Downie · Help

Subtitles

Downie will (by default) download subtitles in .srt format along with the video. You can optionally set Downie to keep the original format in Settings > Subtitles & Audio, but keep in mind that you can end up with formats that are not supported by many players.

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions.

I do not see the subtitles in my video player.

It depends on your player. QuickTime Player, for example, will not detect or load external subtitles. But most players (like Elmedia Player, IINA, VLC, ...) are capable of automatically detecting, loading and displaying subtitles from associated .srt file.

If you are not seeing them anyways, please refer to your player's documentation as it's possible that you need to turn this on in settings of that player first.

I am seeing subtitles in my browser, but Downie doesn't download them.

There are two options:

1) The subtitles are already part of the video. There are certain formats like EIA-608 that some sites use and are embedded within the video file. Please check in your player or using MediaInfo that the subtitles are indeed missing.

2) Downie doesn't know about the subtitles or the integration is broken. Please report the link for which this is happening using the in-app support dialog.

I want to download subtitles for more than just one language.

Go to Settings > Subtitles & Audio and set the download mode to "Multiple". When this is enabled, Downie will download all subtitles that are labeled as one of the labels that you can add in that settings pane.

The label must match the subtitle label exactly - when you add the video, click on the Subtitles button on the download to display a menu with available subtitles - the names that you see are the labels that need to be added onto the list in Settings > Subtitles & Audio.

I want the subtitles merged into one file.

As the number of both video and subtitle formats is fairly vast, Downie on its own will not merge the subtitles with the downloaded file.

There are many apps that can do this, but the most convenient one is to use the Permute integration. This will send the downloaded file to Permute, which can automatically detect the external subtitles, add them to the video and merge the two.

To set this up:

  • in Permute make sure that:
  • the option to automatically detect external subtitles is enabled in Settings > General
  • optionally, you can set Permute to remove the original file in Settings > Advanced, as well as the subtitles file. This way you do not end up with a duplicate file.
  • in Downie:
  • go to Settings > Postprocessing
  • set postprocessing to "Send to Permute"
  • select the preset to be used by Permute