“The time has come…to talk of many [technologies].” –Lewis Carroll(‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’)
Step 3(b): Merging Subtitles With MP4 Files Using Yamb/MP4Box
I am making this post in response to one of the comments left on my previous post explaining how to hard-code (or merge) the subtitles into an AVI(DivX/XviD) video file. I was asked what tools can be used to merge subtitles with MP4 video files and below is the complete procedure to do the merging using MP4Box and Yamb.
To merge subtitles into an MP4 video file, you need to download two very useful tools: MP4Box and its GUI interface called Yamb.
Download MP4Box
Download Yamb
Both the tools can be extracted to any location of your preference. I have extracted the contents of Yamb-2.0.0.8.zip to H:\PortableApps\Yamb and have extracted and copied MP4Box.exe too to the same folder. This is how it looks on my computer:
Next thing you need to do is to tell Yamb where MP4Box is located. To do that, run Yamb from its folder, click on the Settings icon, double-click on the entry that starts with “Advanced settings for Yamb…”.
Click the Add button first time to add the MP4 file and then click the Add button a second time to select the subtitle file. The window should like something like this:
Remember to change the output file name(like I did) in the Output text box located at the bottom of the window if you don’t want to overwrite your input file with the merged output file. Click Next. The following screenshot shows Yamb processing your request. It took less than 2 minutes on my computer to finish the job of merging subtitles into a 40 minute MP4 video file.
Download Yamb Both the tools can be extracted to any location of your preference. I have extracted the contents of Yamb-2.0.0.8.zip to H:\PortableApps\Yamb and have extracted and copied MP4Box.exe too to the same folder. This is how it looks on my computer: Next thing you need to do is to tell Yamb where MP4Box is located. To do that, run Yamb from its folder, click on the Settings icon, double-click on the entry that starts with “Advanced settings for Yamb…”.
Enter the path where you have extracted the MP4Box executable in the Location: text box. In my example, it looks like this:
Click Next.
Click the Add button first time to add the MP4 file and then click the Add button a second time to select the subtitle file. The window should like something like this:
Remember to change the output file name(like I did) in the Output text box located at the bottom of the window if you don’t want to overwrite your input file with the merged output file. Click Next. The following screenshot shows Yamb processing your request. It took less than 2 minutes on my computer to finish the job of merging subtitles into a 40 minute MP4 video file.
Click Finish when done to quit Yamb or click Back if you want to do more merging operations. The produced MP4 output file with merged subtitles:
End Notes
You can use the MP4Box directly from the command line if you wish: the command syntax is really very simple, and you can actually do a lot more stuff using this tool. So do explore more about it over the Internet.
35 comments
tabrez (1491 days)
You are right. When I had first tried to play the file on my PC, sometimes it played with subtitles on and sometimes I had to select it from the “Subtitle” menu. Given the fact that media players on most handhelds don’t allow subtitle track to be selected from a menu, some other way to truly hardcode the subtitles in MP4 needs to be found. I am searching still.
yeah (1142 days)
no (1086 days)
Gustavo (1067 days)
An0n (877 days)
“Given the fact that media players on most handhelds don’t allow subtitle track to be selected from a menu, some other way to truly hardcode the subtitles in MP4 needs to be found”
This isn’t possible by adding the subs to an existing MP4/H.264 without re-encoding the original video stream.
It isn’t possible with *any* video file as far as I know. Hard-coding required the video to be recoded with the subs as part of the frame.
Juanhelo (854 days)
ivangeta (582 days)
theo (577 days)
roh (525 days)
Guilherme (508 days)
warrior (506 days)
sak777 (493 days)
Sigh…. This guide works perfectly. You guys seem to be misunderstanding some things. This is HARDCODING a sub file. This adds the subtitles in a separate stream, hence why it must be chosen from the menu. This is useful for people using iPods or if you want to be able to turn the subs off.
If you want the subtitles to be burned right on the image, your looking for HARDSUBBING. Hardsubbing is permanent and can’t be removed from the video afterwards.
Just to finish the list, there is also SOFTSUBS, where the subs are in a completely separate file.
There are plenty of articles on hardsubbing. You can easily find instructions on this anywhere, though it obviously require re-encoding. This article is great and I’m happy I was finally able to find out how to hardcode subs.
Thanks for this article!!!
Natalie (440 days)
Andrew (413 days)
SID (359 days)
brunomelodf (318 days)
Use Freemake Video Converter. All in one. You can find on http://www.freemake.com.
Ray Phan (313 days)
Try using AVIAddXSubs – http://www.calcitapp.com/AVIAddXSubs.php
I’ve been using this to add soft subtitles to play movies on my PS3 for years. It works with .AVI, .MKV, and .MP4.
Works great!
Madhur (283 days)
It worked perfectly with the method outlined above. Thanks a lot for all the info and help. :)
I really appreciate it.
All i had to do after this process was complete …was download KM Player….it works perfectly in the KM Player with subtitles.
And I did it with the Yamb version without installer…so it works !!
bharath (189 days)
John (187 days)
This is not hardcoding a sub in to mp4 but only merging. When i play this on a ps3 the sub isnt showing because its not hardcoded!!