"Default" subtitle mode chooses "Forced" subtitle track over "Default" track

[theressnowway]

I have a dual audio series with separate Default and Forced subtitles tracks, and I am trying to get Jellyfin to use the Default track automatically.

Currently I have my Preferred subtitle language set to "Any language" and Subtitle mode set to "Default". This does not work. I've also tried with the language set to "English". If there is a forced track embedded in the MKV it will choose that over the default track.

I noticed that the description for "Default" says that the subtitles are loaded based on the default and forced flags in the embedded metadata. If this is true and it's choosing to load the forced track over the default track, is this the intended behavior? Would it make sense to also have a "Default Only" mode in that case? I've also tried "Smart" mode and setting the language to English, and that will also choose the forced track over the default track.

I found the "Set subtitle track based on previous video" setting which seems to be working but is there any way to have it pick default first?

I have opened the video in MKVToolNix and verified that both tracks are tagged properly - i.e. "Default" for the full subtitles and "Forced" for the forced subs.

Clients:
Jellyfin Web 10.10.3 on Mozilla Firefox
Android TV 0.18.2

Server:
Official Docker image running on Unraid, ver 10.10.3

[TheDreadPirate]

I believe "forced" means that it will always be auto-selected, period. "Default" indicates it is the track selected when you simply turn on subtitles or if there are multiple, non-forced, tracks for a particular language.

Personally, I remove all subtitle track dispositions because of the client-to-client variation in how they are selected.

[bitmap]

Under Profile settings for each user, you can choose a subtitle mode. My experience indicates that most clients respect this setting. One of the options you can select is "Default" which should exclusively select and play the subs with a disposition of default. Be aware that this setting will NOT play any subtitles if they do not have a disposition (i.e., set as default or forced). You can explore other modes as well and test their behavior with your client(s). I use "