docs/third-party-components.md
Subtitle Edit uses several third-party tools for features like video playback, audio extraction, and OCR. While Subtitle Edit includes built-in downloaders for these components, you might want to use a specific version or a custom build.
⚠️ Warning Subtitle Edit is tested with specific versions of these components. Using other versions is not officially supported and may cause instability.
Subtitle Edit stores these components in its Data Folder.
SubtitleEdit.exe (Windows) or the executable.%APPDATA%\Subtitle Edit
Win+R, type %APPDATA%\Subtitle Edit, and hit Enter)~/.config/Subtitle Edit (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Subtitle Edit).~/Library/Application Support/Subtitle Edit.Tip: You can open the Data Folder directly from Subtitle Edit by pressing
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D(Windows/Linux) orCmd+Alt+Shift+D(macOS).
| Component | File(s) | Destination Path |
|---|---|---|
| FFmpeg | ffmpeg.exe, ffprobe.exe (optional) | [Data Folder]/ffmpeg |
| MPV | libmpv-2.dll | [Data Folder] (root) |
| yt-dlp | yt-dlp.exe | [Data Folder] (root) |
| Tesseract | tesseract.exe, tessdata/ folder | [Data Folder]/Tesseract550 |
| Whisper CPP | whisper-cli.exe, Models/ folder | [Data Folder]/Whisper/Cpp |
| Purfview Faster-Whisper XXL | faster-whisper-xxl.exe, _models/ folder | [Data Folder]/Whisper/Purfview-Faster-Whisper-XXL |
Used for reading media info, extracting audio, and generating waveforms.
gyan.dev or BtbN. Use "release-essentials" or "release-full".[Data Folder]/ffmpegffmpeg.exe from the download (usually found in a bin subfolder).ffmpeg.exe directly in [Data Folder]/ffmpeg — do not include the bin subfolder itself.ffprobe.exe can also be placed in the same folder.Settings.json (located in the Data Folder):"FfmpegPath": "C:\\path\\to\\your\\ffmpeg.exe"
\\) for Windows paths in JSON.Used as a video player engine.
mpv-dev-... (e.g., mpv-dev-x86_64-20260226-git-d54bad5.7z).mpv-dev-x86_64-v3-...) may offer better performance but require a newer CPU with AVX2 support. Use the standard builds (without "v3") for broader compatibility.[Data Folder] (The root data folder)libmpv-2.dll to the root of the Data Folder.Used to enable mpv to stream online videos (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, and many other sites) via Video > Open from URL.
[Data Folder] (The root data folder)yt-dlp.exe and place it directly in the root of the Data Folder.Tip: Subtitle Edit can download yt-dlp automatically. When you use Video > Open from URL for the first time, you will be prompted to download it.
Used for converting image-based subtitles (Sup/VobSub) to text.
[Data Folder]/Tesseract550tesseract.exe and tessdata folder) should be placed here.Used for AI-based speech recognition.
[Data Folder]/Whisper/Cppwhisper-cli.exe..bin files) go into a Models subfolder: [Data Folder]/Whisper/Cpp/Models.Note: It is generally recommended to use the internal downloader for Whisper due to the complexity of model and library dependencies.
Used for GPU-accelerated AI-based speech recognition.
[Data Folder]/Whisper/Purfview-Faster-Whisper-XXLfaster-whisper-xxl.exe is in the folder root.faster-whisper-medium) inside the _models folder.Used for reading media info, extracting audio, and generating waveforms.
sudo apt install ffmpeg) or download static builds from ffmpeg.org.ffmpeg in system paths (e.g., /usr/bin/ffmpeg).ffmpeg binary in [Data Folder]/ffmpeg.Settings.json (located in the Data Folder):
"FfmpegPath": "/path/to/your/ffmpeg"
Used as a video player engine.
libmpv (e.g., sudo apt install libmpv2 or libmpv-dev).libmpv.so.2 or libmpv.so in standard library paths (/usr/lib, /usr/local/lib, etc.).Used to enable mpv to stream online videos via Video > Open from URL.
[Data Folder] (The root data folder)yt-dlp_linux and place it directly in the root of the Data Folder.chmod +x yt-dlp_linuxTip: Subtitle Edit can download yt-dlp automatically when you use Video > Open from URL for the first time.
Used for converting image-based subtitles (Sup/VobSub) to text.
sudo apt install tesseract-ocr).tessdata) is also installed (often separate packages).Used for AI-based speech recognition.
[Data Folder]/Whisper/Cppwhisper-cli..bin files) go into a Models subfolder: [Data Folder]/Whisper/Cpp/Models.Used for GPU-accelerated AI-based speech recognition.
[Data Folder]/Whisper/Purfview-Faster-Whisper-XXLfaster-whisper-xxl binary is present.faster-whisper-medium) inside the _models folder.Used for reading media info, extracting audio, and generating waveforms.
brew install ffmpeg) or download static builds from ffmpeg.org.ffmpeg in system paths (e.g., /opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg).ffmpeg binary in [Data Folder]/ffmpeg.Settings.json (located in the Data Folder):
"FfmpegPath": "/path/to/your/ffmpeg"
Used as a video player engine.
brew install mpv).libmpv.dylib or libmpv.2.dylib in standard library paths (/opt/homebrew/lib, /usr/local/lib, etc.).Used to enable mpv to stream online videos via Video > Open from URL.
[Data Folder] (The root data folder)yt-dlp_macos and place it directly in the root of the Data Folder.chmod +x yt-dlp_macosTip: Subtitle Edit can download yt-dlp automatically when you use Video > Open from URL for the first time.
Used for converting image-based subtitles (Sup/VobSub) to text.
brew install tesseract).tessdata) is also installed.Used for AI-based speech recognition.
[Data Folder]/Whisper/Cppwhisper-cli..bin files) go into a Models subfolder: [Data Folder]/Whisper/Cpp/Models.