VLC Android subtitles cause video to stutter/ drop frames

[Spaarpott]

I also have files with the same problem.

Those are mkv files of 720x574 with two VobSub streams.
Both streams make the video stutter at subtitle text start.
With subtitles off, the video plays fine.

So you can add another user which have this problem.

[ionwizard]

If it was really important to someone, surely they would have cared to make a fix.

The only logical conclusion is that it is unimportant, and thus it is not really ridiculous that it was not fixed yet.

Well, i suppose it’s important to people who likes to watch content in its original language and needs subtitles…

Also to people who still didn’t lose hope in the developers and want to support the player…

We just don’t understand why it can’t be easily fix having in mind is the only player with this bug.

[vivaldi21]

VLC is the most popular player for PC (125 000 000 downloads for the last version according to their website), but they are not able to solve this minor Android problem ? What a shame...

[Spaarpott]

The problem is on windows 10 with VLC version 3.0.18.
I tried PotPlayer and that one works fine with these files and subtitles enabled.

[otaku91]

This fixed it for me too. Thank you! This problem has been driving me crazy for years. Let me know if I can provide any info about my config that may helpful for other troubleshooting.

"Testerr" 's answer fixed my problem! I've been having this stutter problem in vlc player with subtitles for like a year or two, and that one little change fixed it. Wooohoooo! Thank you Testerr. No more stuttering on my firetv when i change "OpenGL ES2" to "force on". It did make my subtitles look different than what i had set, so maybe if you have something other than the default subtitle customization it can cause stuttering? Just a thought as it might help someone else with a streaming device that doesn't have the option to force OpenGL ES2 on.

My Solution:
I have Amazon Fire TV Lite with VLC 3.4.4 and have this frame drop on every subtitle change.
What helped for me is set OpenGL ES2 to "force on" in Advanced settings, and Close And Restart VLC.
Founding this take me about 6 hour fighting with reading logs, reinstalling different versions, fiddling with settings etc.

I have consistent results: when I set this to Always Off - subtitle frame drop comes back. When I switch it to Force On - subtitle frame drop disappears.
When I set it to Automatic then sometimes subtitles cause frames drop, sometimes not.

[Perplexer]

My Solution:
I have Amazon Fire TV Lite with VLC 3.4.4 and have this frame drop on every subtitle change.
What helped for me is set OpenGL ES2 to "force on" in Advanced settings, and Close And Restart VLC.
Founding this take me about 6 hour fighting with reading logs, reinstalling different versions, fiddling with settings etc.

I have consistent results: when I set this to Always Off - subtitle frame drop comes back. When I switch it to Force On - subtitle frame drop disappears.
When I set it to Automatic then sometimes subtitles cause frames drop, sometimes not.

Some people say this works for them, some people say it doesn't. For me it didn't work. I have a Sony Bravia KD-49XF7596 LED TV. I did restart the application after changing the setting but the stutter was still there when a new subtitle line appeared.
I do think this OpenGL thing is officially a possible workaround but not necessarily always. See bottom of the page here: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/ ... uests/3346

So for now, the only solution, if I really want to use subtitles, is to convert *.SRT subtitles to *.ASS.

However, even with *.ASS, in my case I had to open them in a text editor and delete the "[V4+ Styles]" tag and its properties (lines Format: and Style:). Not sure if these are added by my conversion tool (I use and old program called "Subtitle Workshop 4") or if all *.ASS subtitles have that tag. Anyway after removing that, they were rendered by VLC without stutter. It's just annoying and time consuming having to do this before watching every movie. VLC sucks. I wish Media Player Classic / Homecinema ran on Android.

I did notice that one of these reports on VideoLAN issues tracker was marked as "fixed" 1 month ago, and a "milestone to %4.0" was mentioned, but I'm not sure what that means. Maybe it means it will be fixed in VLC version 4.0. Hope so.
https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/-/issues/27130

[harish799]

My Solution:
I have Amazon Fire TV Lite with VLC 3.4.4 and have this frame drop on every subtitle change.
What helped for me is set OpenGL ES2 to "force on" in Advanced settings, and Close And Restart VLC.
Founding this take me about 6 hour fighting with reading logs, reinstalling different versions, fiddling with settings etc.

I have consistent results: when I set this to Always Off - subtitle frame drop comes back. When I switch it to Force On - subtitle frame drop disappears.
When I set it to Automatic then sometimes subtitles cause frames drop, sometimes not.

Some people say this works for them, some people say it doesn't. For me it didn't work. I have a Sony Bravia KD-49XF7596 LED TV. I did restart the application after changing the setting but the stutter was still there when a new subtitle line appeared.
I do think this OpenGL thing is officially a possible workaround but not necessarily always. See bottom of the page here: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/ ... uests/3346

So for now, the only solution, if I really want to use subtitles, is to convert *.SRT subtitles to *.ASS.

However, even with *.ASS, in my case I had to open them in a text editor and delete the "[V4+ Styles]" tag and its properties (lines Format: and Style:). Not sure if these are added by my conversion tool (I use and old program called "Subtitle Workshop 4") or if all *.ASS subtitles have that tag. Anyway after removing that, they were rendered by VLC without stutter. It's just annoying and time consuming having to do this before watching every movie. VLC sucks. I wish Media Player Classic / Homecinema ran on Android.

I did notice that one of these reports on VideoLAN issues tracker was marked as "fixed" 1 month ago, and a "milestone to %4.0" was mentioned, but I'm not sure what that means. Maybe it means it will be fixed in VLC version 4.0. Hope so.
https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/-/issues/27130

How you delete the properties (lines Format: and Style:) of .ass file. I tried so many times and the subtitle is showing in a wierd way.

[Lotesdelere]

How you delete the properties (lines Format: and Style:) of .ass file. I tried so many times and the subtitle is showing in a wierd way.

One answer is in the post you quoted:

I use and old program called "Subtitle Workshop 4"

You can find recent versions of this program here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/subtit ... p-classic/

[Turmoil9147]

This problem is poisoning the Jellyfin client on Android as well, because it uses libVLC.

I find it rather incredible that this hasn't been fixed yet. I appreciate the lack of time, but this is essentially making VLC on Android 100% pointless.

I am a half-decent software developer and I would love to work full time on fixing this, but I can't leave my job. Fortunately, my job is at least profitable leaving with me more money than time.

How much? I'll pay you to fix this, half now half on delivery after I test that it works.

[Calebtyrone]

Bumping this because it's almost 2024 and this issue still exists.

[mrsofa]

For me it also helpes to force open gl in advanced settings. But this is something thst really should be addressed by now. Instead of watching a movie I wasted 1 hour to find the bug is still present and someone found a solution a year ago

[Kakarot]

Hey everyone! I found a solution for myself. I just switched my subtitle encoding to UTF-8 From windows something something. And it works fine. No changes in the shape or look of subtitles too. Hope it helps someone!

[kimiraikkonen]

Found out this topic. FYI, I have Philips Android TV (43PUS6412) and have the exact momentary frame drop at the time of when subtitle content is rendered. Using latest VLC version.

Note: Turning off hardware acceleration in settings did NOT help about the drop. It just helped about distorted and ugly-rendering problem of subtitles.

[CMK]

This problem still persists using Libvlc on stremio. The stuttering is driving me crazy.