How to watch subtitles (softsubs)

What are softsubs?

Soft subs are subtitles that are distributed SEPARATE from the video file. They come as a text file, using extensions like .SUB, .SRT, etc. The reason for the different extensions is that there are different formats used for soft subs.

The purpose of soft subs is so that a single video file (referred to as the RAW file) can be distributed all over the world. Then the viewer can pick & choose which language he would like to view the subtitles in.

They're called soft subs because the other type are hard subs. Hard subs are subtitles that are rendered into the video itself. Some examples of files with hardsubs are encodes by Jem. Most fansubbing groups also choose to hardsub their works as well.

I have a subtitle file (softsub), how do I play it with my video?

1. Download and install VobSub. (Note: It is not necessary to do anything other than double-click the .exe file and to let it install. You don't need to manually load vobsub each time you want to view soft subs.)

2. Place sub file in the same directory as the video file. Make sure that they have the same filename.
e.g
WRONG
Koukou_Kyoushi_ep02.avi
Koukou Kyoushi ep02.smi
-----Your player cannot find Eng sub because of the file name.

CORRECT
Koukou_Kyoushi_ep02.avi
Koukou_Kyoushi_ep02.smi
-----Your player can find Eng sub automatically.

3. Play video and subs should be overlayed automatically.

Alternatively, you could try BSplayer, Media Player Classic, Videolan or RadLight which has functionality for loading subtitle files without having to installing vobsub.

If you use DirectVobsub (or its successor VSFilter) you can use a more sophisticated subtitles naming scheme.
Note that VSFilter is contained in several codecpacks, like the popular Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP).