Thread: Remove subtitles from MKV files

I've been downloading a lot of movies lately, and I've been frustrated that many of the MKV files have subtitles embedded in them. So, I've done some searching on forums and Google to find out how to completely remove them. The best help that I was able to find was on www.videohelp.com. They have lots of guides and tutorials.



Using their recommended tools, I've developed a quick summary and tutorial for removing subtitles from MKV files. I've put links to screenshots that I made in case my instructions are confusing. It's a very easy process.

I'll use the movie Seven Pounds in my example.

Step 1: Get the tools that you need. A set of freeware tools named "mkvtoolnix" for modifying MKV files has everything that you need. There are several tools included in the download, but you only need one of them. Once you have downloaded the archive, simply unzip the complete toolkit in your selected location. The archive is available here:

http://www.dvd-guides.com/files/mkvt...guides.com.zip

Step 2: Go to the folder where you have unzipped the toolkit and run the file called "mmg.exe".

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8546/step2r.jpg

Step 3: Click the "add" button to browse for the MKV file that you are going to edit.

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7378/step3dd.jpg

Step 4: Uncheck the boxes for all tracks that are defined to be subtitles. In my example there is only 1 track, but many movies have several subtitle tracks that need to be unchecked. You will usually have 2 track boxes that remain (one for the video and one for the audio).

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/9532/step4c.jpg

Step 5: Designate an output file name and location. You can choose to use the same name as the original and overwrite the file, or you can choose an entirely new name.

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4637/step5h.jpg

Step 6: Click the "start muxing" button.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4772/step6q.jpg

Step 7: Watch the progress and wait. Speeds will vary greatly depending on the processing ability of your PC. My PC is about 4 years old, and it usually takes about 10 minutes to run this process. Not too long at all.

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/650/step7ar.jpg

Step 8: Convert and burn the movie. Get an adult beverage of your choosing, grab your honey, and enjoy the movie without the subtitles.

As I mentioned, there are other editing tools in the mkvtoolnix kit. You can use it to create and add subtitles if you want. I haven't tried any of that stuff.

If you have any questions about my instructions, just PM me.

Open an MKV file in VLC.
Right click > Video > Subtitles track > Disable.
I can't see the use for this, other than maybe cut down the file size by a couple megs?
Thanks for taking the time though.

Thanks, konVILEuted. That will work for viewing on VLC. I edited out the reference to VLC.

If you want to convert and burn it to a DVD, don't you still have to remove the subtitles from the encoding?

Im sure that most burning programs have the option to include/exclude subtitles when burning. Sometimes a movie could have multipul languages in subs, and you might only want english ones when burning, for example.

It will be usefull for me watching the movies on my NMT, I can now add an srt beside.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I have a question.

Is there a way to get rid of the subtitles if they don't appear as a stream in MKVextract?

I am guessing there is nothing I can do, but one can hope. I grabbed a 1080p rip and there are aisian subs that appear to be hard-coded into the video stream. I demuxed the file and there was no subtitle stream.

Anyway, I am assuming they are on there for good, but if anyone has a tip, that would be awesome.

Thanks!

First determine if they're hardcoded subs or not. If they're not, just delete the subtitles that came with the torrent (sometimes in a subtitle directory). Players like VLC allow you to disable subtitles as well (see second post in this thread for how to do that).

thanks.. can we use it also for disabling one audio if it has two.

use mkvtoolnix with version lower than 3.0.more consistent.