The VideoLAN Forums

When I use VLC for Windows, there is an option to add subtitles. I cannot find the option in VLC for iOS. Am I missing where the option is on VLC for iOS or isn't there that option? I have an android app on my tablet that has this option too. VLC is advanced in every other way, so I'm sure it's there somewhere and I just can't find it. Thanks for any help!

On iOS, just give your external subtitles the same file name as your movie except for the file extension and sync them. VLC will automatically detect that file (and will also automatically delete it once you delete the associated movie).

Sorry, but there is no more advanced UI to select subtitles on iOS yet, but it is on our list for future releases.

Thank you, I'll try that. How do you sync them? Also, the subtitle files don't show in the app (only in iTunes in Windows VLC). Is there any way to view them in the app?

I hope you add the option soon. Most other video viewing apps have it. I'm using another app for now that has the option but would prefer to use yours.

ETA: Oh I see, changing the name IS what syncs it. It worked. Thanks for the help.

On iOS, just give your external subtitles the same file name as your movie except for the file extension and sync them. VLC will automatically detect that file (and will also automatically delete it once you delete the associated movie).

Sorry, but there is no more advanced UI to select subtitles on iOS yet, but it is on our list for future releases.

Hello, I am new to VLC for iOS. I use VLC as my preferred media app on my Windows laptop, but my laptop got broken (never stand on your laptop... ) so now I am forced to use my iPad to watch movies. So, I opted for VLC iOS, since I use this great program on Windows. But unfortunately I got the impression that this app seems a bit underdeveloped? One of the main things is for example that I can not select which .srt subtitle file I want to load with the movie. It is quite a hassle to be forced to rename the .srt similar to the moviefile, because apparently that is the way it will work. Why not offer endusers the option to select the desired .srt file themselves?

It is mentioned above that it is on the future update list and that was posted end of 2015. 1,5 year later I am wondering if this is still planned for a future update? The last update to VLC for iOS was 21 June 2016. Is this app actively developed?

Thanks for considering this!

Trying to play a movie with subtitles (.srt file):

• I am trying now to stream a movie directly from my Dropbox movie folder through VLC iOS. The movie plays without any problems... great. There is a .srt file in that folder that has the same filename as the movie itself, but VLC does not display the subtitles inside the movie when I stream the movie like this. Why is that?
• I tried to actually download the movie from Dropbox locally on my iPad in VLC iOS, including the .srt file and... now it does display the subtitles inside the movie. This is great, but why can't it work with streaming the movie? The whole point of having Dropbox for this purpose it that i can happily stream movie into VLC, but why does VLC not display the subtitle then? Now the great functionally that VLC offers to actually stream movies from Dropbox gets diminished because we can't see the subtitles this way... Can this be fixed for a (much needed) new version or it this an iOS limitation?

Thank you.

This is how nPlayer iOS (a free app) solves it:

You can select your own srt files wherever they are located in your Dropbox folders!





This feature AND making it possible in VLC to stream directly from Dropbox with .srt subtitles displaying (see here: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=138674) would do wonders for me. No more unneeded hassle to download movies locally to your iPad (unless you wish to do so for outside use where there is no wifi/streaming possible ofcourse) and no more renaming .srt files to match the moviename. Perfect. Hope to see this in a not so distant future release.

Thank you for considering this.

I get subtitles while watching on the iOS device but not when I send the video to a Chromecast. Am I missing an option or is it a limit on the Chromecast itself?

Air Video HD handles the subs but I'm unsure if it works in the same way.

I have the same problem as above, no subs when using chromecast

On iOS, just give your external subtitles the same file name as your movie except for the file extension and sync them. VLC will automatically detect that file (and will also automatically delete it once you delete the associated movie).

Sorry, but there is no more advanced UI to select subtitles on iOS yet, but it is on our list for future releases.

Agree. This worked for me. No need to do anything else.

Actually, there`s a little bit more to it than that.

When it comes to matching up video files with softsubs files, VLC for IOS seems to apply unix-ish filename rules. So a movie with the filename
My very own movie.avi
will play just fine. But VLC on IOS won`t recognise or render a subs file with the matching filename
My very own movie.srt
no matter where you put it. I suspect this is a bug.

The workaround is to make both filenames conformant with unix filename conventions, in this case by removing all the spaces or replacing them with underscores. Once that`s done, the subs appear as expected.

The workaround is to make both filenames conformant with unix filename conventions, in this case by removing all the spaces or replacing them with underscores. Once that`s done, the subs appear as expected.

That's an interesting point. Can one of the developers confirm that space characters in the filenames for the subs is problematic?

On iOS, just give your external subtitles the same file name as your movie except for the file extension and sync them. VLC will automatically detect that file (and will also automatically delete it once you delete the associated movie).

Sorry, but there is no more advanced UI to select subtitles on iOS yet, but it is on our list for future releases.

So I have an iPhone Xr, and the new iPad Pro with the latest ios updates. I've tried this trick, making sure that the file names were the same in everything but the extension and I came up goose eggs. Is this option no longer available on VLC for iOS? Please assist.

i tried changing the name and everything but it still doesnt work. the file isnt even on the app. can anyone help? thanks

This is how i did mine and it realllyyy work. First download the app “documents” that app can read like all the files. Like video, image, or document. So you need to put the movie that you want to watch to documents then download a subtitle to that movie, and copy that subtitle to documents. Make a folder in documents and put your movie file and subtitle file in 1 folder. Then make those files a same name. Then when you play that movie it will show the subs. If you cant understand how i explain it just comment your email. And ill try to do a video tutorial on how i did mine. And ill send it to u guys. Thank uuuu

And for me vlc didnt work. So im using “documents” app

Is it possible to take a different language video and subtitle the video into English?

Hi,
I USE v3.2.6 VLC on iPhone 8, I watch movie (.mkv) from an External hdd through upnp media server. I have internal and external (.srt) subtitles also, but VLC plays neither of them. The file names (movie- srt) are identical I have no subtitle button neither. Can u help me?

We currently don't support external subtitles via UPnP. For networking, this is limited to SMB (and potentially FTP) for now.

It is cumbersome, but there is a way (iPad Pro, iPadOS 14.0.1 and MacBook Pro, macOS 10.14.6):
- Example name of the files: movie.avi, movie.srt (works for .mkv format too)
- You have to first find a way to copy movie.srt on "On My iPad" > "VLC"
- Using directly "Share" > "AirDrop" opens the .srt file directly in VLC and I could not find later if / where the file was saved on the local storage
- I use "Dropbox" - copy the .srt file from the computer in dropbox and then from dropdox folder to "On My iPad" > "VLC"
- Copy the movie.avi to "On My iPad" > "VLC" from the computer via "Share" > "AirDrop"
- This step should be *after* copying the .srt files. Otherwise, once you cave the .avi file in the director the OS does nlot allow you to paste the .srt file
- When asked "Failed to save item.Save to iCloud Drive instead?" select "Open with Files" and "Save" to "On My iPad" > "VLC". Select "Done".
P.S. Encodindgs are located in the Setting application..

Thanks. Due to the detailed posting by gloff, I was able to get subtitles to work in VLC on the iPad. It was indeed cumbersome, and with some strange conditions, but it did work. Most appreciated.

This also doesn't seem to work for me if I play the video from an external SSD drive connected via USB-C. (It does work if I copy the file and the subtitle into VLC, however my iPad has limited storage, so playing from the SSD is much easier.)