The feature of adding subtitles to a video is an essential part of any worthwhile media player. This feature comes in handy especially as some of the best movies and TV shows in the world are unlikely to be in your native tongue.
Subtitles also act as helpful tools if you’re trying to learn a foreign language. You can even add subtitles for content made in your own language, for example, if the content has hard-to-understand accents or periods of quiet speech. Or if you happen to have hearing problems.
How to Automatically Download Subtitles?
Say you don’t have any locally-saved subtitles files or the majority of your content doesn’t have accompanying subtitles, you then need to source the subtitles from a third-party provider.
Plex can pull subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org for free, all you need to do is set the process in motion.
To start this process, navigate to Settings > Settings > Agents. Using the tabs at the top, make your way to Movies > Plex Movie. Locate OpenSubtitles.org, make sure the check box is ticked, then drag it to the top of the list.
Now, go back to the tabs at the top, however, this time navigate to Shows > TheTVDB. Mark the checkbox, then drag OpenSubtitles.org to the top, like before.
These changes ensure that Plex prioritizes downloading subtitles when you add new content to your library.
To tell Plex which languages you desire, you will have to edit the agent’s settings. While you are on the same screen, click on the Gear icon beside OpenSubtitles.org. If you happen to have an account on that site, enter your username and password, however, it is not essential for the tool to function. You have the ability to specify up to three languages using the drop-down boxes.
How to Add Subtitles to Your Existing Shows on Plex?
In the majority of cases, you will probably want to retrospectively add subtitles to your existing TV shows and movies.
To do so, you have to refresh the library’s metadata. Find the library you wish to refresh in the list on the left of the Plex home screen. Now, click the three horizontal dots to access the context menu, then navigate to Manage Library > Refresh All Metadata.
If you have an extensive library, this process will likely take a long time. So, if you are in a hurry to get subtitles on one show (or if it’s just for one episode), go to the video in question, click the three horizontal dots in the bar at the top, then click on Refresh Metadata.
How to Add Local Subtitle Files?
OpenSubtitles.org has a vast number of free subtitle files, however, it does not house everything. If the subtitle file you are searching for is missing for one of your favorite shows, you might have to search for it elsewhere.
Subscene, SubtitleSeeker, and SRTFiles are 3 of the best alternatives for OpenSubtitles.org you can check out.
Plex supports subtitles in 5 formats: SRT, SMI, SSA, ASS, along with VTT. Formats like VOBSUB and PGS will only work on a few Plex players, so it makes sense to avoid them if possible.
After you have downloaded the files you require, you save them in the same directory as the media for which they are applicable. For example, you would save the subtitles file for Series 1, Episode 1 of Red Dwarf in E:\TV\Red Dwarf\Season 01.
The naming of subtitle files is also required to be in precise way:
For Movies: Movie_Name (Release Date).[Language_Code].[ext] (for example, Cool Runnings (1993).es.srt)
For TV shows: Show_Name SxxEyy.[Language_Code].[ext] (for example, Red Dwarf S01E01.es.srt)
The language code has to follow the international standard ISO codes.
To complete this process, you need to scan the library (To do so, navigate to the Context menu > Scan Library Files). Plex will then be able to find the subtitles files and link them to the associated videos.
How to Check Which Subtitles Are Available?
After you have worked through all the steps detailed so far; you can check whether they have actually worked.
To see which subtitles are available for a certain TV episode/movie, go to its Plex page. If the subtitles have been added successfully, you will be able to see all of the languages listed (you can expand the drop-down menu to see the full list).
Click on a language to override the system-wide settings, you can set the language file as the default for the particular video.
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