Being with a film in a foreign language or with some passages or dialogues in a foreign language is not pleasant at all: we risk losing important parts of the plot, until we can no longer follow the film correctly. Instead of giving up or despairing, we can roll up our sleeves and, thanks to some simple computer programs, quickly add SRT files (subtitle files) to the digital file that contains our film, so that you can enjoy it directly from the PC monitor or load it on a USB stick and display it on the TV in the living room, kitchen or any other room. In this guide we will show you how to use SRT files to add subtitles to films, so you can read the forced subtitles of the parts in a foreign or incomprehensible language or activate all the subtitles for full films in a foreign language.
How to add subtitles to movies
In addition to a brief description of what SRT files are, below we will find both the programs that allow you to add SRT subtitles to movies directly while watching (video player) and the programs that allow you to add SRT files to a video file already existing, so you can re-encode a new video file including subtitles (ideal for viewing on TV or Smart TV).What are SRT files
SRTs are special text files that contain video subtitles with a timestamp (exact point of the film where to view them). So with them we can watch films in the original language or see the forced subtitles in the parts in foreign language or incomprehensible language (just think of the alien languages in Star Wars or Star Trek). With them we can overcome any linguistic limitation and also enjoy the American or English speech of the actors, who in some cases make it much better than when dubbed in Italian.
SRT files can be easily downloaded on Google, even though most of the Italian communities have been closed over time due to the endless controversy over what is illegal and what is legal.
How to use SRT files when viewing from a PC
On PC it is quite simple to use subtitles and add them to any film or video thanks to the VLC program, which supports automatic synchronization of subtitles and allows you to view them correctly.To open a video with its SRT file, go to the Media menu, click on Open multiple files, click on the Add button, indicate the video to be started, press on Open, put the check mark on Use a subtitle file, press the button Browse, indicate the SRT file to be loaded, press Open again and finally select the Play button to start playback.
Alternatively we can open the video normally on VLC and then press at the top on Subtitle -> Add subtitle file to load the SRT file.
Even more easily, we can insert videos and SRT files in the same folder and give the two files the same name (without changing the extension); by starting the video, the subtitles are automatically added.
In the case of synchronization problems, i.e. if the subtitles appear too early or too late, VLC also has the possibility to adjust these advances or delays. To do this, go to the Tools menu and then in Track Synchronization to adjust the synchronization of the subtitle track, acting on the parameters Synchronization subtitle track, Subtitle speed and Subtitle duration factor .
We can very well place this window next to the running VLC player, so that we can adjust the subtitle scrolling in real time and find the right balance.
How to add SRT files to a video file (for TV viewing)
If instead we want to add the SRT files to the original video we will have to use decoding programs, so that we can generate new MKV video files (Matroska format) already containing subtitles; this method is ideal for bringing subtitles to video files displayed on Smart TV.In order to be able to add subtitles to an unprovided video, we will have to use the free Avidemux program, available for free for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Once the program is installed on our computer, open it, press File -> Open to open the video file to be edited (both AVI and MP4 or MKV files are fine), open the drop-down menu under the Video Output section, select the codec Mpeg4 AVC (x264) so we press the Filters button that will appear at the bottom.
In the new screen that will open let's go to the Subtitles menu, double click on SSA / ASS / SRT and then click on the Open button to select the SRT file to be added. We make the appropriate changes between the parameters for the subtitles, then click OK and Close to add the subtitles to the video.
Before decoding, make sure that Copy is set in the Audio Output section and Mkv muxer in the Output container section; after this check, press the Save video button at the top and choose the destination folder.
At the end of the work we will have our video file with the film with the subtitles already included, ready to be seen on Smart TV via USB stick or via a DLNA server, as seen in our guide on How to See Movies and videos on Smart-TV from PC, web and smartphone .
Conclusions
If we already have the SRT subtitle file on our computer, we can use it to view the texts either from a PC, using the functions present on the free VLC player, or using a video converter capable of "forcing" the subtitles by inserting them directly into the video content, so as to be compatible on each player (obviously we can no longer remove the subtitles forced with this technique).If we are familiar with foreign languages or want to get videos with Italian subtitles, we recommend that you read our guide on How to see films in English for free .
To watch movies with SRT subtitles on our smartphone or tablet, we recommend that you continue reading our guide to the Best Android Apps to watch videos and movies on mobile and tablet .
