SubStation Alpha
Filename extension
Developed by	Kotus

Ffmpeg Extract Pgs Subtitles
Ffmpeg Extract Vobsub
Ffmpeg Extract Srt

Example for a separate subtitle input file (your-subtitles-file.srt): ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filtercomplex 'subtitles=your-subtitles-file.srt' -c:a copy output.mp4 Image based subtitle format inputs. Use the overlay filter. This example will overlay the fourth subtitle stream over the second video stream, and stream copy the seventh audio stream. Finally giving up on ffmpeg, I asked the search engine if any other tools were able to extract image-based subtitles as rendered images/pictures from the video. Some claimed mencoder could do that and I actually found example commands, but none worked for me and all examples centered around DVD and VobSub format type of work, like writing.idx.

SubStation Alpha (or Sub Station Alpha), abbreviated SSA, is a subtitlefile format created by CS Low (also known as Kotus) that allows for more advanced subtitles than the conventional SRT and similar formats. It is also the name of the popular, now discontinued tool used to edit subtitles.

This subtitle format is frequently used in anime fansubs, either to overlay subtitles onto video while it is being encoded (hardsubbing), or to store subtitle data alongside video data, often in a Matroska (MKV) container (softsubbing). It's not commonly used professionally except for Crunchyroll.

Dec 10, 2017 Render.ASS subtitles in a video ffmpeg -i INPUT.avi -vf ass=SUBTITLES.ass -qmin 1 -qmax 3 OUTPUT-WITH-SUBS.avi Output to a PAL DVD with top and bottom black bars padding and subtitles. This is adjusted for a 720:304 video. Ffmpeg -i INPUT.avi -target pal-dvd -vf 'scale=720:304, pad=720:576:0:136, ass=subtitles.ass' -y OUTPUT-WITH-SUBS.mpg.
Keep in mind that.srt subtitles are much more common then.ass subtitles, and both use the libass library. Thanx 'LoneWolf', i already tried srt subtitle but the same thing, it not working. Last edited by madaramost (2017-08-08 15:47:39).

The current version of SSA is v4.08. There are many freeware and open source subtitling applications that support the SSA format.

The way to do it is to extract the ass subtitles first: ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:s copy subtitle.ass and then to 'burn' them into the video, as explained HERE: ffmpeg -i video.avi -vf 'ass=subtitle.ass' out.avi.

Principal sections in an SSA subtitle[edit]

A basic SSA subtitle:

Advanced SubStation Alpha[edit]

Advanced SubStation Alpha (ASS) is a script for more advanced subtitles than SSA. It is technically SSA v4+. It is able to produce anything from simple texts to manual graphic editing used in karaoke. There are few programs designed to create these scripts.The main feature of ASS is it has more specifications than normal SSA, like in styles programming.For example, the above script changed into ASS:

Software support[edit]

Authoring software[edit]

Title	Platform	License	Notes
Aegisub	Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X	Free and open-source	The official subtitle editor, focused mostly on typesetting.
Gaupol	Linux and Windows	Free and open-source	Has partial support for Sub Station Alpha and Advanced Sub Station Alpha subtitles.^[1]
Jubler	Java	Free and open-source	^{[citation needed]}
Miyu	Mac OS X	Freeware	^[2]
Sabbu	Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and BSD	Free and open-source	Focused mostly on timing. No longer developed.^{[citation needed]}
Sub Station Alpha	Windows	Freeware	Outdated and no longer developed.
Subtitle Composer	Linux	Free and open-source	Supports SSA/ASSA formats, text style and colors, unsupported SSA styles are ignored.^[3]
Subtitle Edit	Linux and Windows	Free and open-source
Subtitle Processor	Windows	Free and open-source	Unicode is supported from version 7.7, UTF-8 is preferred, other encodings are internally converted to UTF-8.^[4]
Subtitle Workshop	Windows	Freeware	It is not advised because it is not a fully dedicated SSA/ASS editor, because it doesn't follow the strict rules about SSA subtitles, and it erases any style put in with another program.^[5]
subtitleeditor	GNU/Linux	Free and open-source	^[6]
VisualSubSync	Microsoft Windows	Free and open-source	^[7]
Надписвачът	Windows	Freeware	Fully SSA oriented. Supports ANSI and Unicode subtitles.^[8]
Kainote	Windows	Free and open-source	subtitle editor

Subtitle encoding software[edit]

Software tools to encode subtitle files into video containers (mkv, mp4, mov, ...):

Title	Platform	License	Notes
FFmpeg	Windows, Linux, Mac OS	Free and open-source	FFmpeg can also encode and convert subtitles in video containers including 'Subtitles Character Encoding Conversion' for plaintext files and special characters^[9]
iSubtitle	MacOS	Freeware	Encoding of soft subtitled movies for Apple gears^[10]
HandBrake	Windows, Linux, Mac OS	Free and open-source	HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform video transcoder^[11]
MKVToolNix	Windows, Linux, Mac OS, BSD, OpenIndiana	Free and open-source	MKVToolNix is a collection of tools for the Matroska media container format. See also MKVMerge, a part of MKVToolNix, which is often used to attach/merge subtitle and/or audio files to a video file.
XMedia Recode	Windows	Freeware	XMedia Recode is a free All-In-One video converter and audio converter tool^[12]
Subbler	Mac OS	Free and open-source	Subler is an open-source GPL-licensed for the MP4 media container format. It is used to attach/merge subtitle and/or audio files to a video file.

Players and renderers[edit]

Title	Description
Avidemux	Open-source video editing and processing software product
DirectVobSub	a DirectShow codec for displaying SSA subtitles in Windows Media Player or other Directshow player (there is also a fork of it called xy-VSFilter).
DivX	The proprietary DivX Plus software supports this subtitle format^[13]
GStreamer	Open-source multimedia framework that supports SSA subtitles through its plugin architecture
HandBrake	Open-source video transcoder (video converter) that can process SSA subtitles (either soft-subbing or hard-subbing them, depending on the user's preference)
KooRaRoo Media	A media server and organizer for Windows. Supports rendering external subtitles as SSA on devices that don't support external or embedded subtitles.
libass	Open-source library used by Aegisub, Avidemux, GStreamer, HandBrake, MPlayer, Totem, VLC media player, XBMC, and many other open-source programs to render/process SSA subtitles
Media Player Classic Home Cinema^[14]	Open-source self-contained media player for Windows
MPlayer	Open-source media player that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, *BSD, Solaris, BeOS, Syllable, AmigaOS and MorphOS
mpv	Open-source media player that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and *BSD; originally forked from MPlayer.
PS3 Media Server	Media server that works with PlayStation 3 systems (has some bugs with some effects)
Totem	GNOME's default media player that can render SSA subtitles via GStre

Ffmpeg Extract Ass Subtitle