the video file by running this shell command:
avconv -i input.avi -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -c:v libx264 -aspect 16:9 -q:v 1 -b:v 512k -strict -2 -c:a aac -ac 2 -filter:v subtitles=input.ssa output.mp4
The output of the command above will be /tmp/output.mp4 and you'll notice that such MP4 video file will have hardcoded bitmap subtitles.
If you want to decrease the quality of the merged/output video in order to make its file smaller and possibly wait less time for the merging process to end, decrease 512k to a smaller value (e.g. 256k). If you decide to increase the quality of the merged/output video at the cost of getting a bigger file size and possibly waiting more for the merging process to end, increase 512k to a bigger value (e.g. 768k).
edited 2 days ago
answered Nov 22 at 6:36
Yuri Sucupira
612616
612616
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Ask Ubuntu!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f785508%2fhow-to-merge-subtitle-to-video%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
4
You really tried all the 4 programs on that question? FFMPEG works.
– Braiam
Jun 11 '16 at 0:49
You can have a reference at this article: debugpoint.com/2015/08/…
– Sunderlandgreen201503
May 5 '17 at 9:40