I haven’t written for some time now after a few complicated months that have left me with little time. During these months, some festivals have requested digital copies with embedded subtitles, even for DVDs, but at the office we only distribute copies with separate language tracks, except for those videos we upload to the internet. For this reason, I had been wanting to publish this post for a while, since subtitles are rarely discussed, and although I already talked about them in a previous post, this is about going a bit deeper and reviewing the evolution of digital formats.
To begin with, it must be clear that a format that requires embedding subtitles does not have support for them. Formats with subtitle support allow you to select multiple languages and disable them to view the clean video. The evolution of digital formats aims to support multiple subtitle tracks. Let’s see:
The transition from VHS to DVD (from tape to disc)
VHS led to the development of “home video”; the video and sound quality was poor and, of course, it had no subtitle support, which required embedding them in the image. This meant that only the dubbed version could be viewed. With the arrival of DVD, in addition to improving image and sound quality (multiple audio tracks could now be included, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1), it offered the possibility of including multiple language tracks, which helped develop the original version; thanks to the advancement that DVD represented, we can have a single video and easily select subtitles and audio. Furthermore, we can have the original video quality, since it is not necessary to re-encode the video to embed them. The DVD emerged as a standard in 1995, it has now been 18 years, and despite its development, many festivals continue to request DVD copies with embedded subtitles.
Tape-based formats, such as HDCAM or Betacam, also lack subtitle support, which continues to require embedding them and demonstrates that they are becoming obsolete compared to new digital file formats.
From .AVI and .MOV (and others) to .MKV (digital files)
The best-known digital containers such as AVI (from Microsoft) and MOV (from Apple) have enabled the development of digital files linked to the DivX (AVI) and h264 (MOV) codecs, but they have the same subtitle limitation as VHS—they do not allow multiple subtitle tracks in a single file. This limitation is solved by MKV, which is free, open-source, and represents an evolution compared to other containers. In MKV we can have a video with unlimited subtitle tracks and it is the current standard for HD content. Other codecs such as Apple ProRes also lack subtitle support, since it is packaged in MOV, and it is not possible to add subtitle tracks, requiring them to be embedded.
From 35mm to DCP (digital cinema)
In the case of professional cinema formats, the evolution has been similar. The traditional 35mm cinema format lacks subtitle support, so 35mm prints need to have them embedded, forcing producers and distributors to have one copy for each language, which increases the cost of trafficking and storing these prints. The shift to digital cinema represents a true revolution in subtitle management, similar to the change from VHS to DVD. DCP has subtitle support, so it is possible to add different tracks to the same copy without having to embed them, facilitating all distribution and exhibition processes; the same copy can be sent to different international festivals, as well as to the country of origin.
Formats for the internet.
Despite having several formats with subtitle support, the arrival of streaming viewing over the internet has represented a step backward in this regard. If short film distribution has benefited from the advantages of DVD, the arrival of online viewing platforms has once again forced the embedding of subtitles, and therefore, being obliged to have multiple copies, one for each language. In this sense, we have returned to the VHS era.
In any case, as we are seeing, the evolution is clearly going in one direction, and there are already platforms like YouTube that allow adding multiple subtitle tracks to a video published on the web and other projects like Universal Subtitles. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before the evolution of other platforms incorporates subtitle tracks (such as Vimeo, and other festival-specific ones, like Withoutabox, Reelport, Shortfilmdepot—which already offers the possibility of uploading SRT tracks—Movibeta, Uptofest, etc.)
Evolution of video players.
In the same way that formats allow adding subtitle tracks, players have evolved toward the ability to read subtitle files at the same time as the video they are playing. This has been possible thanks to the development of formats such as SRT or .ASS/.SSA (widely used in manga). The best example is VLC, which can detect the video and subtitles if both files have the same name.
The same applies to HD players and multimedia hard drives that can be found in any electronics store; they all have support for reading .SRT and .ASS files at the same time as videos (see this previous post). This allows us to overcome the limitation of some digital containers, such as .AVI or .MOV, and certainly allows us not to have to resort to embedding subtitles, avoiding an absurd step backward in the evolution of digital formats.
In short, embedding subtitles for festival screenings no longer makes any sense: it takes us back to the VHS and Betacam era and complicates an extremely simple process, such as renaming two files (SRT + video) with the same name, or using .MKV.