Last Updated: 23-Apr-19
Some popular video addons for Kodi already have automatic subtitles capabilities and that’s great, but some times you need more control over your selection process to get the right subtitles for your video. In this guide we’ll enable subtitles on Kodi using a couple of addons so you can watch all your shows and movies on Kodi with subtitles in any language.
Table of contents
Install subtitles addons on Kodi
1. Open the System menu by pressing the cog icon on the top left corner of the Home Screen. 
2. Select Add-ons.
3. Select Install from Repository. 
4. Click on Subtitles. (If you’ve installed 3rd party repositories on your system you’ll have to select the official Kodi Add-on Repository first).
5. Let’s install some subtitles add-ons. There are many providers, install the ones that suits your language needs. OpenSubtiles and Subscene are great for subtitles in English and many other languages.
If you want to install the official OpenSubtitles addon read the instructions at the end of this tutorial. 
6. Click on the Install button. 
Set up subtitles preferences on Kodi
Now that we installed a couple of add-ons for subtitles let’s set up the preferred language and default add-on for subtitles.
7. Go back to the Home Screen and open Settings by clicking the gear icon near the bottom-left corner.
8. Open the Player settings. 
9. Highlight the Language tab and click on Language to download subtitles for.
10. You can select more than one language. Select your preferred languages and click OK to confirm.
11. Now set the Default TV show service and Default movie service to one of the subtitles addons installed earlier.
12. You’re ready to go. When playing a video press the Subtitles button near the bottom right corner of the screen.
13. Select Download subtitles… 
14. Select a file to download the subtitles. 
[Optional] How to enable automatic subtitles on Kodi with Autosubs
If you use subtitles often you may find that clicking on Subtitles > Download every time you start a video can be a bit annoying. Lets solve that by installing the Autosubs service.
15. Go to the Home Screen and click on the Add-ons tab.
16. Select Addon Browser. 
17. Then select Install from repository.
18. Click on Services. (If you’ve installed 3rd party repositories you’ll have to select the official Kodi Add-on Repository first)
19. Select Autosubs.
20. Press Install. 
21. Now that Autosubs is installed the Subtitle Selection Dialog will automatically open when you start playing a video.
When choosing a subtitles file keep in mind the video quality and try to match it with the subtitle file name, this way you’ll have better chances of getting the right subtitles for your video. Most addons scrapping file locker websites for sources will show a truncated filename which makes finding the right subtitle harder.
How to install the official OpenSubtitles addon
OpenSubtitles.org has its own addon for Kodi called OpenSubtitles by OpenSubtitles. This addon doesn’t require authentication and it gives you access to their extensive collection of subtitles in several languages.
I. Download the addon from its GitHub page, remember the downloaded file’s location. 
II. Open the System menu by pressing the cog icon on the top left corner of the Home Screen.
III. Select Add-ons.
IV. Select Install from zip file. 
V. Locate the zip file we just downloaded and click on it to install the add-on. 
If you want to set the official OpenSubtitles Kodi addon as the default subtitles addon follow the instructions on step 11.
If you have problems with the OpenSubtitles add-on please visit the OpenSubtitles add-on thread on their official forum.
These are some of the most popular Kodi add-ons for March 2019:
- Exodus Redux: Based on Exodus, it uses OpenScrapers to get sources from file hosting websites.
- Yoda: Based on Exodus, scrapes sources from file hosting websites.
- Seren: New add-on written from scratch with very innovative features like playing next episodes automatically, requires Debrid and Trakt accounts.
- Elementum: High quality videos using Torrents.
- Plexus: Live sports using AceStream or SopCast.
Excellent guide thanks. After OpenSubtitles required a login i thought it was all over for subs in Kodi.
i have subtitles on tv shows and movies, can you get subtitles on live tv through your kodi box, i am using turk playlist if helps
Hi, I’m sorry but I don’t think is possible to use subtitles on live streams or at least not possible with the method described on this tutorial.
Hi, followed the ‘How to enable automatic subtitles on Kodi’ all straight forward untiI I came to play a movie.Firstly the sub titles were on permanant, I wanted only when a second langauge was spoken. I tried to change, no good, then reversed the instructions, now I’m left with a wide grey strip top and bottom that I’m unable to remove. This is only on movies not shows nor normal TV. Any ideas?
Sorry to hear that, subtitles for only foreign language dialogues are hard to find. The gray bars are definitely not normal, try uninstalling autosubs and play something without subtitles to see if that disables the bars.
No, I can get Spanish subtitles on most of the add ons I’ve tried. I want English subtitles for the Spanish shows. The add ons I have tried say English subtitles are not available. I just wondered if certain add ons would get me a better shot at finding the English subtitles.
I love watching Spanish shows but am having trouble finding subtItle apps that support English subtitles. Any suggestions? I have tried most of the recommended apps like open subtitles and Subscene. Are there any better suited for Spanish shows?
Not sure if they have Spanish subtitles for Spanish shows but for general Spanish subtitles you could installing Argenteam and subdivx, subtitulos.es was great but it isn’t working for me lately.
It always says installation failed when I try to download subtitles
Where? I can’t see an explanation!
I don’t see how to use local subtitles when they are available.
I have subs set to optional, so I can download them if needed. But if there are locals, I can’t find anything that says how to use them. Esp, once I’ve downloaded some, then notice they don’t work well (way off time). I’ve tried cycling “enable” but that just makes the same subs I downloaded toggle on and off.
I also tried the audio menu, which shows there are two subs available, but this seems to refer to the last two I downloaded. It doesn’t turn the local ones on & off.
Thanks1
Is there a way to have subtitles come on only when needed as opposed to having them on the whole time?
Same here – is there a fix for this?
How to download Dothraki subtitles?
Perfect! No extra bs, just simple easy to understand explanation! Now I can finally understand what they’re saying wen they freaking whisper, or when Statham is talking jibberish lol
Thank you so much for a straightforward explanation with clear photos to guide those of us who are not so computer savvy! ?
Is there a way to have subtitles come on only when needed as opposed to having them on the whole time?
I tried same steps and it works only with English Subtitles. BUT… it doesn’t work with Arabic subtitles as the letters comes like symbols not even Arabic letters :'(
Any help please?
Sound like a font problem, try changing the Character set of your subtitles. Go to System > Video > Subtitles and change the Character Set to Arabic.