VLC subtitles showing weird characters? Two ways to fix it

VLC plays almost anything, but subtitles are where it most often stumbles: accents show up as é or Ä‘, letters turn into question marks or diamonds, or a whole line becomes boxes. The video is fine and so, usually, are the words; VLC is reading the subtitle file with the wrong text encoding.

There are two ways out. You can tell VLC which encoding to use, which works for that computer only. Or you can fix the file itself, which works in VLC, on your TV, in Plex and everywhere else.

Why VLC gets the letters wrong

A subtitle file doesn’t record which encoding it was saved in. When the file is valid UTF-8, VLC reads it as UTF-8 and all is well. When it isn’t, VLC falls back on its default subtitle encoding, which depends on your system language, and older subtitle files are often in another one: Windows-1252, Windows-1250, Windows-1251, Windows-1258 for Vietnamese, or the old TCVN3 and VNI fonts.

What you see points to the cause:

• é, Ä‘, ố: the file was converted twice before it reached you (read as Windows-1252, saved as UTF-8 again). VLC is reading it correctly; the damage is inside the file, so changing VLC’s settings won’t help.
• ? or �: the file is in an older encoding and VLC read it as UTF-8, or the default encoding lacks those letters.
• Wrong accents on the right letters (baòn for bạn, Dйjа for Déjà): VLC used the wrong regional code page.
• Chµo b¹n, Chaøo baïn: Vietnamese in the TCVN3 or VNI fonts. VLC has no setting for either, so only fixing the file helps. See How to fix garbled Vietnamese subtitles.
• Boxes □□ while a text editor shows the letters: the encoding is right but VLC’s subtitle font lacks those letters.

Way 1: set the subtitle encoding in VLC

1. Open Tools → Preferences and go to Subtitles / OSD. On a Mac, open VLC → Preferences (called Settings in recent versions) and go to Subtitles.
2. Under Default encoding, pick the encoding of your file, for example Western European (Windows-1252), Eastern European (Windows-1250), Cyrillic (Windows-1251) or Vietnamese (Windows-1258).
3. Save, then close and reopen the video. VLC reads the subtitle encoding when the file loads, so a video that is already playing keeps the old letters.

This is quick, but it has limits. The setting is a guess for every file: set it to Cyrillic and your Polish subtitles break. It doesn’t travel to your TV, phone or Plex. And it can’t fix a file that was converted twice, or the TCVN3 and VNI fonts, which VLC doesn’t list.

Way 2: fix the file once, as UTF-8

1. Open Fix Subtitle Encoding and drop in the subtitle file. It is read in your browser and never uploaded.
2. The tool tries every encoding it knows, including the Vietnamese TCVN3 and VNI fonts that VLC lacks, and picks the one that reads as real words. If two are close, it shows both so you can choose.
3. Lines that were converted twice (é inside the file) are repaired automatically; the preview shows each one.
4. Download the file. It keeps its name and format and is now UTF-8, which VLC reads correctly whatever its default encoding is set to. Put it next to the video in place of the old one.

Because UTF-8 is detected without a guess, the fixed file also plays correctly in MPV, MPC-HC, Plex, Kodi, smart TVs and video editors.

Boxes instead of letters: change the font

If the letters are right in a text editor and in the tool’s preview but VLC shows boxes, change VLC’s subtitle font:

1. Tools → Preferences → Subtitles / OSD (Subtitles on a Mac).
2. Under Font, pick a font that covers your language, such as Arial, Tahoma or Segoe UI on Windows, or Helvetica on a Mac. For Chinese, Japanese or Korean, pick a font made for that script, such as Microsoft YaHei, Yu Gothic or Malgun Gothic.
3. Save and reopen the video.

Other things that look like encoding problems

Codes such as {\an8}, <font color="#ffff00"> or [Music]. These are formatting tags or sound descriptions, not broken letters. VLC hides most tags, but some files have them in forms VLC prints. Remove Formatting from Subtitles strips them out.

The right letters at the wrong time. That is a timing problem, not an encoding one. Press G or H in VLC to find the delay, then fix the file with Shift Subtitle Timing. How to fix subtitles out of sync covers drifting subtitles too.

Nothing shows at all. Check that the subtitle has the same name as the video and sits in the same folder, or load it with Subtitle → Add Subtitle File. How to add a subtitle file to a video has the details for every player.