Unless you are a master in all languages, it’s almost impossible to watch a movie without subtitle. Sometimes, we still need a subtitle even if we understand the language of the movie we are watching.
Be grateful if you are a Linux user. There are several existing tools that you can use to download movie subtitles without having to waste your time jumping from one site to another for just a subtitle.
Just prepare your movie and have a good sit. The list below will help you finding the subtitle you want.
1. VLSub
If you are a VLC user, you don’t need to install this tool anymore as it is already exist in your application. You may didn’t know that there’s is a default VLC extension that you can use to download movie subtitles. You can see this extension from the View manu of VLC. This tool uses OpenSubtitles.org to retrieve subtitles. If you have any problem using this tool, I have just written the tutorial yesterday.
2. SubDownloader
Unlike VLSub, this tool is a standalone tool so you have to install it first before using. You can get the binary file of SubDownloader here. This tool also uses OpenSubtitles.org to retrieve the stuff you want. There are more than 50 languages supported by SubDownloader. So, it’s a big chance to get the movie subtitle for you local language.
3. Subliminal
As always, there is also a command line based tool that you can use if you want to looks geeky. Unlike the two mentioned above, Subliminal uses multiple sources to retrieve subtitles so the chance you will get your desired subtitle is bigger, especially for unpopular movies.
Subliminal isn’t available by default in most Linux distros so you have to install it by your self. If you are a Ubuntu user (or other Debian based distros), you can install the tool by typing the following command.
sudo apt-get install subliminal
Run Subliminal from the directory where your movie is located and type the following command.
subliminal -l en oneday.mp4
Replace “oneday” with the title of your movie and “en” with your desired language. If everything is okay, your subtitle will be downloaded in the current directory. If you need some help, just hit “subliminal — help”.