Subtitles in folder not recognized

[user84 46]

I have lots of files, both Movies and TV shows, that have subtitles in folders. Example: The Sopranos>The.Sopranos.S01>subs>The.Sopranos.S01E01>3_English.srt

In this situation, the subtitles aren't recognized. How can I remedy this?

[GrimReaper 4739]

37 minutes ago, user84 said:

Example: The Sopranos>The.Sopranos.S01>subs>The.Sopranos.S01E01>3_English.srt

That appears the same structure as:

Don't know if support for it was ever implemented, @Luke? 

[Luke 42077]

HI, yes these are supported and work just fine. I know there are improvements to this in the upcoming 4.9 server release. Thanks.

[user84 46]

I'm a bit confused as to why they aren't being recognized if this is supported. I have rescanned metadata just to be sure that wasn't the issue. Any ideas as to what's going on?

[Luke 42077]

HI there, can you please provide a specific example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks !

 

[user84 46]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure how I can provide an example. Should I try to play a file that does not recognize subtitles inside folders? But how will you then see that there are actually subtitles in the folder? I'm just not sure how to provide you with what you would need.

[visproduction 315]

U84,

List the directories and file names. Subtitles appear when you following the subtitle naming guide.  If you miss following the naming guide by one character in a file name, the subtitle will not appear.  I am not aware of the new supported feature for /Subs directory.

[user84 46]

The final subtitle files do not include the name of the TV show or movie. However, they are a child folder within the parent folder that is the TV or movie. Is it still necessary to make sure that the individual subtitle file name includes the TV show or movie?. If so, it is strange to me that some of these files were packaged how they were. Can @Lukeconfirm?

[Luke 42077]

If it's a mixed folder with multiple videos then subtitle naming rules apply. Otherwise it can be named anything.

[user84 46]

My example in my original post shows that the subtitle files are inside of a folder that is specific to the episode. Will this work? 

How can I provide you with a log file that you can troubleshoot this?

[Luke 42077]

Yes and being able to see the complete file tree. Thanks.

[user84 46]

@LukeFiles attached. I played this on the Web, but the result was the same. The SRT files in folders are not visible.

ffmpeg-directstream-fffb8304-61c3-4460-a59f-980dc2d0ccc9_1.txt embyserver(4).txt

[visproduction 315]

The Sopranos\The.Sopranos.S04.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG\The.Sopranos.S04E03.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG.mkv

The Sopranos\The.Sopranos.S04.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG\The.Sopranos.S04E03.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG.en.srt

Did this subtitle appear correctly on the episode media page for this particular season 4 episode 3?  It would not appear on the main media page for The Sopranos, nor would it appear on the season 4 media page showing all the episodes.  It would only appear when you click on the episode and open the individual episode page.

If you want any subtitle to appear by default, then you must add .default to the name.

U84 perhaps you are thinking that subtitles options should appear on the main series or the seasonal pages.  They do not.

[user84 46]

That subtitle is the one that was automatically downloaded by Emby. There are several other subtitles in folders inside of the folder that house that particular season, and all of the other seasons. Yes, that particular subtitle does appear on the episode screen for me to select. But the other subtitles in the folders I have described above do not appear.

Edited July 19, 2025 by user84

[visproduction 315]

U84,

For that subtitle, it is acting correctly.  Have a close look at the name of the media file and make sure it is the same name with .en.srt added instead of .mkv.  When you put one number under the other, it looks like the example I posted.  The first part of the name is exactly the same... No extra dots, no missing spaces, every letter exactly the same.  Then if the subtitle file is in the same directory as the media.mkv, the subtitle should show up as available only on the episode page.  If you put the subtitle in another subfolder, it should not show up.  Again, I have not familar with the option to use a Subs directory.

Having the subtitle choise so far in, is not so user friendly if the user needs to have a subtitle.  You can use .default.srt on one subtitle that you want to automtically turn on.  I am not sure if the user setting of language preference would auto open a German subtitle or whatever.  That would be nice.  Does someone reading knows that answer?

It sounds like you might just have .srt files that don't have a correct matching name.

[user84 46]

My question isn't about that subtitle file. My question is about the other subtitle files that are embedded in child folders using proper naming technique that are not being recognized. I've been told they should be recognized to, and they are being recognized. That's my concern and that's why I submitted these log files. We can ignore the file you are referencing.

[visproduction 315]

U84,

I'm not clear what sub-folders and what names. Are you talking about a Subs folder?  Often code that does some function might be very particular. It could work fine for a subfolder in the media folder file, but might not work at all if you put the subfolder further down inside an season or episode folder.  Without listing the exact names of your folder, I cannot test or suggest anything.  .srt all work for all my media when they are in the same folder and named correctly.  If there is one character different or one extra space, they stop working.

[user84 46]

15 minutes ago, visproduction said:

U84,

I'm not clear what sub-folders and what names. Are you talking about a Subs folder?  Often code that does some function might be very particular. It could work fine for a subfolder in the media folder file, but might not work at all if you put the subfolder further down inside an season or episode folder.  Without listing the exact names of your folder, I cannot test or suggest anything.  .srt all work for all my media when they are in the same folder and named correctly.  If there is one character different or one extra space, they stop working.

My first post in this thread answers your question

[visproduction 315]

Where is the info on the Subs subfolder.

The Sopranos>The.Sopranos.S01>subs>The.Sopranos.S01E01>3_English.srt

Doesn't the .srt need to be matched to the file name and in the Subs folder, not in a second subfolder and called a different name?

What about trying:

The Sopranos>The.Sopranos.S01>subs>The.Sopranos.S01E03.en.srt

 

[user84 46]

11 hours ago, visproduction said:

Where is the info on the Subs subfolder.

The Sopranos>The.Sopranos.S01>subs>The.Sopranos.S01E01>3_English.srt

Doesn't the .srt need to be matched to the file name and in the Subs folder, not in a second subfolder and called a different name?

What about trying:

The Sopranos>The.Sopranos.S01>subs>The.Sopranos.S01E03.en.srt

 

That may be possible, but I have hundreds of files that are organized like this, and it would be a huge undertaking to make that adjustment. I'd like to hear from @Lukebefore I do anything like this

[brothom 177]

22 hours ago, user84 said:

That may be possible, but I have hundreds of files that are organized like this, and it would be a huge undertaking to make that adjustment. I'd like to hear from @Lukebefore I do anything like this

Are those other subtitles being recognized? Can you provide an example of a case where the subtitles work and not?

For example:

(doesnt work)
The Sopranos/The.Sopranos.S01/The.Sopranos.S01E01.mkv
The Sopranos/The.Sopranos.S01/subs/The.Sopranos.S01E01/3_English.srt

(works)
Modern Family/Season 01/Modern Family s01e01.mkv
Modern Family/Season 01/Modern Family s01e01.en.srt

Your structure will obviously be a little different, but hopefully you'll get the idea.

If you write out your structure, we can reproduce it on our local installations and see if we can reproduce your issue to confirm if this is maybe a bug.

Edited July 21, 2025 by brothom
Formatting / clarification

[user84 46]

41 minutes ago, brothom said:

Are those other subtitles being recognized? Can you provide an example of a case where the subtitles work and not?

For example:

(doesnt work)
The Sopranos/The.Sopranos.S01/The.Sopranos.S01E01.mkv
The Sopranos/The.Sopranos.S01/subs/The.Sopranos.S01E01/3_English.srt

(works)
Modern Family/Season 01/Modern Family s01e01.mkv
Modern Family/Season 01/Modern Family s01e01.en.srt

Your structure will obviously be a little different, but hopefully you'll get the idea.

If you write out your structure, we can reproduce it on our local installations and see if we can reproduce your issue to confirm if this is maybe a bug.

 

(Works)

D:\Videos\TV Shows\The Sopranos\The.Sopranos.S04.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG\The.Sopranos.S04E03.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG.en.srt

(Doesn't work)

D:\Videos\TV Shows\The Sopranos\The.Sopranos.S04.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG\Subs\The.Sopranos.S04E03.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG\2_English.srt

D:\Videos\TV Shows\The Sopranos\The.Sopranos.S04.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG\Subs\The.Sopranos.S04E03.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG\3_English.srt

Edited July 21, 2025 by user84

[brothom 177]

@user84can you also provide the location(s) of your media files that belong to these subtitle files?

[user84 46]

4 minutes ago, brothom said:

@user84can you also provide the location(s) of your media files that belong to these subtitle files?

The media files are in the parent folder: 

D:\Videos\TV Shows\The Sopranos\The.Sopranos.S04.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG

[brothom 177]

@user84can you also share the file names of the media so we can fully recreate your situation?