Potplayer Subtitle Settings Guide

Potplayer offers a lot of customization related to subtitle.

Guide for Potplayer subtitle settings in the Preferences window.

System config :

OS : Microsoft Windows 10 x64
Software : Potplayer 1.7.21396 x64

Subtitle File Formats are categorized in two types :

Text based subtitle : Text based subtitle formats contains plaintext of subtitles lines.
Image based Subtitle : Image based Subtitle formats contains images subtitle lines.

Embedded subtitles : Subtitles files that has been stored in the video file as a separate subtitle stream along with the video and audio stream in the media file container.

External Subtitle : Subtitles files which is not embedded in the video file container but exist as a separate subtitle file.

Since there are multiple settings related to subtitle, one of the settings will override the other similar settings.

1. Subtitles tab settings

Ignore HTML tags

Text based Subtitle file can have HTML tags which is used to specify the font size, color and style the texts in the subtitle.

Ignore HTML tag(s) settings can be used to ignore font style tags in the subtitle and font sytle specified in

Absolute size :

Checked : Font size tags specified in absolute size will be ignored.
Unchecked : Font size tags specified in absolute size will not be ignored.

Relative size :

Checked : Font size tags specified in relative size will be ignored.
Unchecked : Font size tags specified in relative size will not be ignored.

Font face :

Checked : Font face tags will be ignored.
Unchecked : Font face tags will not be ignored.

Font color :

Checked : HTML Font color tags will be ignored.
Unchecked : HTML Font color tags will not be ignored.

All Fonts :

Checked : All Font related tags will be ignored.
Unchecked : All Font related tags will not be ignored.

All Sytles :

Checked : All sytle tags in the subtitle will be ignored.
Unchecked : All sytle tags in the subtitle will not be ignored.

Show Subtitles :

Enabled : Subtitles will be shown on the video screen.
Disabled : Subtitles will not be shown on the video screen.

Use smooth output on VMR/EVR surface : When it is enabled, the text based subtitle will be smoothed.

Add a line break when subs have 1 line: When text based subtitle has only one line then a line break will be added to it.

Remove left and right whitespaces :

Remove White space lines :

Load ext font files from fonts folder : When it is enabled, Potplayer will load font files from Windows OS fonts folder.

Process Subtitles with Online Videos : When it is enabled, Potplayer will show subtitles present in online streaming videos.

Load only subs that match filenames : When it is enabled, Potplayer will only load external subtitles whose name matches the video file name when a video file is played.

Load any subs in folder if none match :

Intermediate Checked : Potplayer will load subtitles located in video folder whose filename matches the season/episode in the title of the video file.
Checked : Potplayer will load all of the external subtitles located in video folder even if the filename of subtitle does not match the filename of the video file.
Unchecked :

Display bitmap subs outside the video :

Checked : Potplayer will show the image based subtitle file formats outside the video frame if there is a blank space available outside the video frame. The image based subtitle positioning will be done relative to the potplayer window.
Unchecked : When left unchecked, Potplayer will show the image based subtitle formats inside the video frame.

Display text subs inside the video :

Intermediate Checked : Potplayer will show only ASS & SSA subtitles files inside the video frame
Checked : Potplayer will show all text based subtitles inside the video frame.
Unchecked : Text based subtitles will be positioned inside the potplayer window.

Force subs to display under the video : When it is checked, Potplayer will show the text based subtitles outside the video frame if if there is a blank space available outside the video frame. When it is checked,it overrides the settings done in Display text subs inside the video.

Override placement of bitmap subs : When it is checked, Potplayer will show the picture based subtitles at the location specified in the Subtiles > Font Style > Position & Margin .

Add <BR> tag in SMI subtitles :

Ignore the paragraph tags (<BR>) : When it is enabled, the paragraph tags <BR> present in subtitle file are ignored and the subtitle line is shown as a single line instead of with line breaks.

Auto reload subtitles on file changes : Potplayer will reload subtitle file if changes are done in it.

Enable Subtitle animation : When it is checked, Potplayer will show subtitle animation.

2. Font Style Settings

Font style settings affects how text based fonts are displayed in the Potplayer screen. it is located at Subtitles > Font Style tab.

Font Group box

Fonts :
Scale X : Scale(resize) the subtitle in X (horizontal) direction.
Scale Y : Scale(resize) the subtitle in Y (vertical) direction.
Size : Subtitle Text size
Letter spacing : Spacing between letters of the word.
Line spacing : Spacing between lines.
Ruby Position : The position of ruby annotation.

Color & Transparency & Outline & Shadow

Text : Text color & Transparency of subtitle
Outline : Outline color & Transparency & width of first Outline of the subtitle displayed on the screen.
2nd Outline : Outline color & Transparency & width of second Outline.
Shadow : Shadow color & Transparency & width of subtitle.

Outline blur : Here user can set the blur level of the Outline.

Outline Gaussian blur : Here user can set the Gaussian blur level of the Outline.

Use Outline background : When it is enabled , Potplayer will show a background for the first outline in color set for first outline.

Scale outline/Shadow : When it is enabled , Potplayer will upscale the first outline and the shadow of the subtitle.

Scale second outline : When it is enabled , Potplayer will upscale the second outline of the subtitle.

Position & Margin

Position and Margin setting affects how text based subtitle track is positioned relative to the video frame or the Potplayer window.

Paragraph alignment : Alignment(Left/Center/Right) of lines in the paragraph of the subtitle
Horizontal : The horizontal position of subtitle on the screen.
Vertical : The vertical position of subtitle on the screen. 0% being top of the screen and 100% being bottom of the screen leaving the margin.
Top margin : The size of margin at the top side of the screen from where the subtitle will be shown.
Left margin : The size of margin at the left side of the screen from where the subtitle will be shown.
Right margin : The size of margin at the right side of the screen from where the subtitle will be shown.
Bottom margin : The size of margin at the bottom side of the screen from where the subtitle will be shown.

Opaque box

When it is enabled, an opaque box will be shown at the background of the subtitle.

User can set the color of the background.

User can also set the transparency of the box by using the slider.

3. Fade/3D/Location

Subtitle Fade Effect :

Fade In : Show Fade effect when each sentence of the subtitle starts.
Fade Out : Show Fade effect when each sentence of the subtitle ends.

Stereo 3D Subtitle

It can be used to show a subtitle track at two locations on the screen. Its useful when watching 3D movies.

Mode Options :

Disable : Potplayer will show only a subtitle track only one time.
Enable SBS (Side by Side) : Potplayer will show only a subtitle track only two times placed side by side.
Enable TAB (Top and Bottom) : Potplayer will show only a subtitle track only two times placed at top and bottom.

Width depth : Adjust the Width of the 3D Subtitle.

Height depth : Adjust the Height of the 3D Subtitle.

Custom Subtitle Storage Locations :

Here you can add Folders where Potplayer will search for subtitle for the video file being played.

Add : This button is used to add a folder/path/directory in the Custom subtitle storage location list where Potplayer will search for subtitles.

Delete : This button is used to delete a selected folder from the Custom subtitle storage location list.

Up : This button is used to move the selected folder upward in the Custom subtitle storage location list.

Down : This button is used to move the selected folder down in the Custom subtitle storage location list.

Prioritize the specified folders : When it is Enabled, Potplayer will give priority to subtitles files loaded from the user specified custom subtitle folder over the other subtitle tracks loaded in Potplayer.

Add a subtitles folder in the list, do the followings:

Select Subtitles > Fade/3D/Location tab
Select Add button in the groupbox labelled Custom Subtitle storage locations.
Enter the path for subtitles in the text box labelled Folder path.
Select OK button.

4. Subtitle searching setting

Using this feature user can search for subtitles using a search engine.

Info

Add

Add button s used to add search engines in the list labelled Online Subtitle Searching.

To add a search engines, do the followings:

Select Add button.

Enter the Search engine Title.
Enter the search engine path.

Path for some search engines:

Yandex : https://yandex.com/search/?text=%%SS%20subtitle
Yahoo : https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%%SS+subtitle
Bing : https://www.bing.com/search?q=%%SS+subtitle
Google : https://www.google.com/search?q=%%SS+subtitle
Duckduckgo : https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%%SS+subtitle

Edit

Edit button can be used to edit the Title and path for the selected search engine in the list.

Delete

Delete button can be used to delete the entry which has been selected in the list labelled Online Subtitle Searching.

Up button can be used to move a selected entry upward in the list labelled Online Subtitle Searching.

Down

Down button can be used to move a selected entry downward in the list labelled Online Subtitle Searching.

5. Word Searching

Word searching feature enables searching of the words present in the text based subtitle in Google search engine when the word is clicked upon on the video screen.

Word Search usage has three options :

Disable : When it is selected, Word search feature is disabled.
Enable when playback is paused : When it is selected, Word search feature can be used only when the video playback has been paused.
Enable : When it is selected, Word search feature is enabled.

6. Language/Sync/Other tab settings

Subtitle Language Settings

When there are multiple subtitles available for a video file, Potplayer need to select one of them for display in the video screen. The Language settings done here are used by Potplayer in loading and selection of a subtitle track.

Subtitle Priority : This setting is regarding giving preference to selection of subtitle from the list of embedded and external subtitles which will be displayed in the video screen.

Subtitle priority options:

Default : Potplayer will give equal preference to both external and embedded subtitle.
Prefer external subtitle : Potplayer will prefer selecting a subtitle from the list of external subtitles over the embedded subtitles.
Prefer embedded subtitles : Potplayer will prefer selecting a subtitle from the list of embedded subtitles over the external subtitles.
Allow external subtitles only : Potplayer will not load the embedded subtitles in Potplayer subtitle list. It will load only external subtitle files in Potplayer subtitle list and will select a subtitle track from the list of external subtitles for playback.

Preferred languages : Potplayer supports showing two subtitle track. The setting done here concern the first subtitle which is shown by default.

The Potplayer inbuilt Preferred languages setting allows the user to set a list of preferred languages which will be preferred by Potplayer for the selection of a subtitle track in specified language from the list of multiple subtitle tracks which has been loaded in Potplayer .The language which has been entered first in the list will be given highest preference followed by other languages in the list.

For Potplayer track selection based on language will work only if the subtitle track has proper Language attribute(tag).

User need to enter the language codes separated by semicolon(;), comma(,) or space.

ISO 639-2 Code : 3 letter language codes
ISO 639-1 Code : 2 letter language codes
Name of Language (in English)

Link to ISO 639-2 codes & ISO 639-1 Code for various languages : https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php

Language code examples :

English name : English , ISO 639-1 Code : en , ISO 639-2 Code : eng

English name : Arabic , ISO 639-1 Code : ar , ISO 639-2 Code : ara

English name : Finnish , ISO 639-1 Code : fi , ISO 639-2 Code : fin

English name : French , ISO 639-1 Code : fr , ISO 639-2 Code : fre,fra

English name : Hindi , ISO 639-1 Code : hi , ISO 639-2 Code : hin

Preferred languages settings for subtitles is located at Subtitles > Language/Sync/Other > Language > Preferred languages.

semicolon(;), comma(,) and space entered in the preferred languages list is treated as OR condition.
"&" entered in the preferred languages list is treated as AND condition.

By default forced&english default&english encc eng en english has been entered in the preferred languages list.

forced&english will select a subtitle which has been tagged as Forced and its language is English.

default&english will select a subtitle which has been tagged as default and its language is English.

User can append their own languages in the preferred list.

Example :

If fre fin German ko has been appended then in addition to already existing languages in the list Potplayer will give highest preference to the subtitle track in French language, followed by Finnish, German and Korean language.

If Finnish German kor hi has been entered then Potplayer will give highest preference to the subtitle track in Finnish language, followed by German, Korean and Hindi language.

If Eng default ara has been entered then Potplayer will give highest preference to the subtitle track in English language, followed by subtitle tack with default tag and then subtitle in Arabic language.

Don't auto select non preferred subtitle languages : When it is enabled, Potplayer will not select a subtitle track if it is not specified in Preferred languages list.

2nd Preferred languages : The setting done here concern the second subtitle. Here users can do settings similar to Preferred languages settings done for first subtitle.

2nd subtitle position : Here you can set the vertical position of the second subtitle. 0% represent top of the video screen and 100% represent bottom of the video screen. The second subtitle will always remain above the first subtitle regardless of the setting done here.

Prefer multiple languages of SMI subtitles :

Invert screen position of multiple languages if preferred langs doesn't match :

Turn on 2nd subtitle output when different subtitles are available :

Show auto-generated subtitles :

Remember subtitle track selections : When enabled, Potplayer will remember the subtitle that has been selected by the user when playing a video file. So when the next the same video is played Potplayer will show the same subtitle. Enabling this option could override other subtitle selection settings.

Synchronization settings

Subtitle Sync intervals : Here you can set the three time intervals (in seconds) for synchronization of subtitle.

You can Sync the subtitle from the Menu Subtitles > Subtitle Sync while playing a video file.

Selecting option 0.5 Sec Faster will show the subtitle 0.5 second earlier .
Selecting option 0.5 Sec Slower will show the subtitle delayed by 0.5 second.

Keep subtitle sync changes over whole runtime : Potplayer will remember the custom subtitle sync settings until the Potplayer exits.

Max Showing period : When enabled the Potplayer will show a line in the subtitle for the maximum specified time period.

Min showing period : When enabled the Potplayer will try to show each line in the text based subtitle for the minimum specified time period.

Operate without overlapping subtitle time periods : Each line in the subtitle has a timestamp to start and stop showing it at the specified time. When this option is Enabled then Potplayer will show the lines in the subtitle according to the setting done in Min showing period & Max Showing period without overlapping with each other.

6. Subtitle search tab settings

It is located at Extensions > Subtitle Searching tab.

Auto search

Auto search feature will automatically search a subtitle file for the video file when it is played in Potplayer.

Auto search options :

Never : Potplayer will not use auto search of subtitles for the video file currently being played.
When subs don't exist : Potplayer will auto search for subtitles if no subtitle track has been loaded for the video file currently being played.
Always : Potplayer will always use auto search to search subtitles for the video file currently being played.

After Searching settings

The settings done here affects what will Potplayer do after it has done searching subtitle files for the currently playing video file.

After searching options :

Do nothing : Potplayer will do nothing after it has done searching for subtitles.
Load the first found subs : Potplayer will load only the first subtitle file found during the online auto search of subtitles.
Add all found subtitles : Potplayer will load all of the subtitle files found during the online auto search of subtitles.
Add only subs in preferred langs : After Potplayer has completed online auto search of subtitles, it will load only those subtitle files in Potplayer which has been specified by the user in Subtitles >
Language/Sync/Other > Preferred languages.

Show the dialog when subtitles are found with auto search :

Checked : It auto search feature finds subtitle files for the currently playing media file then Potplayer will show the Subtitle Downloader dialog box.
Unchecked : Pot playey will not show the Subtitle Downloader dialog box.

6. Subtitle Translation tab settings

It is located at Extensions > Subtitle Translation tab.

Subtitle translation feature is useful in translating a subtitle track language to user specified language. Only supported languages can be translated. It works on text based subtitle files.

Subtitle translation feature uses language translation service.

Source sub : it refers to the subtitle track which has been selected for playback on the screen.

Translation engine

Here user can select which online language translation engine will be used by Potplayer.

Translation engine option :

Auto Translate

Auto translate feature is Potplayer will automatically translate subtitle track when the playback of media file with subtitle track starts.

Auto translation options :

Do not use : Auto translation feature will not be used.
Always use : Potplayer will always use Auto translation feature.
Use when source subs are in specified lang(s) : Potplayer will use Auto translation feature when the subtitle currently being displayed is one of the language(s) specified in text box labelled Lang(s) to.

Use when source subs are in English language : Potplayer will use Auto translation feature when the subtitle currently being displayed is in English language.

Screen placement

Screen placement setting allows user to set the placement of translated subtitle in the video screen.

Screen placement option :

Show translation only : Potplayer will show translated subtitle track in the video screen.
Show translation at the top of source subs : Potplayer will show translated subtitle track above the source subtitle track in the video screen. Both source and translated subtitle track will be shown.
Show translation at the bottom of source subs : Potplayer will show translated subtitle track below the source subtitle track in the video screen. Both source and translated subtitle track will be shown.

Source Setting

Source setting allows user to select the language of source subtitle.

Source settings is done for each translation service provider in the list.

To do the source settings:

Select language translation service provider.
Select the language of source subtitle from the drop down list labelled Source.

Some language translation service provider supports Auto detection of source subtitle language. For those provides Source can be set to Auto detect.

Translation

Translation setting allows user to set the language in which the source subtitle will be translated.

Subtitle Translation language is done for each language translation service provider.

To do the Translation settings:

Select language translation service provider.
Select the language in which source subtitle will be translated from the drop down list labelled Source.