Plex subtitles showing weird characters? Here is the fix

You add a subtitle file to your Plex library, press play, and the text is full of symbols: é instead of é, Ä‘ instead of đ, question marks, diamonds with question marks or empty boxes. The same file may even look fine on one Plex app and broken on another.

Almost always, the subtitle file is not saved as UTF-8. Plex’s own guide to local subtitles recommends UTF-8, and it is the one encoding every Plex app, TV and browser agrees on. Fix the file once and the problem is gone everywhere.

Why Plex shows weird characters

A subtitle file is plain text, and plain text doesn’t say which encoding (the table that turns letters into bytes) it was written with. Older subtitle files were usually saved in a regional code page: Windows-1252 for Western European languages, Windows-1250 for Central European ones, Windows-1251 for Cyrillic, Windows-1258 or the old TCVN3 and VNI fonts for Vietnamese, and so on.

Plex has to guess. When the guess is wrong, every accented letter turns into something else. What you see tells you which way it went:

• é, è, Ä‘, ố: the file is UTF-8 but was read as Windows-1252, or the file was converted twice before it reached you and the garbage is now inside it.
• ? or � in place of letters: the file is in an old code page and was read as UTF-8.
• Cyrillic or Greek letters inside French or Polish words (“Dйjа”): the wrong regional code page was picked.
• Chµo b¹n or Chaøo baïn in Vietnamese subtitles: the old TCVN3 or VNI fonts, which no player reads today. How to fix garbled Vietnamese subtitles explains these in detail.
• Empty boxes □□ while the file looks right in a text editor: the encoding is fine, but the font the Plex app uses has no shapes for those letters.

Different Plex apps can guess differently, which is why the same file may look right in Plex Web and wrong on a smart TV.

Fix it: convert the subtitle file to UTF-8

1. Find the subtitle file in your media folder, next to the video. Plex reads files named like the video, such as Movie (2024).en.srt.
2. Open Fix Subtitle Encoding and drop the file in. It works out which encoding the file was written in and shows the decoded text, with accented letters highlighted. If two readings are close, it shows both so you can pick the one that reads right.
3. If the file was converted twice (the é kind of damage inside the file), leave Repair damaged letters switched on; it turns those words back.
4. Download the fixed file. It keeps its name and format, now in UTF-8. Replace the old file in your media folder with it.
5. In Plex, open the movie or episode, choose ⋯ → Refresh Metadata, then start playback again and select the subtitle track.

The file is read and fixed in your browser; nothing is uploaded, which matters when your library is private.

If you still see problems

Still the old characters after replacing the file. Plex may still be showing a copy it read earlier. Check that the old file is really gone (not left with a slightly different name, such as Movie.eng.srt next to Movie.en.srt), refresh the metadata again, and make sure the right track is selected; Plex lists every subtitle it finds.

Empty boxes. If the text looks right in a text editor and in the preview of the tool, the file is fine. The Plex app’s subtitle font lacks those letters. Try the same file in Plex Web, which uses your browser’s fonts; if it shows correctly there, the TV or device app is the limit. Some Plex apps have a setting to burn subtitles into the picture on the server, which draws them with the server’s fonts instead.

Odd codes such as {\an8} or <font color="#ffffff">. Some Plex apps print formatting tags as text. Remove Formatting from Subtitles strips them out and can keep italics.

The video starts converting when you turn subtitles on. Styled ASS or SSA subtitles often make Plex convert the video and burn the subtitles in, which costs server power and can bring encoding problems back through the server’s font. ASS to SRT gives you a plain subtitle every Plex app can show by itself.

Subtitles downloaded by Plex itself. Subtitles that Plex fetches from online sources come in whatever encoding their uploader used. If one of those shows symbols, download a file you can fix and place it next to the video, so you control what Plex shows.

Keep it from happening again

• Save every new subtitle file as UTF-8. In Notepad and most editors, choose UTF-8 in the Save As dialog.
• When you get subtitles from a site, run them through the tool before adding them to the library. It takes a few seconds and tells you if the file is already fine.
• Use the same naming everywhere: Movie (2024).mkv with Movie (2024).en.srt, or .forced.srt for subtitles that only translate signs.

The same fix works for Jellyfin, Emby and Kodi, which read external subtitles the same way. For subtitles that don’t show up at all on a TV, see Why subtitles don’t show on a TV.