Subtitles

Zuno plays the subtitles that come with your media, whether they are built into the video or stored as separate files on your server. This page covers choosing a subtitle track, changing how subtitles look, and having the right ones appear automatically.

Choosing subtitles during playback

Start a video, tap once to show the player controls, and open the Subtitles option. From there you can:

Pick any subtitle track available for the video.
Choose Auto to let Zuno enable the best track for your preferred languages.
Turn subtitles off.
Open Subtitle Appearance to change how subtitles look without leaving the video.

For series, your most recent choice is remembered per show, including turning subtitles off, so the next episode starts the way you left it.

The subtitle formats Zuno supports

Zuno handles the common subtitle types, both embedded in the video and as separate sidecar files stored alongside it:

Plain text subtitles, such as SubRip (.srt).
Styled subtitles (Advanced SubStation Alpha, .ass and .ssa), which carry their own fonts, colours, positioning, and effects.
Image-based subtitles, such as Blu-ray (PGS) and DVD subtitles.

Styled subtitles

Styled subtitles are designed by hand, with specific fonts, colours, on-screen positions, signs and typesetting, and effects like karaoke. Zuno shows them exactly as they were authored, including any fonts built into the subtitle file, and renders them sharply at your video’s resolution.

Because styled and image-based subtitles carry their own design, the appearance settings below do not change them. Those settings apply to plain text subtitles.

Changing how subtitles look

Open Settings → Playback → Subtitle Appearance to style plain text subtitles, with a live preview that updates as you go. You can adjust:

Font, from a set of built-in typefaces.
Colour and weight.
Size, and a border outline around the text with your own choice of thickness and colour, which makes captions stand out clearly against any scene.
A shadow, and a background panel behind the text with its own colour.
Vertical position, to lift subtitles higher up the screen.

The border, shadow and background are independent, so you can combine them however you like.

Use Reset to Defaults at any time to return to Zuno’s standard look.

Adjusting subtitles while you watch

You can also change how subtitles look without stopping the video. Open the Subtitles option in the player and choose Subtitle Appearance. The video shrinks to one side to make room for the controls, and keeps playing so you can see your changes on real scenes. If no line is on screen, a sample subtitle appears so you always have something to judge by.

The video and its subtitles shrink together, so what you see is exactly how subtitles will look once you return to full screen.

You can adjust the same options as in Settings, including size, position, colour, font, background, border and shadow. While HDR video is playing, the HDR brightness options appear too. Your changes save as you go and follow the same Applies To choice as the rest of your appearance settings.

iPhone, iPad and Mac: the controls appear beside the video, or below it when your iPhone or iPad is upright. Tap the tick, or press Escape on a Mac, when you’re done.
Apple TV: highlight a setting and swipe left or right on the remote to change it. Press Back or choose Done to return to the video.

If the current track is image-based, its look can’t be changed, and the panel lets you know.

Subtitles over HDR

Bright captions can bloom on HDR and OLED screens. Turn on Reduce Brightness on HDR to gently dim subtitles while HDR video is playing, and use HDR Brightness to set the level that suits your display. This only affects HDR content.

Where your appearance settings apply

Subtitle appearance can sync across your devices through iCloud. Choose how under the appearance settings:

Per Device Type (the default) keeps a separate look for each kind of device, so your Apple TV and your iPad each hold a size that suits their screen.
All Devices shares one look across everything signed in to your account.
This Device Only keeps the look on this device and never syncs it.

Turning subtitles on automatically

Open Settings → Playback to set subtitles up to appear on their own:

Preferred subtitle languages: add the languages you want, in order. When a video starts, Zuno tries your first choice, then the next, and enables the best matching track it finds.
Subtitles Always On: start videos with subtitles enabled whenever a suitable track is available.

As with choosing subtitles by hand, your most recent choice is remembered per show.

Showing subtitles when you skip back

Turn on Show Subtitles on Rewind to briefly show subtitles whenever you skip backwards, so you can catch a line of dialogue you missed, then have them hide again on their own. You can set how long they stay on screen.

Downloading subtitles

If a video doesn’t come with the subtitles you want, you can search for them online and add them without leaving the video. Open the Subtitles option in the player, choose Search Online…, then pick a language. Choose a result and, once it finishes downloading, it appears in the list ready to select.

You can also search before you press play: choose Download Subtitles… from a film’s menu, or from an episode’s menu in the episode list.

Subtitle search works straight away on Plex. On Jellyfin and Emby, it needs the Open Subtitles plugin set up on your server first.

Setting up subtitle search on Jellyfin

Jellyfin doesn’t include a subtitle source of its own, so whoever runs the server needs to add one:

In your Jellyfin dashboard, open Plugins, find Open Subtitles in the catalogue and install it.
Restart your Jellyfin server.
Open the Open Subtitles plugin’s settings and sign in with an OpenSubtitles.com account. A free account works, but it has a daily download limit.

Emby works the same way, using its own Open Subtitles plugin.

If nothing ever comes back from a search, Zuno reminds you to check the plugin is installed and configured.

Subtitle files on network shares

Subtitle files saved next to a video on a network share appear in the Subtitles option. See Network Shares for how to name them.

If subtitles do not look right

Nothing appears: open the Subtitles option and check a track is selected, or set your preferred subtitle languages so the right one is chosen automatically.
You cannot change how some subtitles look: styled and image-based subtitles keep their own appearance and are not affected by the appearance settings, whether you change them in Settings or from the player.
The wrong language starts each time: set your preferred subtitle languages in order, and remember your choice is saved per show.
Search Online finds nothing on Jellyfin: your server needs the Open Subtitles plugin. See Setting up subtitle search on Jellyfin.

For more help, see Troubleshooting & FAQ and Playback problems.