Posted by Jordi D. Rodríguez -
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How to Remove Subtitles from MKV Video with VLC
VLC can disable subtitles. But to download, add or edit subtitles, Try this final solution
Need to remove hardcoded subtitles with VLC?
Subtitles are nothing more than text strings which appear on a TV screen while you watch a movie. The main purpose of subtitles is to show the exact dialogues from a movie script so that you can understand the movie's language easily. Subtitles become even more useful if the movie is not in your native language.
But sometimes you may not even need those subtitles because for most of the people this text info is not at all useful and most of the time they cover a screen area with white text which looks annoying. So, many people just straightaway remove them or disable them while watching a particular movie. But hardcoded subtitles can't be removed easily and in this post we will tell you how to remove subtitles from MKV.
Part 1: What Are Hardcoded and Softcoded Subtitles?
We just have gave you the basic introduction of subtitles and now in this part you will learn about the two types of subtitles that are being widely used by almost everyone who watches a movie. These two types are discussed below.
- Soft Subtitles These are also known as external subtitles as they are loaded from an external subtitle file which is also a text file. This text file contains all the dialogues from the original movie script with fixed timestamps. Media players read the timestamps and show the particular text on the screen. Soft subtitles can be easily customized, disabled, or even deleted permanently. Text subtitles have many formats but they are mostly used as .SRT, .ASS, and .SSA. SRT format is the most popular because of its greater compatibility with media players.
- Hardcoded Subtitles These are embedded subtitles which don't need any external file to load or store info. You can use any powerful video converter like 'VideoProc' to create hardcoded subtitles in a movie. A video editor software calculates the timestamp and encodes the video with permanent subtitles. Such subtitles aren't customizable. They can't be disabled or deleted. Hardcoded subtitles are similar to video watermarks in nature and can't be removed.
Part 2: How to Remove Hardcoded and Soft Subtitles?
In this part we are going to discuss the possible solutions for removing the hardcoded and soft subtitles. You can use this tutorial to remove subtitles from MKV, MP4, MOV, AVI or any other video format. So, let's begin with section 1 below.
Section 1 - How to Remove Hardcoded Subtitles From MKV Using VLC
If you want to remove the hardcoded subtitles from an MKV movie then we must tell you that it isn't possible. If you come across any website, forum, or a software claiming to remove the hardcoded subtitles from MKV, MOV, or MP4 then believe us it will surely waste your precious time. Most of the software used for this purpose are actually video editors which crop the movie frame thereby removing the entire frame that shows the hardcoded subtitles. But actually this is not a fix but just a workaround.
Why Hardcoded Subtitles Can't Be Removed?
Refer to 'Part 2' above where we told you that hardcoded subtitles works pretty similar to a watermark. Can you remove a watermark? No you can't. Hardcoded subtitles once encoded become an integral element of a movie. They become the part of a movie just like the actors and objects seen in the movie.
So can you delete or remove those actors or the objects from the movie? The answer is a big 'No'. Similarly you can't remove hardcoded subtitles. Technically you can say that there exist no subtitle file when the term 'hardcoded' is used, you only see text dialogues on fixed timestamps which are not user-customizable at all.
Section 2 - How to Remove Soft Subtitles From a Video With VLC?
If you are using soft subtitles then they are pretty easy to remove. But most people choose VLC for this purpose. So, let's see how VLC player removes or disables the soft subtitles.
Step 1: Open any movie file with VLC. But make sure that the movie has its own subtitles file placed in its folder. Please note that the movie and subtitle's file name should be exactly the same.
Step 2: Now while the movie is playing right click on the player screen and click 'Subtitle'. This will expand the option further and you have to click 'Sub Track' then select 'Disable'. This will immediately disable the subtitles.
Note: VLC can't remove subtitles from a movie therefore we recommend VideoProc. With VideoProc you can easily remove multiple subtitles at once. Read more about VideoProc in 'Part 4' below.
To remove subtitles once and for all, and to download, add, edit subtitles
Try this VLC alternative option The Most Effective Solution
VideoProc is an all-in-one, tiny yet powerful audio and video processing software. It is a powerful video transcoder, editor, downloader, and an easy-to-use screen recorder. It also lets you manage subtitles and you can easily add, remove, or customize subtitles. It also provides a subtitles search tool and using it you can search and download any movie's subtitles' file from within the program window. It can also encode hardcoded subtitles which is known as the 'Burn-in' feature here. Check download links below.
VideoProc Subtitle Editor: A Detailed Tutorial
VideoProc provides a dedicated subtitle editor which lets you add, remove, customize, and download subtitles from the internet. We are providing a step-by-step tutorial for the same. Please check the tutorial below.
Step 1. Open 'VideoProc' and click the 'Video' option on the first screen that appears.
Step 2. Click '+Video' to load a movie file.
Step 3. Below the 'Audio 1' option you will see 'Subtitles'. Click this and select 'Disable Subtitle'. This will remove the subtitles file. Now simply click the 'RUN' button, this will permanently remove the subtitles without re-encoding. Check the output folder when finished.
For Adding, Downloading, and Editing Subtitles
Step 1: Load a movie and click the 'Subtitle' editor button just next to the 'Rotate' button.
Step 2: In the 'Subtitle Editor' click 'Add Subtitle File' if you have an .SRT, .SSA, or .ASS file.
Step 3: If you don't have any subtitle file then click 'Search Subtitle File'. This will open a separate window where you can enter search details like movie name, subtitle language and can select whether the subtitles belong to a 'Movie' or a 'TV Show'.
Click 'Search' after filling the info and after few seconds a list will be displayed. Click the desired file to select and then click 'Download'. The subtitles files get downloaded to the current movie folder and gets auto loaded.
Step 4: Now you can select 'Burn-in' for hardcoded and 'Softcode' for file based subtitles. If you are selecting 'Burn-in' then you can customize your subtitles like changing font colors, text size, text font by clicking the button 'A'. Click 'Done' when finished to return to the main window.
Step 5: Click 'Target Format' in the main window and select the 'Output' video format as MKV. Finally click 'RUN' to start processing the video. Check the output folder when finished.
Final Words:
The article gave detailed info about removing hardcoded and softcoded subtitles. Hardcoded subtitles aren't removable and for softcoded subtitles we used VideoProc. Apart from removing subtitles VideoProc is exceptionally good at processing subtitles. You have seen its subtitles downloading feature which is highly unique for such a software. Other VideoProc features include a powerful video converter, video downloader, a sophisticated DVD processor, and a screen recorder. Would you like to try any of its features? Go ahead, download, install, and try the software yourself. Please find the download links below.
