How to fix subtitles showing boxes

Boxes, question marks, and strange symbols usually mean the subtitle text was decoded with the wrong character encoding.

Quick answer

Use the Subtitle Encoding Fixer to try the source encoding and export a clean UTF-8 subtitle file.

Start with common encodings such as Windows-1252, ISO-8859-1, GB18030, Big5, Shift JIS, or EUC-KR depending on the language.

What the problem looks like

Encoding problems often show up as:

• square boxes instead of letters
• question marks inside words
• accented characters turning into symbols
• non-English subtitles becoming unreadable
• names or punctuation changing after upload

This is different from a missing font in a video editor. Subtitle files are text files, so the first fix is usually decoding and saving as UTF-8.

Step-by-step workflow

1. Keep the original subtitle file unchanged.
2. Open the Subtitle Encoding Fixer.
3. Upload the subtitle file.
4. Try the most likely source encoding.
5. Check whether the preview text becomes readable.
6. Export the file as UTF-8 and test it in the target player or platform.

Which encoding should you try

Use language and file origin as clues:

• Western European text: Windows-1252 or ISO-8859-1
• Simplified Chinese: GB18030
• Traditional Chinese: Big5
• Japanese: Shift JIS
• Korean: EUC-KR

If the first guess is wrong, try another encoding and compare the output.

Common mistakes

Editing broken text manually

If the text is decoded wrong, manual edits can make the damage permanent. Decode from the original file again.

Assuming conversion changes timing

Encoding repair should not change timestamps or cue order. It changes how text characters are decoded and saved.

Uploading before checking names and accents

Always scan proper names, accents, and non-English lines after exporting UTF-8.

Related guides

• How to fix garbled subtitles
• How to convert subtitles to UTF-8
• Subtitle encoding: Windows-1252 vs UTF-8

Related tools

• Subtitle Encoding Fixer
• Subtitle Cleaner
• SRT Validator