Media Subtitle Sync

Media Subtitle Sync

Context: $ARGUMENTS

Quick start

• Out-of-sync SRT, clean webrip: → Step 3 (ffsubsync, fast VAD+FFT)
• TV recording with commercial breaks: → Step 3 (alass, scene-split aware)
• Foreign-language sub to aligned reference sub: → Step 3 (sync-reference)
• Simple constant offset (e.g. "shift +3.5s"): → Step 3 (shift)
• Season folder of mismatched subs: → Step 3 (batch-sync)

When to use

• Subtitle file is progressively drifting from audio (framerate mismatch)
• Subtitle has a constant shift (intro/ad removed, shifted start)
• Commercial-break splits broke timing (TV caps on streaming source)
• You have a known-good sub in another language — use it as reference timing
• Need to auto-align an entire season with one command

Step 1 — Install tools

brew install alass                 # macOS
# or: download static binary from https://github.com/kaegi/alass/releases

pip install ffsubsync              # Python; needs ffmpeg on PATH
# or: pipx install ffsubsync

Verify:

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py check

Both tools shell out to ffmpeg to extract the reference audio track. alass needs ffmpeg 4+.

Step 2 — Pick the right tool

Unsure → let --tool auto try alass first, fall back to ffsubsync.

Step 3 — Run

Auto sync (video → subs)

# Via wrapper (handles tool pick, fallback, dry-run)
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py sync \
    --video movie.mkv --subs movie.en.srt --output movie.en.synced.srt --tool auto

# Raw alass
alass movie.mkv movie.en.srt movie.en.synced.srt

# alass fast mode (no scene-split analysis, linear only)
alass --no-split movie.mkv movie.en.srt movie.en.synced.srt

# alass with split-penalty tuning (higher = fewer splits)
alass --split-penalty 10 movie.mkv movie.en.srt movie.en.synced.srt

# Raw ffsubsync
ffsubsync movie.mkv -i movie.en.srt -o movie.en.synced.srt

# ffsubsync, disable framerate adjustment (when FR is known-correct)
ffsubsync movie.mkv -i movie.en.srt -o movie.en.synced.srt --no-fix-framerate

# ffsubsync, widen search (default ±60s)
ffsubsync movie.mkv -i movie.en.srt -o movie.en.synced.srt --max-offset-seconds 180

Reference-sub sync (no video audio needed)

Use when the video's audio language differs from the sub language, or when the video has poor dialogue. The reference sub should be known-good, ideally in the video's audio language.

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py sync-reference \
    --reference-subs movie.ja.synced.srt --subs movie.en.srt --output movie.en.synced.srt

# Raw alass: swap video for reference srt
alass movie.ja.synced.srt movie.en.srt movie.en.synced.srt
# Raw ffsubsync: same pattern
ffsubsync movie.ja.synced.srt -i movie.en.srt -o movie.en.synced.srt

Fixed constant offset (no tool, pure shift)

Use for "everything is 3.5s late" — no drift, just translation.

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py shift \
    --subs movie.srt --output movie.shifted.srt --seconds 3.5

# Negative shift (subs are ahead)
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py shift \
    --subs movie.srt --output movie.shifted.srt --seconds -2.1

# Raw ffmpeg equivalent (LINEAR only)
ffmpeg -itsoffset 3.5 -i movie.srt -c copy movie.shifted.srt

Batch (season folder)

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py batch-sync \
    --video-dir ./S01 --subs-dir ./S01 --output-dir ./S01/synced --tool alass

# Raw shell loop
for v in *.mkv; do
    base="${v%.mkv}"
    alass "$v" "${base}.srt" "synced/${base}.synced.srt"
done

Step 4 — Verify

1. Spot-check first and last dialogue. Open synced SRT, note timestamps of cue #1 and the last cue. Scrub video at those times; dialogue should start ±200 ms of cue.
2. Check midpoint. Commercial-break drift only shows mid-file — scrub ~50% through.
3. Framerate sanity. If alass reports framerate ratio 25/23.976 in logs, the source was PAL-speedup. Confirm the synced file sounds in-sync, not just at endpoints.
4. ffsubsync score. ffsubsync prints Score: 0.xx — below 0.5 means alignment was weak; retry with alass or reference sub.

Gotchas

• alass vs ffsubsync differ fundamentally. ffsubsync = VAD + FFT cross-correlation; fast, great for linear drift. alass = VAD + optional scene-split detection; handles commercial breaks and piecewise-linear drift. TV rip → alass. Webrip → ffsubsync. Both need ffmpeg.
• Both tools do NOT re-encode video. Only the subtitle text file is written.
• Format support differs. ffsubsync reads .srt, .ass, .ssa, .vtt, .sub; alass is primarily SRT (convert first via ffmpeg-subtitles skill if needed).
• Framerate mismatch (25 ↔ 23.976 ↔ 29.97) is auto-detected by both. Disable with ffsubsync --no-fix-framerate when you know FR is correct and only offset is wrong.
• alass is faster but requires ffmpeg 4+. On ffmpeg 3.x, force ffsubsync.
• Reference subtitle must match the video's AUDIO language for VAD-based alignment. Using an English ref sub against Japanese audio works only in the ref-to-ref mode (no video input).
• VAD fails on silent video. Animated content, music videos, opening title cards — ffsubsync will produce low scores and wrong offsets. Use ref-sub mode, or trim the silent prefix first.
• --max-offset-seconds default is 60. For subs pulled from the wrong release group, widen to 180–300.
• alass --split-penalty tunes split sensitivity. Raise (≥10) if alass over-splits and adds phantom breaks; lower (≤3) if it misses commercial cuts.
• When both tools fail, try manual shift — if that works, the problem was constant offset all along (tools over-fit). If it doesn't, the sub is from a different edit/cut of the video; re-download.
• Encoding / BOM preservation. ffsubsync preserves input encoding + BOM + line endings. alass always writes UTF-8 LF. If you need Windows-1252 + CRLF out, re-encode after.
• Silent music/narration mismatch between language tracks skews VAD alignment. If video has music-only sections that differ between dubs, prefer ref-sub mode over video input.
• Large files are slow. Both tools decode full audio. For a 3-hour film, expect 30–90 s. Trim a representative 10-minute section first to dial in settings, then apply full-file.
• Animated content with minimal dialogue is a known weak spot for both tools. Expect to fall back to manual shift or ref-sub mode.

Examples

Example 1: webrip, subs 2s late throughout

ffsubsync wedding.mkv -i wedding.en.srt -o wedding.en.synced.srt
# or
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py sync \
    --video wedding.mkv --subs wedding.en.srt --output wedding.en.synced.srt --tool ffsubsync

Example 2: TV broadcast with ad splits

alass broadcast.ts broadcast.srt broadcast.synced.srt
# If over-splitting:
alass --split-penalty 10 broadcast.ts broadcast.srt broadcast.synced.srt

Example 3: foreign film, only ES subs — align EN subs to them

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py sync-reference \
    --reference-subs film.es.synced.srt --subs film.en.srt --output film.en.synced.srt

Example 4: constant +4.8 s shift

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py shift \
    --subs episode.srt --output episode.shifted.srt --seconds 4.8

Example 5: batch season

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/subsync.py batch-sync \
    --video-dir ./S02 --subs-dir ./S02-subs --output-dir ./S02-synced --tool auto --verbose

Troubleshooting

Error: ffmpeg: command not found (from alass or ffsubsync)

Cause: Both tools shell out to ffmpeg for audio extraction. Solution: brew install ffmpeg (or your platform equivalent); ensure on PATH.

Error: alass: unknown format / alass hangs on .ass

Cause: alass is SRT-first. ASS/SSA often fails or is lossy through it. Solution: Convert to SRT first using the ffmpeg-subtitles skill: ffmpeg -i in.ass out.srt. Sync. Convert back if ASS styling is needed.

ffsubsync score near 0 / alignment obviously wrong

Cause: Silent section in video, wrong release cut, or music-only intro mismatch. Solution: Try alass. If alass also fails, use ref-sub mode with a known-good sub. Last resort: manual shift.

alass produces garbled timings / mid-file skew

Cause: Over-splitting on false scene cuts. Solution: Raise --split-penalty to 10–20, or use --no-split if it's really linear drift.

Sub is 3-6% consistently drifting

Cause: Framerate mismatch (23.976 ↔ 25). Both tools auto-detect, but can miss. Solution: Force framerate scaling via ffsubsync (default on). If disabled via --no-fix-framerate, remove that flag.

Output subtitle has wrong encoding

Cause: alass always writes UTF-8 LF; some players want CRLF / Windows-1252. Solution: Post-process: iconv -f UTF-8 -t WINDOWS-1252 in.srt > out.srt && unix2dos out.srt.

sync-reference still produces drift

Cause: Reference sub is itself out of sync, or from a different edit. Solution: Pick a different reference, or sync the reference to the video first, then use it as ref for the target language.

Reference docs

• Read references/subsync.md for tool-comparison table, framerate-detection notes, recipe book, and handoff to ffmpeg-subtitles for format conversion.