This script solves the problem of formatting subtitles in right-to-left languages, making them compatible with video editing software like FFmpeg. By adding the RLE character at the beginning of each text line while preserving the timestamps, it ensures that the subtitles display correctly in the intended right-to-left direction when overlaid on video content. This formatting is crucial for maintaining the legibility and visual integrity of subtitles in languages that use a right-to-left writing system.

The UTF-16 encoding character 0x202B (RLE) (which stands for the "RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING" control character) is only added to text-containing lines and not to timestamp lines in your SRT file.

To convert input_subtitle.srt to output_subtitle.srt, run:

python rtl-subtitle.py input_subtitle.srt output_subtitle.srt

Integrate right-to-left subtitles with ffmpeg if you want. Use this simple command:

ffmpeg -i "sample.mp4" -vf "subtitles='output_subtitle.srt'" "sample_output.mp4"

Or this more advanced command:

ffmpeg -i "sample.mp4" -vf "subtitles='output_subtitle.srt':force_style='FontName=vazir,Fontsize=30,PrimaryColour=&Hffffff&'" -ss 00:00:00 -to 00:00:20 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -b:v 300k -b:a 48k -y "sample_output.mp4"

Before:

After RTL:

By https://twitter.com/NabiKAZ

MIT License

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