<p>Add the subtitles to your large mkv file first. Then mkvmerge will split the file with the subtitles automatically.</p>

<p>To add the subtitles, the easiest is to use mkvmerge-GUI. It will also show you the command-line it uses. Or you can try something like this directly:</p>

<pre><code>video="your_large_video.mkv"
st_en="english.srt"
st_fr="french.srt"
out="large_video-st_en_fr.mkv"

mkvmerge -o "$out" "$video" --language 0:eng "$st_en" --language 0:fre "$st_fr"
</code></pre>

<p>After that, splitting works fine and includes correct subtitles. I just tried it, and splitted by size and by duration. I'm not sure, but maybe the subtitle timing was preserved more exactly when splitting by duration (<code>--split 1800s</code> or similar instead of <code>--split 500M</code>).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-23T22:47:31.307Z
On Mac, the GUI isn't available, or it is not obvious where to find it.
qazwsx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-23T22:48:26.883Z
What is that `0:eng` for?
qazwsx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-24T13:57:03.047Z
@qazwsx ; The GUI is available with several installs but maybe not all. See https://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/downloads.html#macosx . "0:eng" specifies the language of the first ST track. It is OK to re-use the "0:" track number for following ST tracks; it is automatically converted to the real track number.
mivk
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-24T16:11:44.603Z
That's where I got the info about installing the command-line version of mkvtoolnix.  The complex usage info was not helpful enough for me to cook up the necessary command line to merge video file and subtitle file.  And there is NO GUI for Mac OS X.
qazwsx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-24T16:54:20.567Z
@qazwsx : If you don't use Homebrew or Macports, get the binary from here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/16837/mkvtoolnix . It's packaged into a normal .app and opens the GUI.
mivk
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-24T17:46:42.433Z
I did install via Homebrew.  It's not obvious to me how to start the GUI or if even that installed a GUI.
qazwsx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-23T16:38:42.147Z
2015-04-24T13:59:40.137Z
2015-04-24T13:59:40.137Z
mivk
<p>At UNIX command line, I use the <code>mkvmerge</code> command in <a href="https://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/" rel="nofollow">MkvToolNix</a> to split the large multi-GB *.mkv file into several parts:</p>

<pre><code>mkvmerge -o out.mkv --split 1990M large.mkv
</code></pre>

<p>It generated <code>out-001.mkv</code>, <code>out-002.mkv</code>, <code>out-003.mkv</code>.</p>

<p>There is also a subtitle file <code>large.srt</code>.  Now I do I separate it into parts that will work properly with those smaller mkv files?</p>

<p>Another related question: how to incorporate large.srt into large.mkv first, and then split the resultant mkv file into smaller parts retaining the subtitles?</p>

<video-editor><editing><file-formats><software><mkv>
How to split a large mkv file into parts with the *.srt subtitle file separated accordingly?
qazwsx
# How to split a large mkv file into parts with the *.srt subtitle file separated accordingly?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-22)

At UNIX command line, I use the mkvmerge command in MkvToolNix to split the large multi-GB *.mkv file into several parts:
mkvmerge -o out.mkv --split 1990M large.mkv

It generated out-001.mkv, out-002.mkv, out-003.mkv.
There is also a subtitle file large.srt.  Now I do I separate it into parts that will work properly with those smaller mkv files?
Another related question: how to incorporate large.srt into large.mkv first, and then split the resultant mkv file into smaller parts retaining the subtitles?

**Tags:** video-editor, editing, file-formats, software, mkv


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-04-23. Score: 1

Add the subtitles to your large mkv file first. Then mkvmerge will split the file with the subtitles automatically.
To add the subtitles, the easiest is to use mkvmerge-GUI. It will also show you the command-line it uses. Or you can try something like this directly:
video="your_large_video.mkv"
st_en="english.srt"
st_fr="french.srt"
out="large_video-st_en_fr.mkv"

mkvmerge -o "$out" "$video" --language 0:eng "$st_en" --language 0:fre "$st_fr"

After that, splitting works fine and includes correct subtitles. I just tried it, and splitted by size and by duration. I'm not sure, but maybe the subtitle timing was preserved more exactly when splitting by duration (--split 1800s or similar instead of --split 500M).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: On Mac, the GUI isn't available, or it is not obvious where to find it.  
> **username_0**: What is that `0:eng` for?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 ; The GUI is available with several installs but maybe not all. See https://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/downloads.html#macosx . "0:eng" specifies the language of the first ST track. It is OK to re-use the "0:" track number for following ST tracks; it is automatically converted to the real track number.  
> **username_0**: That's where I got the info about installing the command-line version of mkvtoolnix.  The complex usage info was not helpful enough for me to cook up the necessary command line to merge video file and subtitle file.  And there is NO GUI for Mac OS X.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 : If you don't use Homebrew or Macports, get the binary from here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/16837/mkvtoolnix . It's packaged into a normal .app and opens the GUI.  
> **username_0**: I did install via Homebrew.  It's not obvious to me how to start the GUI or if even that installed a GUI.  

---

