How to Play an SRT File
Level of difficulty: Easy
Files using the SRT file extension are basically text files used to deliver subtitles during the playback of various video files either in a computer-based media player or on a standalone DVD player machine. This file actually contains a host of information like the part of the movie when each subtitle should appear and the actual text that must be displayed during a specific portion of the movie in order to coincide with the movie audio. The naming convention followed for subtitle files usually is in the form of the name of the file (which must be the same as the name of the movie) followed by the specific language used for the subtitle and the file extension SRT, like for example words.eng.srt which means that it is an English subtitle file for the movie Words. Subtitles provide the audience with a way of understanding the dialog of the characters of the movie even if the audio is not in their native language.
Materials Needed:- Computer
- AVI file
- SRT file
- Web browser
- Internet connection
- media player
- DVD burner
- and DVD media
Step 1
To play an SRT file in a computer system, open the Web browser in order to download and install VobSub into the computer system. This will allow multimedia players to recognize the subtitle file and play it simultaneously with its paired movie.
Step 2
Upon completion of the downloading and installation process, launch the default multimedia player of your computer system and open the video file. Make sure that both the video file and the subtitle file have the same name. Verify also that both files are located in the same folder. Otherwise, the subtitle will not appear during playback.
Step 3
When using the VideoLAN VLC media player, it is advisable to disable the option to automatically load the subtitle file. Instead, load the video file and then open the subtitle file manually.
Step 4
This process however works only for computer systems and is not feasible for standalone DVD players. To allow the playback of SRT files in these machines, it has to be converted together with the movie file. Do this by opening the Web browser to download and install the ConvertXtoDVD trial version.
Step 5
Once completely installed, load the program and choose the 'Trial' option. Click on the '+' sign to add the video file that will be converted. An alternative is to click on the 'File' menu and select 'Add Video File'.
Step 6
Once the video file is in the work area of the program, click on the '+' sign next to it to display the Subtitles sub-section.
Step 7
This sub-section handles the number of subtitle streams associated with the specific video file. Any subtitle stream should be listed there. If none is present, right click on the 'Subtitle' text and select the 'Add Subtitle' option. Navigate to the location of the subtitle file which should be the same folder as the video.
Step 8
This should refresh the list and reflect the correct number of subtitle streams associated with the video file. Right click on the subtitle that you prefer to be the default and click on the 'Set as default subtitle' option. This will be loaded immediately on playback.
Step 9
The characteristics of the subtitle can be edited by right clicking on the subtitle stream and choosing the 'Change setting for this subtitle' option.
Step 10
Click on the 'Convert' button to proceed with the conversion and authoring process to burn the movie and its subtitle files onto a DVD media.