How to remove hard sub from mkv?

[Choey]

What can I download to remove hard sub from a mkv file, If post a simple guide too.


Please and thank you.

[yoda313]

You can't really. Assuming you mean a hardcoded sub as in it is burned into the image than you can't.

Its a permanent part of the picture now.

Best you could do is try something like a delogo filter. However it will leave a blurry afterimage that will be worse than the subtitles and degrade the video since a reencoding is involved.

If you mean a selectable subtitle than any number of mkv tool programs can demux the subtitle file out of it. mkvtoolnix should be able to do it.

But if its selectable why not just leave it alone? Just don't select the subtitle and you won't see it.

Edit -and a subtitle file should only be a few kbs in size or possibly hundreds of kbs in size so it should not be impacting the overall file size at all. Even if its a few mbs it shouldn't be a problem.

[Choey]

You can't really. Assuming you mean a hardcoded sub as in it is burned into the image than you can't.

Its a permanent part of the picture now.

Best you could do is try something like a delogo filter. However it will leave a blurry afterimage that will be worse than the subtitles and degrade the video since a reencoding is involved.

If you mean a selectable subtitle than any number of mkv tool programs can demux the subtitle file out of it. mkvtoolnix should be able to do it.

But if its selectable why not just leave it alone? Just don't select the subtitle and you won't see it.

Edit -and a subtitle file should only be a few kbs in size or possibly hundreds of kbs in size so it should not be impacting the overall file size at all. Even if its a few mbs it shouldn't be a prbuoblem.

I can't found it text file with mkvmerge GUI, but the person added the hard sub in the mkv I don't think is burned into the image.

[yoda313]

@choey - I'm sorry but a hard sub IS burned in the image. That is what is meant by "hardburning" a sub. You are embedding it in the video.

A soft sub or selectable sub is a separate file.

Its either one or the other.

A selectable subtitle will be a srt or ssa file. There are few other types but those are the most common.

Edit - also there are plenty of other mkv tools to try besides mkv merge. Check the tools section on the left of the screen.

[netmask56]

Post a MediaInfo report (tree text mode) of the file in question just in case. If there isn't a 3rd file within the file then it is truly burnt in, in which case you are stuck with it.

[Hoser Rob]

I was also thinking mediainfo, which will show if there's a sub file within the mkv file ... that's a nice feature of the mkv container ... or whether they're hard coded.

But you've probably figured that out by now if you're using a software player to view it. There'd be some feature to select/deselect subs. Well, if there isn't, start using another player.

The thing people sometimes don't understand about hardsubs is that they are not a separate layer superimposed on the video. They're not. There's nothing under them.

It's not totally impossible to remove hardcoded subs. But it's complicated (I don't think you'll find an easy free downloadable tool) and the results aren't that good anyway.

Try searching this board for stuff on the subject. There's lots of it. You may not like what you see though.