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Roku subtitles not showing: how to fix your subtitle file

Diperbarui 24 Oktober 2026

Roku players and Roku TVs play your own videos from a USB stick or a home media server with the Roku Media Player channel. It reads external subtitle files, but under stricter rules than most TVs: only two formats, and a fixed naming pattern. Break either rule and the subtitles silently don’t appear.

This guide is about your own files. In Netflix, YouTube and other streaming channels the subtitles come from the channel, and you turn them on in its player or with the steps in section 4.

1. Use SRT or VTT, nothing else

Roku’s support page says Roku Media Player automatically includes subtitle tracks from .srt and .vtt files. That is the whole list. Unlike Samsung and LG TVs, a Roku does not read external ASS, SSA, SUB, SMI or SBV files, so convert them first:

VTT works as it is, so there’s no need to convert a .vtt file for a Roku.

Subtitles inside a video file are read only from .mkv files. An .mp4 with built-in subtitles plays without them on Roku Media Player; save the subtitles as a separate .srt next to it instead.

2. Follow Roku’s naming rule exactly

The subtitle file must be in the same folder as the video and have the same name, with .srt or .vtt at the end:

My Video.mp4
My Video.srt

To add more than one language, Roku asks for a language extension between the name and .srt, such as movie.eng.srt and movie.ger.srt. Its own examples use three-letter codes, so if movie.en.srt isn’t picked up, rename it to movie.eng.srt.

On Windows, turn on View → Show → File name extensions before renaming, so that My Video.srt doesn’t end up as My Video.srt.txt.

3. Choose the subtitle track with the Star button

Roku Media Player doesn’t always show subtitles by itself. While the video plays, press the Star (✱) button on the remote and choose the subtitle track. Roku notes that on a Roku TV you also need to look under Accessibility in that menu.

4. Check the caption setting on the Roku

Roku has a system-wide setting for captions. From the Home screen go to Settings → Accessibility → Captions (on some models just Settings → Captions) and check Captions mode. Some channels follow this setting; others ignore it and use their own subtitle menu, which you open with the Star button during playback.

Settings like captions can also be saved per profile, so if they keep switching back, make sure you’re on the same profile each time.

5. Plex, Jellyfin and other media servers

If you play through the Plex or Jellyfin channel instead of Roku Media Player, those apps handle subtitles themselves: they find the subtitle on the server and either send it to the Roku as text or burn it into the picture. Turn subtitles on in the app’s own player, and give the file a name the server recognises, usually the video’s name with a language code (movie.en.srt).

When subtitles work in Roku Media Player from USB but not through a DLNA server, the server is the issue, not the file. Test with a USB stick first.

6. Broken letters or empty lines

If the text shows é, đ, question marks or boxes instead of accented letters, the subtitle was saved in an old regional encoding. Fix Subtitle Encoding detects which one, shows the repaired text, and saves the file as UTF-8, which every current player reads. Do this before converting the file to another format.

If tags such as <font color="#ffff00"> or {\an8} appear on screen, Remove Formatting from Subtitles strips them out.

7. The subtitles are early or late

When the lines show but don’t match the voices, the file was made for a different release of the video. Fix the file once and it plays in sync on the Roku and everywhere else:

  • Subtitle Player: play the video with the subtitle in your browser, nudge it earlier or later until it matches, and download the synced file.
  • Change Subtitle Frame Rate: when the first lines match but the gap grows as the film goes on.

How to fix subtitles out of sync explains how to tell the two problems apart.

Quick checklist

  • The subtitle is .srt or .vtt.
  • It is in the same folder as the video.
  • Its name matches the video’s, or the video’s plus a three-letter language code.
  • You picked it with the Star button during playback.
  • The text is saved as UTF-8.

Using a TV’s own player instead? See Subtitles not showing on Samsung TV, Subtitles not showing on LG TV and the general guide Subtitles not showing on TV.

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