How To Embed Subtitles To A Movie Using AVI Recomp Software

With the plethora of devices which play video files nowadays, it is quote common that some users who need subtitles to show with their video will have problem embedding them.

Actually, not all devices such as DVD Players, smartphones can play subtitles along with video, and this is a serious problem for those who do not have a good knowledge of the language used in the video, or those who are deaf and need the subtitle. What is typically done with subtitles (which come in a text file form, usually .srt or .sub files) is they need to be named with the exact name of the video they "belong to", then placed in the same folder with the video. When the video is played, typically the subtitle will play too - this method is called soft-subbing.

There are times, however, when soft-subbed text does not show and that is when hard-subbing is needed. When you hard-sub a subtitle into a movie, you effectively recompress the video files and add the subtitle information in it. This will take longer to be done because the file will be compressed once again to include the new visual information.

Here I will show how you can hard-sub a subtitle into your AVI video using a freeware program called AVI Recomp.

Downloading and installing the software is easy and will be done fast. It will identify your installed versions of Xvid and AVIsynth, and might suggest downloading recent ones, proceed with it if asked to.

The main window of the program includes some general version information at the bottom, along with the settings. You will begin at Source & Output tab; here you will need to browse to your video file by clicking at Open AVI. Below it, select a name for the file which will be created at Save AVI area. Generally, you do not have to set a size for the new file, unless you want to make the video smaller; this will decrease its quality, however.

At Additions tab is where the fun begins; here you will be able to effectively change parts of the video you have loaded. For example you can crop the video or resize it, adjust the borders, edit or remove the audio and add subtitles on it.

To add your subtitles, make sure you have checked the Enable/Disable box at Subtitles area, then browse to your file by clicking at Load Subtitle. When you have added the subtitle in the relative source path, Settings option will become active and you can change its style; the size, the color, etc.

In Settings tab you can opt to change the process priority of the compression and some other parameters for advanced user; you probably need to keep at default those you do not understand here. Check Use Turbo Mode however; this will make the process quite faster.

When all adjustments have been made, you will add the project in Queue by selecting Add To Queue in Queue tab. It will be shown in the box below. Next to the box you can set if you want to have your system auto-power off when the conversion has been completed.

If you are ready to go, click at Start to begin the re-compression. The process is not exactly fast; it is relevant to the speed of your CPU, the size of the movie and its quality and complexity (an action movie typically is more complex than dramatic ones).

When the conversion is done, you will find one file at the path you set in the first step; check it to make sure the subtitle is embedded and is synchronized well.