Can't change video subtitles codec using ffmpeg

Question

I\'ve got a mkv file with somes streams embedded:

Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m/smpte170m/bt709), 720x300, SAR 1:1 DAR 12:5, 25 fps,         


        

Answer 1

Your subtitles are image-based and need to be converted to a text-based format like SRT. Use Subtitle Edit or similar tool to import the subs from MKV. This will do OCR processing of the subs. Once done, save as SRT or any common text-based subtitle format.

Then run your ffmpeg command with scodec of your choice.

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Alternatively, if you want to burn in the subtitles, you can try one of these methods

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -vf subtitles=input.mkv -acodec copy -sn converted.mkv

or

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter_complex "[0:v:0][0:2]overlay" -acodec copy -sn converted.mkv