Emby Ignoring Default Subtitle Flags

[Fixel99 1]

I have 2 subtitle tracks for my media. One which has a forced flag and one which has a default flag. For some reason the forced one is the one getting selected rather than the default.

[Abobader 3485]

Hello Fixel99,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[Happy2Play 9811]

Yes it appears Forced tags are superseding Default tags when Default option is selected.  Devs will have to comment more as this option looks at both of these flags.

[Fixel99 1]

Bump

[pünktchen 1410]

@Happy2Play is right. "Forced" is superseding "Default" and Emby is doing it right. From the mkv wiki: "... Now on to the "forced display" flag, in short "forced". If this is set to "on", this track must be played/shown no matter what the user selected for his preferences or what the player would normally chose to show/play. ..."

[rbjtech 5341]

As above - Forced will always supersede Default - there is nothing wrong here.. ?

If you need to ignore the 'Forced' (for some reason) then you need to remove it's Forced Flag in the source file - using mkvtoolnix (header editor) or such tools.

[Fixel99 1]

@rbjtech I was confused as I had done this after punk pointed it out, however I ended up needing to also refresh metadata/scan library files in order for this to take effect. Thanks! That was really the last major thing bugging me from making the switch from Plex.

[yikesezxd 2]

I know this is an old thread, but I am encountering the same issue. The Emby player is not handling it right as someone had claimed. If this is truly the intended effect, then it is a flaw in design.

The point of Signs/Songs subtitle files being Forced is so that regardless of what Dialogue subtitle file is chosen, the Signs/Songs will still display. This allows you to hot-swap different dialogue subtitles incase you decide there is a better translation. If you don't know what Signs, Songs, and more importantly what TS is, then just don't comment on this thread. Forced isn't supposed to supersede the default flag, it is supposed to display regardless of what subtitle is selected. This behavior is apparent in most current gen players, including Emby to an extent---in OP's scenario, if you were to select a Dialogue subtitle, the Forced S/S file would still display with the Dialogue. 

In Emby, the forced flag on the Signs and Songs file---in OP's experience and also in my current experience---is doing two things (1 of which is wrong):

- Signs and Songs are forcibly displayed regardless of what is chosen, this is a good and intended effect.
- Signs and Songs are selected by default over the subtitle file that contains the default flag. This is not how it is supposed to work. The default flag file is supposed to be selected by default, and the forced flag is supposed to display without needing to be selected.

Has anyone found a fix for this? If I end up finding a fix on my own, I will respond to this thread with the fix.

 

[Luke 42231]

1 hour ago, yikesezxd said:

I know this is an old thread, but I am encountering the same issue. The Emby player is not handling it right as someone had claimed. If this is truly the intended effect, then it is a flaw in design.

The point of Signs/Songs subtitle files being Forced is so that regardless of what Dialogue subtitle file is chosen, the Signs/Songs will still display. This allows you to hot-swap different dialogue subtitles incase you decide there is a better translation. If you don't know what Signs, Songs, and more importantly what TS is, then just don't comment on this thread. Forced isn't supposed to supersede the default flag, it is supposed to display regardless of what subtitle is selected. This behavior is apparent in most current gen players, including Emby to an extent---in OP's scenario, if you were to select a Dialogue subtitle, the Forced S/S file would still display with the Dialogue. 

In Emby, the forced flag on the Signs and Songs file---in OP's experience and also in my current experience---is doing two things (1 of which is wrong):

- Signs and Songs are forcibly displayed regardless of what is chosen, this is a good and intended effect.
- Signs and Songs are selected by default over the subtitle file that contains the default flag. This is not how it is supposed to work. The default flag file is supposed to be selected by default, and the forced flag is supposed to display without needing to be selected.

Has anyone found a fix for this? If I end up finding a fix on my own, I will respond to this thread with the fix.

 

Hi, I’ve not seen this with other players. The subtitle file normally contains the complete subtitle contents to be displayed, whether it is forced or not. In fact this is also how the subtitle download sites work as well.

[crusher11 1143]

6 hours ago, yikesezxd said:

The point of Signs/Songs subtitle files being Forced is so that regardless of what Dialogue subtitle file is chosen, the Signs/Songs will still display. 

This is not, and has never been, true. I'm not aware of any media player ever being able to play multiple subtitle files, and even if one with such functionality exists that is not what the “forced” flag is supposed to do. The “forced” flag means that subtitle will display regardless of which audio is selected: it's for situations where some portion of the dialogue is not in the main language of the audio track, and therefore still needs to be subtitled even though the user speaks the language the audio track is flagged with.

[yikesezxd 2]

On 3/23/2026 at 1:21 AM, crusher11 said:

This is not, and has never been, true. I'm not aware of any media player ever being able to play multiple subtitle files, and even if one with such functionality exists that is not what the “forced” flag is supposed to do. The “forced” flag means that subtitle will display regardless of which audio is selected: it's for situations where some portion of the dialogue is not in the main language of the audio track, and therefore still needs to be subtitled even though the user speaks the language the audio track is flagged with.

MPVplayer, which is the standard player in the anime media server/encoder community, adheres to the behavior I described, and displays both subtitle files at the same time. That is an example. It also automatically selects the "Default" flag subtitle file, while the "Forced" flag subtitle file---even though it's not selected--is forcibly displayed.

As for Emby, it's quite hilarious that you say it's never been true, because vanilla Emby as we speak is able to display more than one subtitle file simultaneously (when the forced flag is involved) Jellyfin and Plex follow suite in the same behavior.

Edited 7 hours ago by yikesezxd

[yikesezxd 2]

On 3/22/2026 at 8:13 PM, Luke said:

Hi, I’ve not seen this with other players. The subtitle file normally contains the complete subtitle contents to be displayed, whether it is forced or not. In fact this is also how the subtitle download sites work as well.

MPV player is an example.

75-90% of my downloads are like this (see attatchment/image) and on subtitle download websites, it is also like this. By "subtitle download websites" if you are referencing things as generic as OpenSubtitles, that isn't very useful since for anime content the only subs that are listed on there are poor quality official SRT subs, or the occasional plaintext SSA subs. You're looking at this situation from the narrow lens of normal media, where TS is almost non-existent. People who download Anime for their servers are not using OpenSubtitles. 

The anime community primarily uses Nyaa.si, Seadex (aka releases.moe), Animetosho, NekoBT, etc. For subtitles specifically reflecting a website like OpenSubtitles, I believe there is a way in Animetosho, I just haven't sunken the time into looking at it. Either way, the quality subs, more often than not, have a separated Dialogue and S/S file.

Across all of those websites, it is standard to have a Dialogue subtitle file, and a Signs/Song subtitle file. Almost always, Dialogue is given the "Default" flag, while the S/S is given the "Forced" flag, for reasons already discussed. Occasionally, the subtitle file will be combined into one file "Full Subtitles" but it's only every once in a blue moon you find one of those, or if an encoder has a preference towards that format.

EDIT: dont worry about it, the forced over default logic seems to be standard across media server platforms (not players, however, but I digress). Even though that is the case, that logic is very flawed and out-of-date in my opinion, but it's nothing Emby should be expected to address. It is true that Emby supports displaying multiple subtitle files at once though, will just have to put up with "Forced" being chosen over "Default", it's just a slight QoL annoyance after all, doesn't actually break anything.

Edited 7 hours ago by yikesezxd

[crusher11 1143]

That the anime community has collectively decided to ignore the standard does not mean the standard is wrong.

If the content from the “forced” subtitle is also included in the “default” subtitle, all your problems go away.

[GrimReaper 4888]

4 hours ago, yikesezxd said:

because vanilla Emby as we speak is able to display more than one subtitle file simultaneously (when the forced flag is involved)

That is not correct. It can't nor it ever could. It is more likely that a scenario that @crusher11mentioned occurs:

48 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

If the content from the “forced” subtitle is also included in the “default” subtitle

and your default subs already contain all the forced parts, giving you the impression both subs are displayed simultaneously. 

On 3/23/2026 at 3:13 AM, Luke said:

The subtitle file normally contains the complete subtitle contents to be displayed, whether it is forced or not.

Edit: If you would like multiple subs displayed at the same time, you can lend your support here:

 

Edited 3 hours ago by GrimReaper
FR

[pwhodges 2033]

6 hours ago, yikesezxd said:

MPVplayer, which is the standard player in the anime media server/encoder community, adheres to the behavior I described, and displays both subtitle files at the same time.

Ah, the "great" MPV (which I do use, BTW).  If, for instance you have a video with two subtitle streams, and one is marked with both default and forced flags, MPV will not display it at all - I've had to provide postprocessing for my Handbrake encodes to clean up these extra flags (If you tell Handbrake to mark a stream default, it will also mark it Forced, and you can't prevent that).

Paul