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 own delay setting fixes a constant gap by hand. When the gap grows during the film, you need a subtitle made for your copy, or one re-timed to it: that is what Subtitle Sync for Stremio does, by itself, before the subtitle menu opens.
Why subtitles don’t line up
A subtitle file is a list of lines with start and end times. Those times were measured on one particular video file. Your file can differ from it in three ways:
- It starts at a different moment: another studio logo, a recap, or a few seconds more of black at the start. 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: fine at the start, 2 min 34 s off after an hour.
- It is a different cut: an extended version, an extra scene, a missing intro. The subtitle is right until that point and wrong after it.
What you can do in Stremio itself
In the player, open the subtitle menu and change the subtitle delay. It moves every line by the same amount, so it fixes the first case only. For the other two you would have to adjust it again and again while you watch.
Trying a few subtitles from the menu helps when one of them was made for your exact file. OpenSubtitles can tell which ones were, when your stream shares the file’s details with Stremio, but many languages have no such file.
How Subtitle Sync for Stremio fixes it
It 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 and SubSource 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. 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.
| 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. |
| No debrid service | OpenSubtitles, as above. |
What it does not do
- It never hosts or links videos. It handles subtitles only.
- It does not translate subtitles. It finds ones people wrote in your language and fixes their timing.
- It cannot re-time a subtitle when there is nothing to compare it with. The menu then says it is shown as it was uploaded.
How to set it up
Setup takes about five minutes on a guided page, in English or Serbian. It is free, with no ads; its server runs on donations. See the questions people ask or start now: