Subtitle Sync for StremioStremio subtitles out of sync? Why it happens and how to fix it
Updated
Subtitles run early or late in Stremio when they were made for a different copy of the film than the one you are playing. Stremio’s delay control fixes a gap that stays the same. When the gap grows as the film goes on, you need a subtitle made for your copy, or one re-timed to it. Subtitle Sync for Stremio does that by itself: it times subtitles to the exact file you are playing, using the video’s own subtitle track when it can, before the subtitle menu opens.
Why subtitles don’t line up
A subtitle file is a list of lines, each with a start and an end time. Those times were measured on one particular video file. Your file can differ from it in three ways:
- It starts at another moment: another studio logo, a recap, or a few more seconds of black. Every line is off by the same amount.
- It plays at another speed. European TV versions often run at 25 frames per second, cinema and web versions at 23.976. A subtitle made for one runs 4.27 % fast or slow on the other: right at the start, 2 min 34 s off after an hour.
- It is another cut: an extended version, an extra scene, a missing intro. The subtitle is right until that point and wrong after it.
Late by the same amount, or drifting further?
Check twice: a few minutes in, and again an hour later. If the gap is the same both times, the delay control fixes it. If it has grown, the subtitle was made for a copy at another speed, and moving it by hand will not hold.
A gap that is right for a while and then jumps means another cut. A subtitle that is always too fast or always too slow, a little more each minute, means another speed.
Moving the timing by hand in Stremio
In the player, open the subtitles menu and use the delay control: Stremio’s own help page says to press + and − until the lines match the speech. It moves every line by the same amount, so it fixes the first case only.
- On Android and Android TV the delay setting can stop working after you skip ahead in the video. Setting it again after the skip helps.
- Some TV apps have no delay control at all. There, the only fix is a subtitle that already fits your file.
- The delay is not kept for the next episode: each file needs its own.
Other ways to fix the timing
Each way below works for some cases and not for others. They are named by what they do:
| Way | What it fixes | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| The delay control | A gap that stays the same | You, adjusting by hand for each file |
| Picking a subtitle made for your copy | Every case, when one exists | A subtitle whose name matches your file’s name, or one OpenSubtitles matched to your file’s fingerprint |
| Re-timing to another subtitle | A gap and a different speed | A second subtitle that already fits your file |
| Re-timing to the video’s own subtitle track | A gap, a different speed and most different cuts | A file whose subtitle track can be read |
| Desktop programs that listen to the film’s sound | A gap and a different speed | The video file on your own computer, which streaming does not give you |
Subtitle Sync for Stremio does the second, third and fourth for you, inside Stremio, with nothing to download or adjust.
How Subtitle Sync for Stremio fixes it
Subtitle Sync for Stremio finds subtitles in your language and lines them up with the exact video you are playing, before the subtitle menu appears. The one that lines up goes on top of the menu.
- It looks for subtitles in your languages on OpenSubtitles, which every install has, and on Titlovi.com, SubDL, SubSource and, for Romanian, Subs.ro, for Turkish, AltyaziDB, for Japanese, Jimaku, and TheSubtitleDB if you add them, each with your own account or key.
- It takes a timing reference for your copy. With TorBox, that is the video’s own subtitle track, read through the stream addon you already use or your TorBox key. Elsewhere it is an OpenSubtitles subtitle matched to your file.
- It compares each subtitle’s dialogue with the reference and re-times it: a fixed gap, a different speed, or a different cut are all handled.
- The menu says how each subtitle was timed, so you know what you are picking.
- When none of your languages has a subtitle, it translates one with AI, free with your own Gemini key, and times it the same way: AI subtitles when none exist.
How often it works, measured: in October 2026, when the addon could read the video’s own subtitle track, the subtitle it put on top was lined up with that track in about 7 lists in 10.
| Where your video is | What the timing is lined up with |
|---|---|
| TorBox | The video itself: its own subtitle track, when the file has one. Otherwise the same as below. |
| Real-Debrid, AllDebrid, Premiumize, Debrid-Link | These services forbid using your account from a server or from two places at once, so this addon never reads your file there. Your subtitles are lined up using OpenSubtitles instead, which works for most popular films, unless someone already played the very same file through TorBox: its timing is then used for you too. |
| No debrid service | OpenSubtitles, as above. |
What it does not do
- It never hosts or links videos. It handles subtitles only.
- It does not write subtitles of its own: it finds ones people wrote in your language and fixes their timing. Only when none exists, it also offers one translated by machine from another language (a very close one or the film's original language first, else English; when no site has any subtitle, the one built into the video): made once with somebody's own free Gemini key, then kept for everyone. See how the free AI translation works.
- It cannot re-time a subtitle when there is nothing to compare it with. The menu then marks it ⚠️ Not synced.
- It cannot help an app that does not say which file is playing: see which apps get synced subtitles.
How to set it up
Setup takes 5 to 15 minutes on a guided page, in English, Serbian or Brazilian Portuguese. It is free, with no ads; its server runs on donations. See the questions people ask or start now: