Come on Plex. It can’t be right that you don’t react to this problem.
Please remind me why we should continue to support your product?
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This issue is caused by default transcoding of subtitles from SRT to ASS that happens whenever playback involves transcoding. Be it either video transcoding or only audio transcoding.
Plex Dashboard does not show subtitles transcode happening, it can however be observed through i.e. Tautulli.
It can also be observed when looking at arguments passed to Plex Transcoder (ps -aux | grep 'Plex Transcoder'), where instead of copying source subtitle codec, ASS codec is forced instead for subtitle track (-codec:2 ass).
As clients do not support restyling of ASS, default subtitle styling is used instead, regardless of the styling options selected.
Would be nice if Plex could support SRT passthrough or ASS styling.
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It’s been 7 months since I created this thread. Still no fix 
I’m still using an older version of Plex unfortunately.
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Hello? Plex?
Maybe they will fix it on the 1year birthday of this thread 
Rolled back to [9.6.3.34515]
Sorry but enough is enough, been going on far to long. Auto-update turned off.
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Can we get any attention to this bug plex? Please? Please? 
@janoskk
AT LAST!
After a year Plex for Android and Plex for Chromecast allow subtitles transcoded to be styled. The player transcodes audio to AAC format instead of OPUS when needed again. Plex for Google TV has the issue on as audio is still transcoded to OPUS.
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Holly ■■■■ it actually works!
8 months after I created this thread!
Fingers crossed for the Google TV issue to be also fixed soon.
I would like to thank my parents, who supported me all along 
LOL JK
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Unfortunately, our joy seems to be premature. I’m still testing Plex for Android, Plex Cast for Cromecast and Plex for Google TV and constantly discovering bugs.
It seemed that the subtitle styling in Plex for Android returned to normal. However, it turns out that when the server needs to transcode the video because the client device doesn’t support the HEVC codec, the subtitles become small and white again, without any configuration options. There is a workaround for this. Simply change the main settings from “Direct Playing” to “Transcode” (changing resolution, bitrate, etc.), and the subtitles magically become stylizable again. However, it’s not practical to manually change settings for every file in Plex. After all, our goal is to have everything automatically transmitted in Direct Playing mode.
Another smaller issue is saving subtitle styling settings during playback. While you can modify them and select the “Save as Default” option, this feature doesn’t actually save the settings. It only works correctly in the main settings of the Plex client.
Plex for Google TV is still not fixed, so we’re waiting. The only possible subtitle styling occurs when video and audio are streamed in Direct Playing mode. But even then, subtitles don’t respond to italic, bold, etc.
It seems that subtitle styling works best in Plex Cast for Chromecast. However, I can’t guarantee that I won’t discover something soon.
We still have a long way to go before we achieve flawless performance in this matter.
Finally, Plex for Google TV has also received fixes for subtitle styling issues. It works exactly like Plex for Android (Mobile). This means that subtitles don’t respond to italic, bold, etc. in Direct Play mode for both video and audio. Everything returns to normal when at least one of the streams is transcoded (video or audio or both).
The issue with saving subtitle styling settings during playback still persists. While you can modify them and select the “Save as Default” option, this feature doesn’t actually save the settings. It only works correctly in the main settings of the Plex client.
It’s also worth mentioning that subtitles strongly react to changes in the vertical resolution of the image. The smaller the resolution, the smaller the font size. Manual adjustments are necessary to ensure readability.
I have no complaints about Plex Cast for Chromecast as it works almost perfectly.
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