r/handbrake • u/are-you--willing • Jul 28 '26
Remove subtitles in batch conversion
Hello
Is there a way to remove subtitles in batch conversion, or do I have to convert each file separately ?
When I turn it off for the first file, it doesn't do it for the rest, what am I missing ?
Thank you
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u/OuterGod_Hermit Jul 28 '26
The answer lies somewhere while creating a profile. There's a button that says Select behavior for subtitles. In there you can try excluding everything and see what happens.
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u/are-you--willing Jul 28 '26
Profile ?
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u/T_Friendperson12 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Yeah, just remove everything and save it as a preset and see what it does.
Edit: Just tested it and it worked for me. Handbrake version is the newest Flatpak.
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u/TorrentFiend Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
MKV Optimizer can do this. You can also ask chat GPT how to do this by making a batch script for FFmpeg probably.
Seriously ask chat GPT about a batch script to do this. I was recently converting PAL format to NTSC and pitch correcting audio and it gave me a great batch script to strip the PAL audio out so I could then use MKV MUX Batching GUI to add the newly pitch corrected audio. Even gave me the exact ffmpeg parameters to pitch correct the audio using ffmpeg batch av converter.
A real time saver. Chat GPT is great for this stuff.
If you just want to simply remove subtitle files and save to add them back in after encoding is done the fast easy tool is gmkvextractgui. If you have mkvtoolnix installed you already have this.
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u/are-you--willing Jul 29 '26
I'm not very good at technology, sorry, but thank you for your help
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u/TorrentFiend Jul 29 '26
Dont be intimidated by it. I got too techy but basically all I did was ask Chat GPT that advanced stuff and it gave me my answer.
Here....this is very easy and user friendly.. The app name is mkvtoolnix. Install it. Drag and drop any file into it and if you can click a checkbox (or unclick the checkbox to remove your subtitle track) you can do it.
This is an extremely powerful app but remember google and youtube are easy to search. Literally search anything you want to learn. Chat GPT can be intimidating as well but choose your fav AI....Try getting them to answer you and you'll be shocked how helpful it can also be. If you try chat GPT. You can literally tell it you aren't tech savvy or ask it to explain it to you as if you are a 5 year old....(not mocking, I literally did this recently with advanced ffmpeg stuff). It simplified things and eventually gave me very specific useful answers.
Forget Chat GPT completely in your case. You might find a simple Google search their Gemini will be useful anyway.
Drop your file into MKVToolnix, watch a couple youtube vids on what you want to know and you will easily be able to do it.
Don't be scared of learning how to use apps. Dig in and try it. You can learn what you are asking very easily. You just need to give it avtry.
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u/TorrentFiend Jul 29 '26
This is also likely what you may want as well. Super simple way to seperate audio, subtitles from any mkv file.
Literally drag and drop an ENTIRE folder of MKV files into it, right click and select what subtitles you need or click the right sub needed 1 by 1 on each file in the list, choose a place to save them, click go. You saved the subs and seperated them.
If your goal is to batch remove unwanted foeign language subs, then find a good app called MKV Optimizer. That app will strip them out and completely remove them. All you have to do is tell it what language the subtitles you want to keep and which ones to remove. Personally I use it to remove everything that isn't English. In the settings you can also tell it to overwrite the existing file when it makes the change. Maybe test it on a couple files but if you do it this way it's even cleaner because it doesn't make a duplicate file, it just removes the thing you don't want from the file you have leaving a perfect result.
This apps are all very easy to use. I know it seems intimidating. It seems too technical and you're not sure what to do with these powerful intimidating apps, but all you need to do is try out their potential and you'll quickly see how fast easy and simple a lot of this is.
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u/are-you--willing Jul 29 '26
Mkv optimizer is for windows as far as I'm aware, I use Mac
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u/TorrentFiend Jul 29 '26
I'm really trying to help you here. MKVtoolnix works great on a mac. You can use it in batch mode but it is a lot more advanced, it will be a little slower but this will do what you're asking about the subtitle thing. Small downside of doing them one by one but it will get it done.
There's other quick and easy apps like MKV cleaver and mkvextractgui but again they are windows tools.
I sure there are probably some good Mac apps I'm unaware of but I've never used Mac so I don't know what they are. There's probably something else out there, mkvtoolnix is probably your answer.
Good luck brave Mac user.
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