SOLVED: Cannot Get .srt Subtitles In Same Folder To Play / "Undefined - SUBRIP - External"

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Hey there,

I did some research and am having the same exact problem as this thread:
- https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-external-sr...showing-up

I have Jellyfin deployed on Portainer within Windows 11 + Docker Desktop via this Docker compose file:

---
services:
  jellyfin:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - C:\Users\Sam\jellyfinconfig
      - D:\Moviesdata/movies
    ports:
      - 8096:8096
    restart: unless-stopped


With this in mind, I tried to watch a movie aka Kill Bill Vol 1 but the subtitles do not work while on the Jellyfin web app.

I tried using the mobile Android Jellyfin app but received the same result of the subtitles not working.

This is important for this particular movie since there are Japanese spoken sections that were translated to English in theaters that were meant to be understood, and without them, it makes any attempt to watch this movie useless.

The weird thing is that VLC player "just works" with the same exact movie and subtitles.

The subtitles are in .srt format, and it is named exactly the same as the movie:

Related command used:

user@windesktop C:\Users\user>docker exec jellyfin ls /data/movies


Related output:

Kill.Bill.Vol.1.2003.1080p.BrRIp.x264.YIFY.mp4
Kill.Bill.Vol.1.2003.1080p.BrRip.x264.YIFY.srt


Related jellyfin-ffmpeg output I am listing here that might help:

user@windesktop C:\Users\user>docker exec jellyfin /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffprobe -i "/data/movies /Kill.Bill.Vol.1.2003.1080p.BrRip.x264.YIFY.srt"
ffprobe version 6.0.1-Jellyfin Copyright © 2007-2023 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 11 (Ubuntu 11.4.0-1ubuntu1~22.04)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg --target-os=linux --extra-version=Jellyfin --disable-doc --disable-ffplay --disable-ptx-compression --disable-static --disable-libxcb --disable-sdl2 --disable-xlib --enable-lto --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-shared --enable-gmp --enable-gnutls --enable-chromaprint --enable-opencl --enable-libdrm --enable-libxml2 --enable-libass --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libbluray --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libdav1d --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libwebp --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libzvbi --enable-libzimg --enable-libfdk-aac --sable-ffplay --disable-ptx-compression --disable-static --disable-libxcb --disable-sdl2 --disable-xlib --enable-lto --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-shared --enable-gmp --enable-gnutls --enable-chromaprint --enable-opencl --enable-libdrm --enable-libxml2 --enable-libass --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libbluray --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libdav1d --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libwebp --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libzvbi --enable-libzimg --enable-libfdk-aac --arch=amd64 --enable-libshaderc --enable-libplacebo --enable-vulkan --enable-vaapi --enable-amf --enable-libvpl --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuda --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-cuvid --enable-nvdec --enable-nvenc
  libavutil      58.  2.100 / 58.  2.100                  libavcodec     60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100                  libavformat    60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100
  libavdevice    60.  1.100 / 60.  1.100                  libavfilter     9.  3.100 /  9.  3.100
  libswscale      7.  1.100 /  7.  1.100
  libswresample   4. 10.100 /  4. 10.100                  libpostproc    57.  1.100 / 57.  1.100                Input #0, srt, from '/data/movies/Kill.Bill.Vol.1.2003.1080p.BrRip.x264.YIFY.srt':                                Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A                             Stream #0:0: Subtitle: subrip


If I try to select the subtitle, it shows up as "Undefined - sUBRIP - External" in the menu on the Jellyfin web app. If I try to select the subtitle and then hit play to begin the movie, I get this error:

Playback Error: Fatal Player Error


Any ideas why VLC works?

I am debating flat out using Kodi on the same machine and rigging it up to VLC as the player so I can be inspired to watch movies with the cool box art but depend on a reliable player like VLC.

Honestly wish the subtitles would 'just work's in this scenario. I am pretty sure I got the subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org which is a sub par experience and drag to use but it's free I guess. Probably my bad on my part in that regard i will admit.

Lemme know what you guys think or if this is some kind of weird transcoding issue.

[TheDreadPirate]

Can you share your full jellyfin logs via pastebin? And ffmpeg logs related to this playback, if there are any.

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How do I get these logs when logged in as an admin user?

Or where are they when installed when Jellyfin is installed within that Docker container?

[TheDreadPirate]

/config/log is the container path.

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Requested output which I obtained by using the 'docker exec -it jellyfin sh' command.

I then navigated to the 'config/log' directory with the 'cd' command and then used the 'cat' command to display the latest log:

aka here's the 'config/log/FFmpeg.Transcode-2024-08-19_06-38-25_4c5640a820a3801aace06a7154bea07f_e69a5e3f.log' file:

Code:

https://pastebin.com/gAFXtAQk

Here's only part of the 'config/log/log_20240819.log' file since its too large for the 'sh' shell, and I can't seem to pipe the entire file to a Pastebin for upload because 'sh' is too basic:

Code:

https://pastebin.com/qMzkjB9e

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FYI, I think it's a Windows 11 + Docker Desktop issue.

I literally installed Kubuntu on the same mini PC's internal NVME drive and replaced Windows 11 with Kubuntu.

For the Kubuntu installation process, I used Docker Engine with Portainer with the Docker compose file in the first post, and now subtitles work without a single issue.

I read online that Docker Desktop causes weird permission issues and I think that is probably the root cause in this scenario.

I blame Windows 11 for this one, good thing there's Kubuntu which just works.

Marking this as solved

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Actually, looks like this is still happening.

For whatever reason if I play the movie in VLC player, restart, and then watch the movie again in Jellyfin, it seems like the subs are ok.

Just had this happen with Inglorious Basterds. Hmmmmmm I wonder what permission issues cause this.

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Thanks so far, curious for your thoughts

[theguymadmax]

I think those are .ass files, not .srt files and you have them misnamed.  Open the file in a text editor.

Ass files will have headers:
[Script Info]
[Fonts]
[Styles]
[Events]

Srt files will just subtitle numbers, time codes, and subtitle text.
1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:05,000 This is a srt subtitle.

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If I rename them to .ass files, will jellyfin work in that regards?