---
title: "Extract Subtitles from MKV and MP4 | metadata.video"
description: "List every subtitle track in an MKV or MP4 and save text subtitles as SRT, ASS or VTT files, with language and forced flags shown. Free, nothing uploaded."
url: https://metadata.video/extract-subtitles-from-video
---

Free · runs in your browser

# Extract subtitles from an MKV or MP4

See every subtitle track inside a video, with its language and flags, and save the text ones as separate subtitle files you can edit, translate or reuse.

To extract subtitles from an MKV or MP4, open the video here, go to **Tracks**, find the subtitle track you want and press **Download subtitles**. Text subtitles are saved as an SRT file; ASS subtitles stay ASS with their styling, and WebVTT stays VTT.

Each track is listed with its language, its name and whether it is marked **Default** or **Forced**, so you can tell the full English track from the forced one or the SDH version before saving. Picture-based subtitles from Blu-rays and DVDs (PGS and VobSub) are listed too, but they are images rather than text, so they cannot be saved as SRT; the options for those are below.

The video is read in your browser and never uploaded, and nothing in the original file changes. If you want the opposite, to rename, relabel or drop a subtitle track, use the [MKV metadata editor](https://metadata.video/mkv-metadata-editor).

## How to extract subtitles from a video

1. ### Open the video
Press **Open a file** (Ctrl/Cmd+O) or drop the MKV, MP4, MOV or WebM on the page. The page opens on **Tracks**.
2. ### Find the subtitle track
Every track is listed with its type, format, language, name and flags. Subtitle tracks show their format, such as SRT, ASS, WebVTT, MP4 timed text, PGS or VobSub.
3. ### Download it
Press **Download subtitles** on the track. SRT and MP4 timed text are saved as `.srt`, ASS as `.ass`, WebVTT as `.vtt`.
4. ### Repeat for other languages
Each track downloads separately, so save every language you need. Picture-based tracks cannot be saved as text, because there are no words in them to save.

## Which subtitles can be extracted as text

Subtitles inside a video come in two kinds. Text subtitles store words and times, so they can be saved as a subtitle file. Picture subtitles store a small image of each line, exactly as it appears on screen, so there are no words to save without character recognition.

| Format                           | Usually found in        | Kind                            | Download here                  |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------- | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| SRT (SubRip)                     | MKV                     | Text                            | **Download subtitles** as .srt |
| ASS / SSA                        | MKV, especially anime   | Text with styling and positions | Kept as .ass                   |
| WebVTT                           | WebM, MKV               | Text                            | Kept as .vtt                   |
| MP4 timed text (mov\_text, tx3g) | MP4, M4V, MOV           | Text                            | Saved as .srt                  |
| PGS                              | MKV ripped from Blu-ray | Pictures                        | Not possible as text           |
| VobSub                           | MKV ripped from DVD     | Pictures                        | Not possible as text           |

A container holds separate streams side by side: one video track, one or more audio tracks and several subtitle tracks, each of which can be read out on its own.

If you can see subtitles while the video plays but no subtitle track is listed, the words are probably burned into the picture, so they are part of the video frames and cannot be extracted. Captions carried inside the video stream itself, as some TV recordings do, are not a separate subtitle track either.

## Reading the track list

Films often carry several subtitle tracks in the same language. The labels in **Tracks** tell them apart:

* **Forced** tracks contain only the lines meant to show even with subtitles off: dialogue in another language, signs, a letter on screen. They are short, often a few dozen lines.
* **Default** marks the track a player turns on first. It is often not the one you want.
* The **name** usually says what the track is: “English”, “English SDH” (with sound descriptions for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers), “Commentary”, “Signs & Songs”.
* The **language** is a code such as `eng`, `fre` or `jpn`. A track marked `und` has no language set; check its name or open the downloaded file.

If the labels are wrong or missing, you can fix them in the [MKV metadata editor](https://metadata.video/mkv-metadata-editor) so players pick the right track automatically next time.

## Picture subtitles: PGS and VobSub

Blu-ray (PGS) and DVD (VobSub) subtitles are sequences of images with timings. To turn them into SRT you need optical character recognition (OCR): software that reads the letters in each image. This tool does not do OCR, so it lists these tracks but cannot save them as text.

1. Extract the picture track as it is with MKVToolNix (below). PGS comes out as a `.sup` file, VobSub as an `.idx` and `.sub` pair.
2. Open that file in a subtitle editor with OCR, such as the free Subtitle Edit on Windows.
3. Run the OCR, correct the mistakes it makes (often with letters like l and I), and save as SRT.

Many players can show PGS and VobSub tracks directly, so if you only want to watch with subtitles, you may not need to convert them at all.

## With MKVToolNix or FFmpeg

### MKVToolNix

First list the tracks and their IDs, then extract by ID. IDs start at 0 and include the video and audio tracks:

              `mkvmerge --identify film.mkv
mkvextract film.mkv tracks 2:film.en.srt 3:film.en.forced.srt 4:film.fr.sup`
            

mkvextract writes each track in its own format: text subtitles as SRT, ASS as ASS, WebVTT as VTT, PGS as SUP and VobSub as IDX/SUB. It does not convert between them.

### FFmpeg

              `ffmpeg -i film.mkv -map 0:s:0 film.en.srt
ffmpeg -i film.mkv -map 0:s:1 -c copy film.signs.ass
ffmpeg -i clip.mp4 -map 0:s:0 clip.srt`
            

`0:s:0` means the first subtitle stream of the first input. Without `-c copy`, FFmpeg converts a text track to the format implied by the file extension, which is handy for MP4 timed text but drops ASS styling. FFmpeg cannot turn picture subtitles into text either. The [ffprobe guide](https://metadata.video/how-to-use-ffprobe) shows how to list streams first.

## Using the extracted file

* **Play it with the video:** most desktop players, VLC included, load a subtitle file that sits next to the video with the same name, such as `film.mkv` and `film.srt`. A language code before the extension (`film.en.srt`) helps media servers label it.
* **Edit or translate it:** SRT is plain text with numbered blocks and times, so any text editor works. Keep the times untouched unless you mean to shift them.
* **Keep it as ASS** if the subtitles are styled (anime, karaoke, positioned signs). Converting ASS to SRT throws away fonts, colours and positions.

This page deals only with subtitles that already exist inside a file. If a video has no subtitle track at all, there is nothing here to extract.

## Extracting subtitles: questions

### Can I extract subtitles from an MP4?

Yes, if the MP4 has a subtitle track. MP4 subtitles are stored as timed text and saved here as SRT. Many MP4s have none: their subtitles were either a separate file or burned into the picture.

### Why can’t I download some subtitle tracks?

Those are picture-based tracks (PGS from Blu-ray, VobSub from DVD). They contain images of the text, not the text itself, so they need OCR software to become SRT.

### The video shows subtitles, but no subtitle track is listed. Why?

The subtitles are most likely burned into the picture, so they are part of every frame. They cannot be extracted as text from the file; only re-typing or OCR of the video frames would recover them.

### Does extracting subtitles change my video?

No. The video is only read. The subtitle file is created from the track and downloaded separately; the original stays as it was.

### Will ASS styling be kept?

Yes. ASS tracks are saved as `.ass`, with their fonts, colours and positions. Only plain text tracks become SRT.

### Can I extract subtitles from a YouTube video here?

No. The tool reads files on your device, not online links.

### Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Open the MKV or MP4 from Files or your downloads in a modern mobile browser, go to **Tracks** and download the subtitle file.

## Related metadata guides

* [ Video metadata viewer See, explain, edit and remove everything a video or photo says about itself. ](https://metadata.video/)
* [ MKV metadata editor Rename tracks, set languages and Default/Forced flags, and change the MKV title losslessly. ](https://metadata.video/mkv-metadata-editor)
* [ Full video file info report A MediaInfo-style text report, JSON and box tree for any video, with hashes on request. ](https://metadata.video/video-file-info)
* [ Check which codec a video uses See the video and audio codec, profile, level, bit depth, chroma and codec tag of any file. ](https://metadata.video/video-codec-checker)
* [ Add chapters to an MP4 Write named chapter markers into an MP4, MOV or MKV without re-encoding. ](https://metadata.video/add-chapters-to-mp4)
* [ How to use ffprobe Real ffprobe commands for streams, tags, HDR and frame counts, and ffmpeg for stripping. ](https://metadata.video/how-to-use-ffprobe)