Make Persian subtitles display correctly in Plex, Kodi and on smart TVs
A Persian subtitle that reads fine on a laptop can show gibberish, boxes or reversed punctuation once it goes through Plex, Kodi or a smart TV. Those devices are strict: they want UTF-8, they lay out text their own way, and many have limited fonts. Upload your files, or a ZIP of a series, and get them back in the form these players handle best, with the same names so your library still matches them. Jobs with up to 3,000 lines are free in full; a series is $5.
- UTF-8 with a byte order mark, and SRT with Windows line endings
- Old Windows-1256 files and garbled سلام text repaired
- Persian ی and ک instead of Arabic ي and ك
- Right-to-left marks so punctuation lands on the correct side
- Same file names, so Plex and Kodi keep matching them to the videos
What these players need from a Persian file
- Encoding: media servers and TVs generally assume UTF-8. A Windows-1256 file shows question marks or Latin letters. The tool converts it and adds a byte order mark, which some TVs use to recognize UTF-8.
- Direction: if a player treats a subtitle line as left-to-right, the final ? or . appears on the wrong side. An invisible right-to-left mark at each end of the line tells it otherwise.
- Letters: Arabic ي and ك, common in older Persian files, look slightly wrong in Persian text, most visibly the dots under a final ي. They are replaced with ی and ک.
- Punctuation marks: ? , ; become the Persian ؟ ، ؛.
Keeping your library in order
Plex, Kodi, Jellyfin and Emby find external subtitles by file name: the video's name, a language code and the extension, for example Movie (2019).fa.srt next to Movie (2019).mkv. The repaired files keep exactly the names you upload, so if they were already named for your library, you can copy them straight back. For a series, upload the whole season as a ZIP and copy the results over the old files. Keep a backup of the originals.
Using the fa language code in the name helps the server label the track as Persian in its subtitle menu.
Font problems a file cannot solve
Some TVs and streaming sticks have no font for Persian script. They show boxes for every letter even when the file is perfect, or draw letters unjoined. No change to the subtitle file can add a font to the device. What can help: a different player app on the same TV, or a media server setting that burns subtitles into the picture while streaming, which uses the server's fonts instead of the TV's. If only the line ends show small boxes, the device does not know the right-to-left mark; run the files again with the marks left out.
How the tool works, what it costs and how your files are handled is on the Fix Persian & Arabic Subtitles page; prices for every tool are on the pricing page.
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Questions and answers
Can ChatGPT fix Persian subtitles for Plex?
It can correct a few lines of Persian you paste. It cannot see the bytes of a Windows-1256 file, the invisible direction marks do not come through copy and paste reliably, and a full film or series is too long for chat replies. This tool repairs every file in code and keeps names and timings.
Why does Plex show my Persian subtitles as gibberish?
Most often the file is in Windows-1256 and is being read as UTF-8, or it was saved again after being read the wrong way. Both are repaired here.
Will Plex still find the subtitles after the repair?
Yes, if it found them before. Each file keeps the exact name you uploaded, and the format stays the same unless you choose SRT.
What does it cost?
Free in full for a job with up to 3,000 subtitle lines in total. A season or a larger batch is $5, paid once, for up to 50 files or a ZIP and 50,000 lines.
Do I need the right-to-left marks?
Usually yes; they make punctuation appear on the correct side. Leave them out only if your TV draws them as small boxes.
Does it work for Dari subtitles?
Yes. Choose Dari as the language; it gets the same letter and punctuation rules as Persian.