How to extract .srt from mkv file

[Wooody]

Hi,

What is the easiest way to extract the subtitle as .srt from a mkv file?

I have tried a couple of programs like MKVExtractGUI-2 and MKVcleaver but I have only managed to extract .idx/.sub files from those programs. Is it possible to get .srt files from those programs in any way or is there any other good program to use?

[Baldrick]

You must convert(OCR) the image sub/idx subtitles with a separate tool like subtitle edit.

[poisondeathray]

Another option is to download the srt from various subtitle sites - all the hard work is all done for you

[Wooody]

Of course I could download the sub, but I want the original sub (the one I have in the mkv due to that I have ripped the blu-ray myself), and the original sub is not always available.

Isn't there really any program that extracts an .srt directly out of a mkv? Or does the conversion automatically? Is the only solution to first extract the subtitle as .idx/.sub and then convert it to .srt?

[Baldrick]

Nope. As it requires OCR it's not that simple.

[Wooody]

OK. Thanks!

[poisondeathray]

SRT are text based sub. idx/sub are image based subs , so you need to OCR - which isn't always accurate (lot of manual checking and fixing) . Even if you used an "automatic" program you would still have to go back and check for errors

To avoid manual work and error checking, downloading the srt that someone has already done the work for is usually the easiest option

[MilesAhead]

OK. Thanks!

If we are talking English subs what I've found works best is extract the PGS sub using MkvExtractGui-2. Load it in BDSup2Sub. Change the resolution to 720x480 NTSC. Export as ifo/sup. Load the .sup and .ifo file in DVDSubEdit. Use the automatic OCR. Export to .srt.

Not always perfect but it's the easiest I've found. Usually if you search for an underscore character('_') and don't find any, then the OCR went smoothly. The question I would ask is why does it have to be .srt? Many software players, set top boxes and DVD players will handle external idx/sub files. Just wondering why it has to be .srt.

[Wooody]

Hi,

The problem is that I can't get idx/sub to work on my Tvix-6500. srt however is working perfect. Extract with MkvExtractGui-2 exports idx/sub rigth away without any problem, so that would have been nice to use, but as I mentioned I can't get those to work. I'm using the same name as the mkv file so that's not the problem.

Any ideas?

[MilesAhead]

Hi,

The problem is that I can't get idx/sub to work on my Tvix-6500. srt however is working perfect. Extract with MkvExtractGui-2 exports idx/sub rigth away without any problem, so that would have been nice to use, but as I mentioned I can't get those to work. I'm using the same name as the mkv file so that's not the problem.

Any ideas?

If the sub stream is actually idx/sub then load it into BDSup2Sub and do the process as I described. It will export as ifo/sup and follow the same procedure with DVDSubEdit.

[Noahtuck]

Okay, i am a bit confused, I just used MKVcleaver with MKVtoolnix and it extracted the subs from an MKV into an .SRT file.

I actually wanted sub/idx files, or could it be that the MKV only had an SRT file ?

I am just venturing into bluray, mkv, etc so i have not much of a clue about it all.

[johns0]

Mkv can contain different types of subs,most are srt with a few being sup and fewer being sub/idx.

You can load srt files into easysup and output dvdsubs.

[Wanneslier]

Use SubResync from VobSub
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/audio_video/subtitle_tools/vobsub.cfm

Works perfectly for me. Is OCR, so you have to tell the program what letters are which, but after that it works perfectly.

[AlanHK]

Okay, i am a bit confused, I just used MKVcleaver with MKVtoolnix and it extracted the subs from an MKV into an .SRT file.

I actually wanted sub/idx files, or could it be that the MKV only had an SRT file ?

I am just venturing into bluray, mkv, etc so i have not much of a clue about it all.

the MKVtoolnix-based tools like MKVextractGUI 2 will show you what "streams" are in a given MKV file and let you extract them as separate files.


MKVs can include many different formats of video, audio and subtitle. If they do have an SRT (or ASS) text sub you can just get it directly with MKVextractGUI. If it's a VOBSUB bitmap then you get that and have to use other tools to OCR if you want a text file.