As entertainment crosses language barriers, more and more people have started watching foreign language films and TV shows, resulting in an ever increasing demand for quality subtitles. Granted that subtitles may not be the most elegant solution to the problem, they are really helpful in cases where you aren’t able to find a dubbed version of the video in question and, in my opinion, they also help preserve the immersion factor, something that is lost in dubs. There are several other reasons because of which you might be looking for subtitles and in case you haven’t figured out how to download and add subtitles to videos yet, we’ve put together a simple tutorial which will guide you through all of the steps you need to follow:
To begin with, you’ll need to know how to download, more importantly where to download, subtitles for videos. While it’ll be quite easy for you to Google and find subtitles for whatever video you want to watch, there’s a significant chance that you’ll land on a shady website plagued with ads and malware. In order to avoid that, you can head on to the following websites:
2. Open Subtitles
A large number of videos on YouTube feature closed captions in a variety of different languages and if in case you ever needed to download a YouTube video, you might also need to download the subtitles along with it. The process to download subtitles for YouTube videos is fairly simple when compared to the process of downloading subtitles for other videos and it just requires you to paste the link of the YouTube video in question on SaveSubs, click on the ‘Extract & Download’ button and you’ll instantly get the option to download the available subtitles.
Now that you’ve managed to download the subtitles you need, you’ll probably be wondering how you can add the subtitles to the videos. There are several ways in which you can add a subtitle track to your video depending on the platform you’re on and in order to simplify the process I’ve listed down a few ways in which you can add subtitles to videos on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, using the most popular video players on each platform:
How to Add Subtitles on VLC Media Player on Windows
A vast majority of Windows users solely depend on the VLC media player to playback video on their devices, making it one of the most popular media players in the Windows ecosystem. If you’re one of the several people who use the VLC media player and are wondering how you can use subtitles in a video, then you can follow these steps:
- Click on the ‘Add Subtitle File‘ option in the drop down menu, then navigate to the downloaded subtitle file and select it
If you’ve got the proper subtitle file (.srt extension) for the video then you should now have working subtitles for your video. In case the subtitle file has multiple language tracks, you can also switch between the available tracks by clicking on the ‘Sub Track’ option in the drop down menu.
- Open the video file you want to play on MPC-HC and then click on the ‘File’ tab on the home screen
Once again, if you have the correct subtitle file for the video, the subtitles will instantly start working as the video is played. In case you don’t have the correct subtitle track, MPC-HC also has an in-built option for you to download the subtitle track (shortcut key: D) from within the media player which can be found in the same drop down menu.
How to Download Subtitles in VLC Media Player on macOS
VLC Media Player has a handy option that lets you add subtitles for a video file directly instead of having to search for the subtitle file on the internet. Here’s how you can download subtitles in VLC Media Player in macOS:
- VLC will automatically detect the name of the video file, but you can change it if you need to. Once you’ve done that, click on ‘Search by name.’
How to Manually Add Subtitles in VLC Media Player on macOS
In case you already have the subtitles downloaded for a video, you can add them to VLC manually as well. Here’s how:
By following these simple steps, you’ll be able to embed subtitles in VLC videos. Just like VLC on Windows, you’ll also be able to change the subtitle tracks in case the subtitle file has multiple tracks. Additionally, you’ll also be able to adjust the text size, the text color, the outline thickness, the background opacity, and the background color.
Adding subtitle tracks to videos on MPV media player is a bit different than adding subtitles on VLC. In order to add subs on MPV media player, you’ll need to ensure that your subtitle track has the same file name as the video file and you’ll need to place it in the same folder as the video file.
How to Download Subtitles in VLC Media Player on Android
The VLC Media Player supports downloading subtitles even on Android. Here’s how you can do it:
How to Add Subtitles on VLC Media Player on Android
Open the video you want to play on VLC and tap on the speech bubble icon next to the play button
Choose ‘Select subtitle file’ from the pop-up menu and select the subtitle file you want to load.
You should now have working subtitles for your video file.
Another popular video player for Android, MX Player, also comes with the option to search for subtitles from directly within the app itself. Here’s how you can download subtitles in MX Player:
- Here, tap on ‘Online Subtitles.‘
If you already have the subtitle file downloaded on your Android device, you can simply add it in MX Player as well.
- Open the video file you want to play on MX Player and tap on the menu button in the top right corner
No matter which option you choose to go with, you should now have working subtitles for your video files (provided they’re available online). Once the subtitles are up and running, MX Player also allows you to adjust the font, size, scale, color, etc. for the subtitles and customize them according to your preference from within the ‘Settings’ option in the ‘Subtitle’ dropdown menu.
How to Add Subtitles on VLC Media Player on iOS
Adding subtitles to videos on iOS devices is a lot like adding subtitles to videos using MPV media player on macOS. In order to get a subtitle track to play along with your video, you’ll need to change the file name of the subtitle file to that of the corresponding video file and transfer it to your device using your preferred transfer method.
Subtitles on KMplayer for iOS work the same way as subtitles for VLC on iOS, requiring users to rename the subtitle track and transferring it to the device along with the video file. There isn’t an option to manually download or choose a subtitle track, which is definitely an inconvenience. Also, unlike VLC, KMPlayer doesn’t include an in-built option to transfer video files which is an added hassle.
