Settings — Format & Naming

When Sublarr writes a subtitle next to a video, the filename follows a strict pattern. This page is where you tune that pattern so the output integrates cleanly with your media server, archival workflow, or whatever else reads the files.

The naming pattern

Sublarr builds filenames like:

<base>.<separator><language><suffix-block>.<extension>

Example: for Frieren.S01E01.1080p.BluRay.x264.mkv with German + HI subtitle:

Frieren.S01E01.1080p.BluRay.x264.de.hi.srt
       └─ base ─┘  └sep┘└lang┘└─suffix─┘

The fields

Setting	Default	Values	Effect
Language code format	2-letter	2-letter / 3-letter / region	de / deu / de-DE. Use region if your media server requires regional codes.
Suffix separator	.	. / - / _	Character between filename parts. Match your media server’s convention.
HI suffix	.hi	freeform	Appended for hearing-impaired subtitles. Some servers use .cc.
Forced suffix	.forced	freeform	Appended for forced subtitles.
Default extension	.srt	.srt / .ass / .vtt / .sup	Fallback when the source format is uncertain.

Format conversion

By default, Sublarr writes whatever format the provider returned. You can convert at write-time:

Setting	Effect
Convert to	none (write as-is) / srt / ass / vtt.
Strip styling on convert	Drop ASS styling when converting to SRT. Keep on for compatibility, off for archival.
Preserve karaoke	When converting ASS to ASS, preserve \k overrides (no-op for SRT/VTT targets).

Caution

Converting ASS to SRT loses styling — colours, font, positioning. Run a test conversion on a sample file before bulk-applying; the result is irreversible without restoring the original.

Examples per media server

Server	Recommended setup
Plex	2-letter, . separator, default suffixes.
Jellyfin	Same as Plex. Some Jellyfin versions also accept 3-letter.
Emby	Same as Plex.
Kodi	3-letter works better with some addons.
VLC manual playback	Any pattern. VLC matches <base>.<lang>.srt by default.

Language code references

2-letter	3-letter	Region	Language
de	deu	de-DE	German
en	eng	en-US	English
ja	jpn	ja-JP	Japanese
es	spa	es-ES	Spanish
pt	por	pt-PT	Portuguese
pt-BR	por-BR	pt-BR	Brazilian Portuguese

The full ISO 639 list is supported — these are the most-asked-about ones.

Edge cases

File without language tag

If your existing library has subtitles named Frieren.S01E01.srt (no language suffix), Sublarr won’t recognise them as managed files. Re-rename via:

Action	Effect
Library → Sidecar pill → Rename	Adds the language code based on detected content.
Bulk → Re-tag	Same, applied to selection.

Multiple subtitles same language

When a video has two subtitle files for the same language (e.g. one HI, one regular), the suffix block disambiguates:

Frieren.S01E01.de.srt        ← regular
Frieren.S01E01.de.hi.srt     ← hearing impaired
Frieren.S01E01.de.forced.srt ← forced (foreign-language scenes)

The matching profile HI / Forced bias decides which one is preferred when both are valid candidates.

Provider-supplied filename

Some providers return subtitles with their own naming convention (e.g. [Erai-raws] Frieren - 01 [1080p].ass). Sublarr always rewrites these to your configured pattern at write-time — the provider name is preserved in the database but never makes it to disk.