Incorrect ASS subtitle rendering when the required Font is absent

[XICO2KX]

Hello!
For quite some time now, I have noticed that VLC has some trouble rendering correctly some ASS subtitles.
For example, this is how a subtitle is (incorrectly) shown in VLC:

and this is how it is (correctly) shown in MPC-HC:

As you can see, the fonts used in VLC's rendering lack some symbols such as: ç : . - # / [ ]

After analyzing the ASS file and some of the Styles used:

[V4+ Styles]
Format: Name, Fontname, Fontsize, PrimaryColour, SecondaryColour, OutlineColour, BackColour, Bold, Italic, Underline, StrikeOut, ScaleX, ScaleY, Spacing, Angle, BorderStyle, Outline, Shadow, Alignment, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Encoding
Style: Default,Myriad Web Pro Condensed,40,&H00FFFFFF,&HFFFFFFFF,&H00373E3B,&H96000000,-1,0,0,0,100,100,0,0,1,2,0.5,2,50,50,20,1
Style: CréditosA,Arista 2.0,30,&H00FFFFFF,&H00FFFFFF,&H00000000,&H00000000,0,0,0,0,100,100,0,0,1,1,1.5,4,0,0,0,1
Style: Titulo,Surface,40,&H000000FF,&H000000FF,&H00000000,&H00828682,-1,0,0,0,100,100,0,0,1,3,3,5,0,0,0,1

I've confirmed that none of those Fonts are present in my computer.
So, it seems that when a required font file does not exist, VLC uses some other random (?) font!

The problem is probably located within the components freetype or libass:


I think the correct behavior should be to fallback to the font specified in the setting:

Code: Select all

Video -> Subtitles / OSD -> Text Renderer -> Font

but it does not seem to be the case.

Could you please fix this annoying bug?
Thank you very much for your attention!

[XICO2KX]

I've just checked and this problem does not occur in the iOS port of VLC.
All subtitles are rendered correctly with the same default font.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Well, it does not use the same font either: look at the Suzumiya part.

[XICO2KX]

Well, it does not use the same font either: look at the Suzumiya part.

The iOS port seems to always use the same font, but with different styles/sizes.
You're talking about the MPC-HC screenshot, right?
Yes, it uses different fonts.
But its font choices are better than VLC's...
What criteria is used to select which fonts are applied, by the way?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Sorry, but that MPC-HC screenshot does not look like Myriad Web Pro Condensed or Arista 2.0 or Surface...
They all look the same.

[XICO2KX]

Sorry, but that MPC-HC screenshot does not look like Myriad Web Pro Condensed or Arista 2.0 or Surface...
They all look the same.

No, I did not mean it uses the "same" (as in "correct") fonts (Myriad, Arista, Surface)...
I meant that MPC-HC and VLC for iOS use the "same" (as in "equal among them") default font for all ASS styles.

MPC-HC uses Arial and VLC for iOS uses Helvetica Neue.
But VLC for Windows (and also maybe for other platforms?), instead of using the Default Font specified in the Settings, uses some other random fonts...

This is not the correct behavior that it should have, right?

P.S.: I don't know if it's important but none of those fonts mentioned in the ASS styles are embedded inside the MKV container.