GamesToolsapplications
Tutorial

Add Subtitles to Video with FFmpeg

This tutorial shows two methods: burn subtitles into the image or add them as a selectable subtitle track in MP4.

Install FFmpeg (if not already installed):

Prepare your files

Put your video and subtitle file (for example

subtitles.srt
) in the same folder:

  • input.mp4
  • subtitles.srt

Burn subtitles into video (hard subtitles)

If subtitles should always be visible, use:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "subtitles=subtitles.srt" -c:a copy output-with-subs.mp4

This re-encodes video because text is rendered into the image.

Add subtitles as selectable track (soft subtitles)

If subtitles should be on/off switchable, use:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i subtitles.srt -c:v copy -c:a copy -c:s mov_text output-softsubs.mp4

This keeps the video stream and adds a subtitle track.