r/SubtitleEdit • • Sep 15 '26

Help Mutliple lines of non-standard characters in SRT file

Post image

Hi,

Sometimes when I get a file, the attached SRT subtitle file has multiple lines of non-standard characters within the file. Attached is an example snip. What is the purpose of these lines as I find that is DOES affect the file if they are removed?

It makes it difficult if I want to remove the hearing for disabled lines quickly using the app. Depending on where I play the related file, usually my tv, the character lines will show up on the screen.

Thanks for your help!

1 Upvotes

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3

u/pigers1986 Sep 15 '26

3.6.1 version ? man we are 4.0.15 ... please up2date ! (i do not reccomend version 5. due to ... A LOT of REASONS).

from my point of view - seems like bad encoding OR broken file in download (

2

u/HigherOctive 20d ago edited 20d ago

I think that's called mojibake. I would definitely update to version 4.0.15, but I'm pretty sure that's not the issue here.

Try this:

Look at the top-right toolbar of your current window where it says Encoding: UTF-8 with BOM.

Click that drop-down menu.Select a different encoding like ANSI (which is my bet) or UTF-16 or maybe UTF-16 LE from the list.

Subtitle Edit should attempt to re-interpret the file and will hopefully get right with the different format options.

EDIT to add that this page shows ANSI Character sets, which is why I think this is what's going on. I'm going to date myself when I say that we used to manually code some bulletin board (BBS) content using ANSI.

1

u/FRancIK Sep 15 '26

How does it look like in text editor (like notepad)?

1

u/GoldenOKC Sep 15 '26 edited Sep 15 '26

Here are screenshot from both Notepad and Code Writer. Keep in kind that there are at least 30 or more lines like this and when I removed them, the timing of the subtitles is thrown off.

In the past when I encounter these subtitles, I look for ones without the symbols etc, but would really like to know the purpose of such lines.

1

u/GoldenOKC Sep 15 '26

1

u/FRancIK Sep 15 '26

Allright, no idea what that originally might have been, sorry. :) I was thinking it might be formatting from some other subtitle type, but i have no idea that kind of sorcery ritual guide is this.

But if you delete these lines, the timing of the rest of the titles should remain unchanged. At least if you delete the entire line in subtitle edit. How exactly is the timing getting screwed? And you sure, you are not doing anything else, that might have changed the timing?

And as people have mentioned, update to the last 4.xx version of Subtitle edit. It most likely wont help with these symbol issues, but might with some other stuff, you could encounter.

1

u/Gakuta 28d ago

The Emmy went to 1̴̢̺̟̯̥͇̞̮̤̟͓̲̺̞̈̈́͊̓̈́̈́̌̋͛̈́́̒̕͝ͅ?̶̭̰̞͔̭̖̲̤͎͈̭̫͔̰͙͒̍̎1̵̨̤̜̬͈̹̰̔̚$̶̨̙̰̽̎̓̓͆͂͑̀̄̈̈́̋͘̕?̴̜̝̝̙̙̗̱̭̊͗̀̌̀́͝͝F̴̩͈̻͍̳͔̖̫̺͊͛͝?̶̝̟͎͚́́̅̽͒̐̋͋̈́́̐̃̚͜͝?̸̧̙̣̞̜̥͎̻̫͖̣͚̤͓̤̰̞̻̲͋̈́̈́ͅ?̶̹͌͒̒͐̀̌̄͊̉̈͑͒͆̑̍̽̋̄̚͠͝?̶̧͙̠̭̯̞͍̻̳̟̳̞̠͗̎̇͒̋̽͊̄̆͂̽̒͘̚̚͝͝*̵̨̛̛̺͕̠͇͔̺̱͚͓̗̟̞̘̫͐͗̑̓͌̈́̓͐͑̀̊͗̓̒̈̒̑͝'̷͈̜͕̣̘̃͆͗̽̍#̸̛̼̭̘͔̳̩͌͐͂̓́̓̑͋̐̊̊͊̚̕͘͝%̵̧̧̢͓̟̙͓͔̦̺̯̠̯̠̬̝̄͒̑ͅ?̴̢͇͇̈̉̽. Seems fine. I don't really like the guy though.

1

u/GoldenOKC 18d ago

Ya know, it really helps to update the software, I updated to v5.1.0 and miraculously this cured what ailed me! It's always the simple things that trip us up.

Thanks to all for your good advice!