I have a TV series with several subtitles tracks in the MKV, including SRT and VOB, all inside the MKV. Plex takes always as default the VOB subtitles which triggers transcoding (Apple TV Player, subtitles setup as burn only image formats). I find no option to make it take the SRT subtitles as default instead of the VOB ones.
So there is an option to set the default subtitle language in Plex, but I don’t think there is an option for default format. You could use MKVNixTool to go through and change the default or remove the tracks in the MKV’s themselves, or vote on some of the feature suggestions asking for more control over subtitles.
Control subtitles on a per-series basis - Feature Suggestions - Plex Forum
Default tracks language setting per library - Feature Suggestions - Plex Forum
Make sure you don’t use the old/legacy player on your Apple TV. The current player will display those VOB subtitles just fine (got tons of them); same for PGS subtitles.
IIRC if Plex finds multiple subtitles matching the account language preferences, it’ll pick the 1st one.
In MKV files, Plex will pick the first subtitle which fits the selection logic.
The automatic subtitle selection doesn’t consider the format of the subtitle. Just their “language” and “forced” tags.
All you can do is either:
- extract the SRT subtitles and put them beside the video files as “external subtitles”. Adding Local Subtitles to Your Media | Plex Support
External subtitles are considered before embedded subtitles by Plex. - remux the MKV file and drag the SRT versions above of their PGS or VOBSUB counterparts
I am using the new player and it is still transcoded.
And I am not sure how Plex decides which subtitle to take apart from the language. The SRT is the first one and it is not picked up.
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