Merge SRT with MP4 Files (Free & Offline): Easy Handbrake Tutorial

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  • Post last modified:April 11, 2023
  • Reading time:10 mins read

Merging an SRT file with an MP4 file comes in handy when you have a video player that can read video files but not subtitle files.

This tutorial was requested by one of my YouTube subscribers cause his TV couldn’t read the SRT file he had for the movie he was watching.

So, after showing him how, today, I will also be showing you guys how to merge an SRT file with an MP4 or any video file for free using Handbrake.

If you don’t know what Handbrake is, don’t worry, a post that talks all about the video compressing and converting software will be linked.

It’s free and you don’t need an internet connection to use it.

Below are the steps you should take in order to merge SRT and MP4 files.

Step 1: Organize the SRT File and Video File in the Same Folder

This is a necessary step you have to take to enable the Handbrake software to easily find the files you want to merge.

All you have to do is create a new folder in any location on your computer (e.g. Desktop), then put the video and SRT files in it.

1 organize mp4 and srt file

The picture above is an example of one of my favorite movies and its SRT file in the same folder.

Step 2: Download Handbrake

I promise that this is the only part you’ll need an internet connection for. To download Handbrake, please go to https://handbrake.fr and click the download button.

2 download handbrake

At the time of this article, the Handbrake version for Windows is 1.3.3, it’s probably going to be different when you want to download it.

But don’t worry, the layout will still be the same. If it’s not, just let me know in the comments and I’ll update the post.

So, after downloading it (it’s free and currently around 15MB), install it and open it. You should see it similar to the image below.

3 launch handbrake

Step 3: Import MP4 File into Handbrake

As shown in the image below, just open the folder where you have your MP4 and SRT files, drag the MP4 file on top of Handbrake and release it.

4 drag mp4 file into handbrake

There are other ways of importing files, but this is the fastest, in my opinion.

After dragging the MP4 file, give Handbrake a few seconds to read the file, when it’s done, you will see a screenshot of the video you imported.

5 handbrake previewing mp4 video

Now, if you’ve never used Handbrake before, you might get confused by all the options you see, but don’t worry, as I said, I will be talking about this software some more in future articles, so ask your questions if you have any.

Step 4: Import SRT File

Now that you have your video imported into Handbrake, you’ll need to import the SRT of the video as well.

By default, Handbrake will automatically search for the SRT file in the same folder where the video file you just imported is, so it’s advisable to always keep them in the same folder.

Right, so click the Subtitles tab, as you can see in the image below.

6 click subtitle tab

Next, click Import SRT.

7 click import srt file

Once you do that, the folder where the software thinks the SRT file should be would be opened. You can either double click the SRT file or click it once and then click Open.

8 find the srt file

When you do that it will be successfully loaded into Handbrake.

9 srt file loaded

Step 5: Burn and Encode

After importing your SRT file, you must check Burn In.

10 click burn

I haven’t tried not doing that, but I believe there’s a high chance that your subtitles won’t merge with your video if you skip this step… so please don’t, else effort wasted.

Optionally, you can choose where you’d want the video with the subtitles merged together will be saved by clicking the Browse button and selecting your preferred Save Location.

11 browse save location

I believe by default it should get saved in the same folder where the original video and SRT files are. As I said, this is optional, you really don’t need to do it.

Oh, yeah and if you’re wondering, your original video will stay the same, the software is just going to make a duplicate of the video, so don’t worry, no harm will be done to your video.

After you’re done selecting where you want your new video to be saved (by clicking the Browse button), at the top of the software, you should see a green button with “Start Encode” written by the side.

12 handbrake start encode

Click the button and wait for Handbrake to do its thing. And by its thing, I mean merge the SRT file with the MP4 or MOV file you have imported.

Handbrake will tell you how long it will take to merge the files at the bottom of the software.

13 handbrake encode time remaining

Mine is reading negative because it was still calculating the total amount of time left.

If you have a slow computer, it will take longer.

Once it’s done, you can play the video with any video player and see that your subtitles are now showing up without needing to import them anymore.

14 srt merged with mp4

Although the picture above is a bit blurry, you can see that I don’t have subtitles imported on my VLC video player, but there are subtitles being displayed.

Conclusion

Well, I hope I was able to help you merge SRT and MP4 files, if you have any questions, please let me know in the comments.

And yeah the last picture looks blurry because I drastically lowered the quality of the video with Handbrake to make sure it isn’t heavy, this is one of the things you can do with this really useful software.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel and well, this is technically the first PC tutorial on the website, Shu’s Techs is finally branching out.

I’ll be talking to you next time.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Your papa

    Yes! This article was very very helpful it has helped us a lot!

    1. Shaibu

      Well, I’m glad.

  2. mmgala

    which presets do you use, handbreake choose fast 1080P30 as standard

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