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Fordi
Reel Rookie

How to mux subtitles in an mp4 file so RMP will detect them?

Hey.

Roku Media Player seems to have a hard time detecting text subtitles in video files.  For example, in my archive of stuff that well-predates my Roku, I've used the following ffmpeg command to mux an mp4 with an srt file:

ffmpeg -i "{input_video.mp4}" -i "{english_subs.srt}" -c copy -c:s mov_text "{output_video.mp4}"

This works as expected on literally every player I use _except_ Roku Media Player.

I don't much mind making tweaks to my collection - my bash-fu ain't shabby - but does anyone know what actual metadata I should add to that command to make Roku behave itself?

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5 REPLIES 5
renojim
Community Streaming Expert

Re: How to mux subtitles in an mp4 file so RMP will detect them?

Roku devices don't support SRTs muxed in MP4s.  I'm not sure about MKVs.  If you want to use MP4s you have to have a separate SRT file named the same as the MP4.

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Fordi
Reel Rookie

Re: How to mux subtitles in an mp4 file so RMP will detect them?

1. It's not "an SRT file mixed into an MP4"; it's an MP4 with the container's native text sub format.

2. You're telling me that literally the most popular streaming box on the market doesn't support baseline MP4 features?

3. What about MKV?  Remuxing my whole library is not ideal, but it's less garbage a solution than "have multiple files per video" like you're suggesting.

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renojim
Community Streaming Expert

Re: How to mux subtitles in an mp4 file so RMP will detect them?

1.   It's not supported
2.  Yes
3.  I don't think so.  The one sample I have didn't work, but feel free to research it yourself.

All of my videos have four files:  the video itself (sometimes with multiple audio tracks), the thumbnail or movie poster, the BIF file for "trick play", and an SRT file.  Garbage to you maybe, but if you want to use Roku you have to put up with their garbage and there's no shortage of Roku garbage.

Roku has little to no interest in what you're wanting to do.  They don't make money from that.  Selling a device one time can't compare to the ongoing revenue stream they get from ads and subscriptions, so I don't expect their position to ever change.  You might want to look into Plex which can do all kinds of things on the fly, but requires a server powerful enough to accomplish them.

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Fordi
Reel Rookie

Re: How to mux subtitles in an mp4 file so RMP will detect them?

Eh.  I'm more likely to look into a Fire stick than a Plex server.  They don't need my ad revenue if they can't handle the basics of a common standard.

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ScottF100
Newbie

Re: How to mux subtitles in an mp4 file so RMP will detect them?

RMP doesn't seem to detect SRT subtitles in MKV files, but the Plex Player on Roku will properly render MKV files with SRT.

I'm still trying to figure out which soft subtitles work in either RMP or Plex for MP4 files.

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