Subtitles

I need the subtitles for a lot of films and TV that I watch. There’s many people out there who for the love of it produce subtitles for TV shows and films, for instance the volunteers for Viki to name but one group. And I’m grateful to them.

There used to be sites on the web where subtitles in various formats can be downloaded, but not any more. Such sites have dubious links. One can rip subtitles from a DVD or Blu-Ray with the right software.

I’ve become interested in the different subtitle file formats, and here is a list of the ones I’ve come into contact with:

Name Extension(s) Format Comments
Advanced SubStation Alpha .ass Text Widely used by fans who do subtitles
Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange .smi Text Microsoft format now happily rare
PGS subtitle format .sup Binary Subtitle format used on Blu-Ray movie
SubRip Text .srt Text Basic but very useful subtitle file format
VobSub format .idx/.sub Text / Binary Subtitle format used on DVD movies