A while back we wrote a guide on how to include subtitles in downloaded movies by finding and placing the SUB or SRT subtitle file together with the AVI movie file. You must also have DirectVobSub installed, otherwise it won’t read the subtitle file. However, this works only if viewing the video file on your computer. What if you want to burn your favorite weekly TV episode to DVD and watch it on your LCD, LED or plasma screen TV? Where many modern players can simply read an AVI file from a data disc, the problem with older DVD players is they can’t read the AVI format and subtitles as well. They can often only read the DVD VOB format.
You will need to embed the SRT/SUB subtitle file inside the AVI movie file permanently, then convert and burn it to DVD using your favorite disc burning software. There are several ways of doing that and we will show you four different methods. They range from the easiest and most basic way which does the job with the minimum of fuss, to a couple of other easy ways with some more control over the subtitles, to the more advanced method using one of the most popular video editing tools around. Just follow the instructions below on how to burn AVI to AVI or AVI to DVD with subtitles.
Make sure the AVI video file can be played on your computer WITH subtitles. If the downloaded AVI video can’t be played, just install K-Lite Codec Pack. For a subtitle file to be recognized by most video software etc, it needs to be exactly the same name as the video file apart from the extension. E.g. If your AVI is called videofile123.AVI, the subtitle file should be videofile123.SRT.
Jan 29, 2012 After downloading the softsub (soft subtitle) from the YouTube (tutorial here), now I'll tell you how to make the softsub into hardsub (hard subtitle) Hardsub means make the subtitle in the video, join the subtitle in the video, be in the same file. After you make it into hardsub, you can't change/edit the subtitle anymore. Aug 8, 2014 - Hardsubbing requires re-encoding the video. There's no way around it. That said, you can hardsub with a number of programs, including.
Method 1: Using Freemake Video Converter
This way of getting the subtitles into the AVI file or burnt out to DVD is definitely the easiest of the 4 and only requires the installation of the Freemake program. The slight downside is you don’t get any control over the subtitle such as placement, font or colors etc.
1. Download Freemake Video Converter and install it. Take care during the install process as the installer contains adware options. Run the program when ready.
2. Click on the Add Video button and load your AVI video file. At this point you can actually load many other different types of video file not just AVI, including MP4, MKV, Youtube clips etc.
3. Click on where it says “Subtitles off” on your video file and select the subtitle file. If it’s differently named to the video file, you can locate it by clicking on “Add subtitles…”.
4. You have a choice next of whether just to embed the subtitles and re-encode the AVI or another different video format, or you can burn it straight out to DVD.
Burning to DVD
4a. To burn out to DVD, ISO file or to a selected folder, click the “to DVD” button across the bottom.
Now simply choose the options of whether you want a menu and the destination type of burn to disc, save to folder, or save as ISO. Depending on the input video, there maybe options available to change the aspect ratio and surround or stereo audio. Then hit the Blue button and wait. Make sure you have a DVD inserted if you are burning straight to disc.
Re-encoding the Video File
4b. To convert the video file back to AVI, click the “to AVI” button across the bottom.
You barely have to do anything in this window. Choosing the “Same as source” preset will output the video with the same settings as the input file, and “One-pass encoding speed” and the output size will increase or decrease the quality of the output. Simply hit Convert and wait for the process to complete.
You can now burn the resulting subtitled AVI file to disc using your favorite disc burning software such as Nero. This method is easy, works well and the results are very good. If you want some more control over the subtitles, try method 2.
Method 2: Using Format Factory
Format Factory is another very easy program to embed subtitles into AVI and other format video files, but has a few more options than Freemake such as support for 4 subtitle formats SRT/SSA/ASS/IDX, color, size and font editing. It cannot though burn the video straight out to DVD.
1. Download Format Factory, extract the zip file, then install and launch it.
2. Click on All to AVI in the Video tab on the left of the window. In the next window, click Add File and locate the video file.
3. Still in the All to AVI window, click Output Setting. From here you can select the output quality from the drop down menu, obviously Medium or High are preferable. The green icons are for XVID and the blue are for DIVX which is down to your personal preference. Or if you prefer, you can also use AVC.
4. To add the subtitle file, double click on Additional Subtitle in the settings list, then click on the line “Additional Subtitle (srt;ass;ssa;idx)” and a small icon will appear which you can press to locate the subtitle file. The size of the subtitle can be altered from 2 – 6 (default is 4), the other settings shouldn’t need touching. Click OK -> OK.
5. Then simply click on the Start button to encode the subtitles into the video. If you go into the program’s Options there is the ability to change the subtitle font and also the font color and its outline color.
If you want to create a DVD video from your AVI file, Format Factory cannot convert and burn for you directly, but can create a file in the VOB format which when burned to a data disc should be readable by just about every DVD player. The procedure is the same as above apart from choosing All to VOB in the Video tab instead of All to AVI from step 2. Then simply burn the file to disc using your favorite software.
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43 Comments - Write a Comment
This was really informative. Thanks. I need to take it a step further, however. I only want a few clips/scenes from several movies for a presentation. Are there any simple (or complicated) Windows programs that can edit as well as hardcode SRT files simultaneously? My editing needs are very simple: mostly just cutting out unwanted footage and maybe some pasting as well. I’d hate to waste time encoding an entire movie and then edit out the clips afterwards. THANKS and Happy 2019!.
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Walt1 year ago
MKVToolNix is the best and fast of all.
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I think you’ve completely misunderstood what this article is about. Parse an AVI video through MKVToolnix and you end up with AVI contained inside an MKV file, not a standard AVI file.
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smith leslie6 months ago
thanks very much this was what i was looking for. Used this software sometime ago and it was very productive. i actually forgot the name this time. thanks yh
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I’ve tried just about all kinds of “free subtitle editors” for testing with an mp4 movie stored in my PC but none seemed to work, for one reason or another. Even tried typing subtitles using Word text format and some sort of “punch-in” feature, but to no avail. I suspect there’s a hidden fee should you actually wish to accomplish anything (despite their claiming they’re “free”), isn’t there? In other words, they’re all your typical “catch 22”, aren’t they >:( ?
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HAL9000 Admin1 year ago
Anybody can easily create subtitle files for free, all you need is Windows Notepad. Hundreds of guides out there to help you. Just opening any subtitle file will give a great idea how it works.
For a simple SRT subtitle file, all you need is three lines, a) subtitle number, b) time to display on the screen, and c) text to display.
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I used to be a Freemake user, but I think it is flawed in adding subtitles to AVI videos. The subtitles I added will be out of sync with the video. I am using WonderFox HD pro, which is a software similar to handbrake. In addition to converting audio and video, it is also very good at adding subtitles to the video.
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mario1 year ago
freemake now asks for payment…… It’s a pity cause it was quite user-friendly. I’ll try the others, thanx!
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It’s a shame really, Freemake used to be my goto converter a while back, but having to buy different licenses to unlock different parts of the software ruined it.
I have a gold license and still have to pay to unlock other functions!
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Ekjaksa2 years ago
I use format factory. I burned the subtitle. And make doube sub on the movie. Mine and another one. How can I use only.my sub?
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Thank you so much, freemake helped me a lot.
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Diego3 years ago
Raymond you are the Master, I’m long time you follower :D
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In freemake Video Converter, you mentioned; ” You have a choice next of whether just to embed the subtitles and re-encode the AVI or another different video format ” I don’t see any option of embedding without encoding. Can you clarify me that. Thanks.
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HAL9000 Admin4 years ago
The quote means you can embed the subtitle into another video format besides AVI if you wish. This article is about embedding AVI subtitles specifically but Freemake allows other video formats as well.
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the method using VirtualDub is super! is that exactly what I was looking for. thank you!!
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Gabriela4 years ago
I used Subtitle Workshop to create the SRT file and I’m using Format Factory to merge the video and the SRT files. The subtitles are for a documentary so I need to add the names of the people speaking, I used this code {an8} at the front of the text to make it appear at the top, while what the people are saying appears on the bottom of the screen. It works fine when the video and SRT files are separate and I play the video on VLC for instance, but when merging the files using Format Factory the subtitle at the top just flicks for like a second and it doesn’t stay on the screen for the time I configured on Subtitle Workshop……
Any suggestions?
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Freemake VC did the job for me, very easy, thank you for the tutorial
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Wassim5 years ago
I used Format Factory and it works great,thank you so much.
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I tried with format factory and succeed. Happy that I landed here and got what I want. Thank you very much.
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Tharindu5 years ago
thnkz buddy.!!
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Is there any program for android that ads permanently srt file to video?
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ikka.molu5 years ago
Hi
Just wanted to let you know that FormatFactory did the job! All my subtitles showed up exactly as the way they were in the srt file, lost some formatting such as color and font size but overall the best outcome of all the other s/w I tried including Any Video Converter and HandBrake.
Again, thank you for your post!
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just want to say “thanks” . a huge help
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Bojan6 years ago
Thank you! You helped me!
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Option 2 using Format Factory and an SRT file, going from MP4 to MP4, did not work for me — I have tried it twice. The first time I kept the default setting of “Type – Automatic” but after that did not work I switched it to “Type – Embedded.” I have not tried the other options.
I was able to embed the SRT file into an MP4 using HandBrake, but the subtitles FAQ on HandBrake says that it is not possible to burn in SRT subtitles (or at least HandBrake cannot do that). I saw on another blog instructions for burning in SRT subtitles using VLC, but several responses to that blog said that it did not work for the people who tried it, and it did not work for me, either. Someone else suggested playing the MP4 back with subtitles and then using the Record function in VLC. I tried that, too, and it did not work either. Everything thing I try I end up with just the video and no subtitles. Frustrated.
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iNTEl6 years ago
just wonder if i can change the font type .. thanks for the methods were rly helpful ;)
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Any Video Converter can do this I believe in the options window (top left), Format Factory might be able to as well but I’m not 100% sure on that.
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KaYaN6 years ago
I’ve no issue while converting this AVI file to DVD. But one is my question, why after I burned to DVD and played to my DVD player, the font of subtitle is quite small? Can we make it bigger? I burn by using freemake video converter. thanks Ray.
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Methods #2 and #3 can alter the size of the subtitle on the screen to make it bigger, Freemake can’t do that if I remember.
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KaYaN6 years ago
Ohh…that’s why I can’t find the way to increase the fonts size. Thanks a lot for your replied Hal :)))) I’ll try another methods.
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thank u!
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Ophiri7 years ago
wow this works perfectly! Thanks Raymond! you are the man!!!!!
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hey pal, it works perfectly. Thanks a lot! Was hunting for burning subtitles on DVD since long.
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rhea11 years ago
oh my god, that was SO HELPFUL. thank you so much for posting this. i’ve spent the last hour trying to get these programs to work, and now i can finally turn my soft subs into hard subs. thank you so much for taking the time to post this. much much appreciated!
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It works well,thanks!
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Trevor11 years ago
Just adding subs onto my first film.Looking at both screens it doesn’t look as if I lost any quality and the subs look in sync with the scenes. Thanks for a great article.
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Thanks a lot Raymond. Very useful guide
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fue_el12 years ago
I FOLLOWED ALL THE STEPS IN THE TUTORIAL AND IT WORKED PERFECTLY!! THANKS RAYMOND. I could finally put my Spanish subtitles into an English movie.
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THANKS!!! My Chinese subtitles are finally hardcoded successfully to my AVI file! :D Thanks again for this great tutorial.
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Shen12 years ago
Raymond,
Thank you so much for this tutorial, you are awesome. I’ve been looking high and low for a tutorial such as yours for months and finally, I am able to burn avi movies with subtitles.
THANK YOU!!!
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Thanks a lot Raymond, your post is awesome. I tried those steps and it works fine :D. Videos with same quality and legends are OK.
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Chris12 years ago
Hi. Thanks for the tutorial. I have successfully done it.
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I’ve been waiting for a tutorial like this one, I always been trying to burn movies with subtitles but i never could so thanks a lot for this, you’re winning your little piece of heaven!
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Leave a Reply
From Aegisub Manual
In digital encoding, there are two main ways of including subtitles in a video. There is softsubbing, and hardsubbing. Both methods has unique advantages and disadvantages, along with various arguments both for and against each method.
Contents
1Hardsubbing
2Softsubbing
6Softsubbing
Hardsubbing
Hardsubbing is a method that 'burns in' subtitles into the actual video portion of a movie. Digital hardsubs are much like subtitled VHS tapes; the subtitles cannot be turned off.
Advantages of Hardsubbing
Hardsubbing is usually much less demanding on the playback device. Since the text is already part of the video, it will only take as much processing as the unsubtitled video would. You are also often able to make special effects that would be difficult to replicate in a soft subtitle format, because of the large amount of CPU usage required to renderer them. Even in softsubbed anime fansubs, the opening and closing karaoke are often hardsubbed because of the special effects used.
Some people argue that with hardsubs, scripts are harder to steal, since the text is embedded in the image - thieves cannot simply extract subtitles as in a softsub. However, the presence of very good subtitle extractors designed for the purpose of extracting this embedded text removes much of the argument that hardsubs prevent script stealing.
Many playback devices and computer platforms cannot display the special fonts and formattings that softsubs contain, but this problem is removed with hardsubs, where the style is preserved. Also, these stylings will show back exactly the same on any device, unlike softsubs which depend on the playback device to properly intrepret and display the stylings.
Disadvantages of Hardsubbing
Despite what some may call numerous advantages for hardsubbing, there are several distinct disadvantages that should be evaluated before making a decision.
The method of hardsubbing requires that the source video is re-encoded so the subtitles can be written on the image. This, by the nature of lossy video encoding, causes a reduction in video quality.
Subtitles add a sharp contrast in a video image due to their nature. This will cause compression artifacts along the edges of the encoded subtitle, and blurring of the subtitle. This effect is especially evident at lower bitrates.
Under typical circumstances, the inclusion of the subtitles will cause an increase in the bitrate needed for the video to keep the same quality. This, of course, means an increased filesize, or lower quality at the same size. The increase in bitrate necessary is typically around 3 to 10%.
Changing the subtitles requires a re-encode of the video source, which can add a lot of time and extra work to the release process.
Softsubbing
Softsubbing is a method that keeps subtitles seperate from the video and relies on the playback device to combine the two when the video is being played. This method can be best compared to subtitles on most DVDs. The subtitling can be turned on or off as needed, and multiple languages can be supported with just one combined media file. Unlike with a DVD though, digital softsubs are actually text (DVD subtitles are pictures) which adds many nice features at the cost of complexity.
Advantages of Softsubbing
Softsubs are much clearer on display. Since they are not part of the video image, video compression does not affect them, and with a good subtitle renderer, they are sharp and crisp - a huge benefit to readability.
Softsubs can be smaller. Since the subtitle is just a text file, it can take up less room because it isn't hogging video bitrate. This allows for an encoder to either make a smaller file with the same video quality, or a same-sized file with higher video quality.
People with vision problems have an opportunity to adjust how the subtitles look on-screen.
Without a huge impact on size, multiple languages can be supported in one video file.
If you find a subtitling mistake in a file, you can fix it without having to re-encode the video - saving a lot of time.
Disadvantages of Softsubbing
Softsubs add processing complexity to the video. The playback device has to render and overlay the text before displaying the video, as a result, this means that low-powered devices will not be able to play the video.
Since the subtitles are bundled as straight text they are very easy to extract and use. This makes things easier on bootleggers or other script stealers. Note that grabbing subtitles from a hardsub is very easy currently, so this argument doesn't hold much weight.
The playback device is responsible for rendering the subtitles on screen. As a result, they might not look the same as the subtitler intended. In some cases, the playback device might not support the subtitle format, or might have bugs with it.
The AVI file format is not reliable for supporting softsubs, if you plan to use it. Please note that Matroska (MKV) is very well supported by computers, so this isn't a major negative.
Subtitles with effects added (usually for karaoke) take up a lot of processing time, and may cause playback issues if the device cannot handle the processing requirements. A solution for this is to hardsub the complex parts such as opening and ending karaoke, and softsub the normal dialog.
What method do I choose?
The method you should choose depends greatly on your audience. Will they have relatively new and powerful playback devices? Will they possibly be able to install something to play back softsubs if they don't have it? Is your destination a digital format (Matroska, DVD, etc.) or will you be printing to tape?
While every situation will be different, you can use some of the following suggestions to guide you. These are based on making a digital format for playback on a computer system.
If you want your file playable on the largest range of computers and operating systems, you will want to hardsub.
If your audience will have relatively new machines (500 MHz or greater) and will be running on a platform where your subtitle format is well-supported, softsubs are a good idea.
If you want to speed up your release process, use softsubs. They are faster to fix if an error is found.
Hardsubbing with Avisynth
Many people use the Avisynth package to add filters to their video to clean up defects, or otherwise manipulate the video image before encoding it. It is a very flexible tool, and can be also used to add subtitles directly to the video stream, allowing an easy and scriptable method to hardsub a video.
If you are unfamiliar with Avisynth, it is recommended that you look into it, as it has lots of nice features and a large community contributing video filters, allowing easy video fixes for any source. This tutorial assumes you have some basic knowledge of Avisynth.
To allow adding subtitles to the video stream, you need the VSFilter plugin (you may also use Asa, but at the time of writing, it's not as complete as VSFilter is). You can find this on the 'csri' folder in your Aegisub installation.
To just add subtitles, you will want to make a simple AVS file containing the script lines you need. Simply create a plain-text file in notepad (or your favourite text editor) and save it with the .avs extension (beware that Windows might be hiding your extension, and you might actually be making a .avs.txt file). Here is an example:
The above script will take an AVI file (mycoolvideo.avi), and then draw the contents of two subtitle files on the video. You can then encode this video in any program that supports AVS, such as VirtualDub. To do so, just open the .avs file in the program, and follow the normal encoding procedure for it.
Keep in mind that, due to a bug in VSFilter, the path to the subtitle files MUST be absolute.
Hardsubbing with VirtualDub
If you're already familiar with VirtualDub filters, and don't intend to do any other video processing, you should note that it's possible to use VSFilter as a VirtualDub filter as well. Just rename the .dll to .vdf and copy it to the VirtualDub plugins folder. The filter will then be available as 'TextSub'.
Warning: VirtualDub comes with a TextSub of its own, that is called 'TextSub 2.23'. This is a very old version that, amongst many other issues, cannot parse UTF-8 (the default Aegisub encoding) files properly. This will result in any non-ASCII characters being rendered as gibberish. NEVER USE THIS FILTER.
Softsubbing
Softsubbing a video can be done in several ways. On Windows using a DirectShow player, such as Media Player Classic, ZoomPlayer or even Windows Media Player, you need VSFilter installed to view the subtitles. If you use MPlayer, you need libass and FontConfig compiled to correctly view all the formatting. Please note that VLC does currently not support softsubs very well; it is strongly recommended that you avoid it for viewing softsubbed files.
Variant 1: softsubs inside the video container
Matroska Video (MKV) is currently the best container for this method (MP4, OGM and even AVI can technically contain softsubs, but none supports font attachments, and all of them has various other issues). Using a muxer that supports attachments (i.e. mkvmerge GUI), you simply add your subtitle files to the Matroska file as separate tracks (just like you add audio and video tracks), and any fonts as attachments (make sure they have the MIME type application/x-truetype-font). The fonts will then be installed temporarily by Haali Media Splitter (on Windows) or MPlayer (on *nix and MacOS X) during playback.
Variant 2: distributing script files
This method works best when you want to encode the video in an AVI wrapper. You simply send the raw subtitle files along with the video. The viewer then needs to load them in a player that supports external subtitles. When using this method, you either need to make sure you use fonts that everyone can be expected to have installed, or distribute a separate ZIP archive with the fonts. For obvious reasons, this method isn't recommended.
Retrieved from 'http://docs.aegisub.org/manual/Attaching_subtitles_to_video'