Naming multiple same-language subtitles

[crusher11 1101]

What's the way to name subtitle SRT files if I have more than one for a given language? For example English, English SDH, English Audio Commentary.

[Luke 42077]

We don't currently have guidelines for this. It is something we'll need to look into. Thanks.

[rbjtech 5284]

Just been looking into this myself.

 

If you name them -

 

moviename.AnythingYouLike1.forced.srt 

moviename.AnythingYouLike2.srt 

moviename.AnythingYouLike3.srt 

moviename.AnythingYouLike4.srt

moviename.AnythingYouLike5.srt  

 

then you'll get them listed as

 

AnythingYouLike1 (Forced SRT) 

AnythingYouLike2 (SRT)

AnythingYouLike3 (SRT) 

AnythingYouLike4 (SRT)

AnythingYouLike5 (SRT)

 

It doesn't seem to care what they are named inbetween the movie name. and the .SRT extension (*), you do not need to stick to languages   .  If you add a .forced. then that obviously becomes the forced subtitle.

 

(*) It ignores spaces and underscores, but '-' appears to works fine.

 

 

 

The WIKI needs to be updated with this info, as I've seen a few feature requests for this to be fixed...

 

Note - This only works for EXTERNAL subs - internal subs (in MKV etc) still only reads the language field, it still does not read the 'name' field - which makes multi same language subs a nightmare as you don't know what you are selecting .. 

[daedalus 434]

emby still reads and saves the "name" field in the database

emby just don't want us to see these values

we are waiting over a year for that simple option

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/34573-audio-and-subtitle-track-labels-for-mkv-containers

[Luke 42077]

@@cayars can update the subtitle naming wiki. Thanks.

[tdiaz 3]

.. just curious, if this -does- work or not?

As You can see, I have three different .srt files .. and I'm not seeing anything other than forced and the language as options.

[Carlo 4560]

Try naming them differently leaving off the "en" on one of them.

[tdiaz 3]

Okay, so leave out the language on the ones you want to name something else..

So I'm guessing that this is displaying it as whatever I called it as if that -is- the language title.
An 'accidental/unintended feature', if you will. Since there's only specific other terms that are supported, (e.g. forced), anything else should be a single word.. so that's why spaces/underscores don't work.

 

[Luke 42077]

Hi, yes that's true in order for the server to pick up the default or forced flags.

[rbjtech 5284]

@cayarsCarlo - the wiki/KB still does not mention this ?

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001159160-subtitles

I have made some suggestions below on how we can improve the wiki/KB (sorry about the formatting) ...

---

All video files can have external subtitles.

Mandatory : The file name must match the video file name before the period.

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).mkv

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).srt

Optional :

a) They can be suffixed with a condition tag.

Default

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).default.srt    <-- This becomes the active track if your client has been configured to play the default subtitle track.

Forced/Foreign

Generally used for 'foreign or alien' type subtitles.

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).forced.srt    <-- This becomes the active track if your client has been configured to only play forced subtitles. (generally what you want) 

b) They can be suffixed with a language tag.  (ISO 639)

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).eng.srt    <-- English

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).fre.srt   <-- French

This will show as the full language name during subtitle selection in the emby client. ie eng becomes 'English' 

c) They can also be suffixed with a non-language tag.

This is useful when you have multiple subtitles of the same language that you need to identify separately in the drop down selection.

Any text in-between the two periods will be shown, spaces and underscores are not allowed but dashes are permitted.

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).English(Commentary).srt  <-- English commentary track.  Shown as 'English(Commentary)' in the selection.

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).English-SDH.srt  <-- English SDH track.  Shown as 'English-SDH' in the selection.

d) Combinations

You may use a combination of any the above to specify exactly how you would like to see the subtitle listed in the selection.

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).fre.forced.srt  <-- Force the French subtitle track to be the active selection.

/Movies/Home Alone (1990)/Home Alone (1990).Directors-Commentary.default.srt  <--  Make the 'Directors-Commentary' the default subtitle track.

Supported formats (client dependent)

• srt  <-- The most compatible client format
• ass
• ssa
• sub/idx
• vtt

[Carlo 4560]

All of this is already covered in the article except the "directors" or "commentary" tracks which I just added.

Is there anything not covered that's easy to read in the article?

[rbjtech 5284]

31 minutes ago, cayars said:

All of this is already covered in the article except the "directors" or "commentary" tracks which I just added.

Is there anything not covered that's easy to read in the article?

Nope all good now - thanks Carlo.

[Riggs 312]

Hi there!

@cayars

Regarding this post.

I found today in the wiki an example: moviename (year).spa.default.srt

For spanish I will using: moviename (year).es.default.srt

Several years ago, for Spanish language subtitles I have used them with the suffix .es. I don't know if that changed recently and is now .spa ...
I don't know if it applies to other languages, but it would be important to know what the "universal" suffixes are, especially when the collections are large and because I've noticed that for a few months now that Emby sometimes just doesn't see the external subtitle and when I check the name everything is fine.

Could I suggest you post the correct language suffixes list on the wiki?

Let me know if it does not matter whether the subtitle has .es  or .spa in the case of the Spanish language.

Thank you very much in advance

Language suffix supported for subtitles.

 

[Carlo 4560]

Hi Riggs, either of them are fine and correct.  Difference of 2 letter vs 3 letter abbreviations.

I'd also with ISO letter abbreviations and here's a good list https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php that shows both 2 letter and 3 letter codes.

Also keeps you politically correct so you won't use "jap" instead of the proper "jpn" for Japan, etc...

The ISO codes are world wide agreed upon abbreviations.

[daedalus 434]

how about writing it then down in the wiki that 2 and 3 language codes are allowed?

[Riggs 312]

Thanks for the reply, my friend.

Yes, I understand that and I know the suffixes because I also do programming in some things, but like all development, I mean Emby in particular, because those same suffixes, depending on who does the programming and the program that it is, will not be so flexible as in others.

I find @daedalus suggestion useful for Emby's wiki.
Also most of the users are not programmers nor do they know about suffixes and stuff in detail.
Just say.

Thank you very much

Edited September 19, 2020 by Riggs

[Riggs 312]

On 8/20/2020 at 8:08 PM, tdiaz said:

.. just curious, if this -does- work or not?

As You can see, I have three different .srt files .. and I'm not seeing anything other than forced and the language as options.

You have to DELETE the name in the output tab using the MKVToolniX or the MKV header editor included in MKVToolNiX

[Carlo 4560]

On 9/20/2020 at 1:09 AM, daedalus said:

how about writing it then down in the wiki that 2 and 3 language codes are allowed?

https://emby.media/support/articles/Subtitles.html

The name can be anything you want. You can spell out "Spanish", you can use a 2 or 3 letter abbreviation, etc.

You'll likely want to test a couple of options to find out what you like best displaying for your users.

Edited November 6, 2025 by GrimReaper
KB article link updated

[Happy2Play 9780]

39 minutes ago, cayars said:

https://support.emby.media/a/solutions/articles/44001159160

The name can be anything you want. You can spell out "Spanish", you can use a 2 or 3 letter abbreviation, etc.

You'll likely want to test a couple of options to find out what you like best displaying for your users.

But does Preferred Subtitle language setting honor all naming scheme?

[Carlo 4560]

11 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

But does Preferred Subtitle language setting honor all naming scheme?

Good Question.  @Luke can you comment how the code matches the languages?

Is it using the fullname 2 and 3 letter abbreviations per ISO?

[Riggs 312]

Let's see, first, I'm not criticizing, it just seems to me that it could be improved for the user with less knowledge or no knowledge of language suffixes, that's all.
So, in my case:
I have always used .es but on the wiki I found that new: .spa and .spanish

Quote

      Home Alone.spa.srt
      Home Alone.spanish.srt

In English there would be a variable also .en and .eng and .english ... I assume

It's not about what is on the wiki is wrong or not, it's about making it clear to the users, that's all, in my case I don't care as long as it works, but I commented before, sometimes Emby doesn't pull the subtitle although the name is correct.

In other hand check this:

Quote

/Movies
   /Home Alone (1990)
      Home Alone.mkv
      Home Alone.srt
      Home Alone.spa.srt
      Home Alone.spanish.srt

In the naming convention it will be:

/Movies
   /Home Alone (1990)
     Home Alone (1990).mkv
     Home Alone (1990).srt
     Home Alone (1990).spa.srt
     Home Alone (1990).spanish.srt 

[Carlo 4560]

I don't disagree at all.  What I think we need clarification on is how the code interprets these.  Does it know that spa & es is Spanish and will use them as the default when the user has selected Spanish in the GUI? This is what Happy2Play is asking for clarification on.

[daedalus 434]

6 hours ago, cayars said:

The name can be anything you want. You can spell out "Spanish", you can use a 2 or 3 letter abbreviation, etc.

this is totally missleading, cause you can/should have the language selector, additionally any name you want to specify it and the track preference selector

it should be clarified in the wiki how this tags have to look like and how they all can be combined and what happens if they are omitted, not the case atm

why not write sth like movie.[language].[specific subtitle name].[default/forced].ext and explain what every part has to be

Edited September 19, 2020 by daedalus

[Carlo 4560]

I don't think what I've said is misleading at all.  Emby will for the most part honor your naming any way you want for display.

Happy2Play asked and I agree we need clarification (so I can update KB) of how abbreviations are used in the code.  IE is Spanish, es, spa all the same and used if user has selected "Spanish".

I DO want to clarify this in the KB but need to know myself!

It's not a big deal for those who manually select subs but does matter for those who have selected a language to use by default.  So after we find out I'll take a pass at the KB making changes and you guys can tell me if it's clear or needs more detail.  We'll get it correct!

[Riggs 312]

Now I don't understand what the GUI language has to do with the suffix used in the subtitle in this topic.
In my case, I always use English in the GUI, I use Spanish subtitles for my beloved wife, thank God I am not deaf yet and my children speak English too.