Unable to Activate Subtitles on Plex Web Player

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

Server Version#: 1.19.4.2935
Player Version#: 4.37.2

I have an external subtitles file uploaded for a movie. However, when playing the movie and opening the settings menu, the subtitles are unavailable for selection and Plex acts as if no subtitles have been uploaded. There is a disconnect between the subtitles settings on the main page for a movie and the subtitles settings when actually playing a movie.

How can these settings be rectified and the subtitles be activated while playing a movie?

2
  • External subtitles must be text based to work in Plex.
  • Make sure Local Media Assets is enabled in Settings -> Server -> Agents. If not, enable it then refresh the metadata for the movie (documentation).

Try putting the subtitle file in the same folder as the movie. It must be named the same as the movie file.

Example:

Movie (year).mkv
Movie (year).eng.srt

See Using Subtitles documentation.

4

I have tried each of those steps and the problem still persists.

The subtitles are plain text, Local Media Assets agents are enabled, Library has been re-scanned, and metadata has been refreshed for the movie.

My folder architecture with the movie and subtitles is as follows

/Library
  /Movies
    /Movie_Name
      Movie_Name - 4k.mkv
      Movie_Name - 1080p.mkv
      Movie_Name.eng.srt

Update: The subtitles will play for the 4k version of the movie, but not the 1080p version. The 4k version is the one that shows on the main page for the movie.

5

You might want to duplicate that subtitle so you have one for each version of your movie

Movies
  Movie Name
    Movie Name - 4K.mkv
    Movie Name - 4K.eng.srt
    Movie Name - 1080p.mkv
    Movie Name - 1080p.eng.srt

Those different versions might not just be different quality encodes but it could as well be different cuts/editions of your movie. Even the Star Wars movies with have different durations if the intro text is displayed in different languages (some encodes have local text displaying)…
… so the subtitle for 1 version might not work for the other.

6

Add another copy of the subtitle: Movie_Name - 1080p.eng.srt, then refresh the metadata for the movie. I just tried it on my system and it works.

The name of the subtitle file should exactly match the movie file name, except for the language code and extension.

It is a little strange you have to do so for multi-version movies, but that’s the way Plex matches things. Just saw @tom80H’s comments WRT Star Wars, etc.

7

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