SubStation Alpha

SubStation Alpha (or Sub Station Alpha), abbreviated SSA, is a subtitle file format created by CS Low (also known as Kotus) that allows for more advanced subtitles than the conventional SRT and similar formats. It is also the name of the popular, now discontinued tool used to edit subtitles.

SubStation Alpha
Filename extension
.ssa, .ass
Developed byKotus

This subtitle format is frequently used in anime fansubs, either to overlay subtitles onto video while it is being encoded (hardsubbing), or to store subtitle data alongside video data, often in a Matroska (MKV) container (softsubbing). It's not commonly used professionally except for Crunchyroll.

The current version of SSA is v4.08. There are many freeware and open source subtitling applications that support the SSA format.

Principal sections in an SSA subtitle

A basic SSA subtitle:

[Script Info]
; This is a Sub Station Alpha v4 script.
; For Sub Station Alpha info and downloads,
; go to http://www.eswat.demon.co.uk/
Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion - Episode 26 (neutral Spanish)
Original Script: RoRo
Script Updated By: version 2.8.01
ScriptType: v4.00
Collisions: Normal
PlayResY: 600
PlayDepth: 0
Timer: 100,0000
 
[V4 Styles]
Format: Name, Fontname, Fontsize, PrimaryColour, SecondaryColour, TertiaryColour, BackColour, Bold, Italic, BorderStyle, Outline, Shadow, Alignment, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, AlphaLevel, Encoding
Style: DefaultVCD, Arial,28,11861244,11861244,11861244,-2147483640,-1,0,1,1,2,2,30,30,30,0,0
 
[Events]
Format: Marked, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:00:01.18,0:00:06.85,DefaultVCD, NTP,0000,0000,0000,,{\pos(400,570)}Like an angel with pity on nobody

Advanced SubStation Alpha

Advanced SubStation Alpha (ASS) is a script for more advanced subtitles than SSA. It is technically SSA v4+. It is able to produce anything from simple texts to manual graphic editing used in karaoke. There are few programs designed to create these scripts. The main feature of ASS is it has more specifications than normal SSA, like in styles programming. For example, the above script changed into ASS:

[Script Info]
; Script generated by Aegisub
; http://www.aegisub.org
Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion - Episode 26 (neutral Spanish)
Original Script: RoRo
Script Updated By: version 2.8.01
ScriptType: v4.00+
Collisions: Normal
PlayResY: 600
PlayDepth: 0
Timer: 100,0000
Video Aspect Ratio: 0
Video Zoom: 6
Video Position: 0
 
[V4+ Styles]
Format: Name, Fontname, Fontsize, PrimaryColour, SecondaryColour, OutlineColour, BackColour, Bold, Italic, Underline, StrikeOut, ScaleX, ScaleY, Spacing, Angle, BorderStyle, Outline, Shadow, Alignment, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Encoding
Style: DefaultVCD, Arial,28,&H00B4FCFC,&H00B4FCFC,&H00000008,&H80000008,-1,0,0,0,100,100,0.00,0.00,1,1.00,2.00,2,30,30,30,0
 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.18,0:00:06.85,DefaultVCD, NTP,0000,0000,0000,,{\pos(400,570)}Like an Angel with pity on nobody\NThe second line in subtitle

Software support

Authoring software

TitlePlatformLicenseNotes
AegisubWindows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS XFree and open-sourceThe official subtitle editor, focused mostly on typesetting.
GaupolLinux and WindowsFree and open-sourceHas partial support for Sub Station Alpha and Advanced Sub Station Alpha subtitles.[1]
JublerJavaFree and open-source
MiyuMac OS X,Freeware[2]
SabbuWindows, Mac OS X, Linux and BSDFree and open-sourceFocused mostly on timing. No longer developed.
Sub Station AlphaWindowsFreewareOutdated and no longer developed.
Subtitle ComposerLinuxFree and open-sourceSupports SSA/ASSA formats, text style and colors, unsupported SSA styles are ignored.[3]
Subtitle EditLinux and WindowsFree and open-source
Subtitle ProcessorWindowsFree and open-sourceUnicode is supported from version 7.7, UTF-8 is preferred, other encodings are internally converted to UTF-8.[4]
Subtitle WorkshopWindowsFreewareIt is not advised because it is not a fully dedicated SSA/ASS editor, because it doesn't follow the strict rules about SSA subtitles, and it erases any style put in with another program.[5]
subtitleeditorGNU/LinuxFree and open-source[6]
VisualSubSyncMicrosoft WindowsFree and open-source[7]
НадписвачътWindowsFreewareFully SSA oriented. Supports ANSI and Unicode subtitles.[8]
Kainote WindowsFree and open-source subtitle editor

Subtitle encoding software

Software tools to encode subtitle files into video containers (mkv, mp4, mov, ...):

TitlePlatformLicenseNotes
FFmpegWindows, Linux, Mac OSFree and open-sourceFFmpeg can also encode and convert subtitles in video containers including 'Subtitles Character Encoding Conversion' for plaintext files and special characters[9]
iSubtitleMacOSFreewareEncoding of soft subtitled movies for Apple gears[10]
HandBrakeWindows, Linux, Mac OSFree and open-sourceHandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform video transcoder[11]
MKVToolNixWindows, Linux, Mac OS, BSD, OpenIndianaFree and open-sourceMKVToolNix is a collection of tools for the Matroska media container format. See also MKVMerge, a part of MKVToolNix, which is often used to attach/merge subtitle and/or audio files to a video file.
XMedia RecodeWindowsFreewareXMedia Recode is a free All-In-One video converter and audio converter tool[12]
Subbler Mac OSFree and open-source Subler is an open-source GPL-licensed for the MP4 media container format. It is used to attach/merge subtitle and/or audio files to a video file.

Players and renderers

Title Description
AvidemuxOpen-source video editing and processing software product
DirectVobSuba DirectShow codec for displaying SSA subtitles in Windows Media Player or other Directshow player (there is also a fork of it called xy-VSFilter).
DivXThe proprietary DivX Plus software supports this subtitle format[13]
GStreamerOpen-source multimedia framework that supports SSA subtitles through its plugin architecture
HandBrakeOpen-source video transcoder (video converter) that can process SSA subtitles (either soft-subbing or hard-subbing them, depending on the user's preference)
KooRaRoo MediaA media server and organizer for Windows. Supports rendering external subtitles as SSA on devices that don't support external or embedded subtitles.
libassOpen-source library used by Aegisub, Avidemux, GStreamer, HandBrake, MPlayer, Totem, VLC media player, XBMC, and many other open-source programs to render/process SSA subtitles
Media Player Classic Home Cinema[14]Open-source self-contained media player for Windows
MPlayerOpen-source media player that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, *BSD, Solaris, BeOS, Syllable, AmigaOS and MorphOS
mpvOpen-source media player that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and *BSD; originally forked from MPlayer.
PS3 Media ServerMedia server that works with PlayStation 3 systems (has some bugs with some effects)
TotemGNOME's default media player that can render SSA subtitles via GStreamer
VideoPadVideo editing program from NCH Software that support .ssa subtitles[15]
VirtualDub with the subtitler or textsub filters[16]Open-source video capture/processing utility for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows platforms
VLC media playerOpen-source media player for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, BeOS and Syllable
PotPlayerMedia player for Windows, with a huge number of features and customizations, allowing screen recording, podcasts, and many user friendly shortcuts including global hotkeys
Kodi (formerly XBMC)Open-source cross-platform Media Center program
xy-VSFiltera DirectShow codec for displaying SSA subtitles in Windows Media Player or other Directshow player, included in the Combined Community Codec Pack and the K-Lite Codec Pack (it is a fork of DirectVobSub)

Further reading

  • "SSA/ASS Subtitles". Matroska.org. CoreCodec, Inc. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  • Kotus (18 February 2002). "Sub Station Alpha v4.00+ Script Format" (Microsoft Word Document). Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  • "ASS Tags". Aegisub Manual. aegisub.org. Retrieved 25 March 2014.

References

  1. "Gaupol Subtitle Editor". Home.gna.org. Archived from the original on 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  2. "Miyu". Fluffalope Factory. Archived from the original on August 10, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  3. "Subtitle Composer". Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  4. "Subtitle Processor | Download Subtitle Processor software for free at". Sourceforge.net. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  5. "URUWorks - Subtitle Workshop". Urusoft.net. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  6. "Subtitle Editor". Kitone.free.fr. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  7. "VisualSubSync". Visualsubsync.org. 2010-04-18. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  8. "Надписвачът". Retrieved January 2012. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. "FFmpeg". ffmpeg.org.
  10. "iSubtitle". bitfield.se/isubtitle.
  11. "HandBrake". handbrake.fr.
  12. "XMedia Recode". xmedia-recode.de.
  13. "DivX Plus Software". DivX.com. DivX, LLC is a subsidiary of Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  14. http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/History.html
  15. http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/subtitles.html
  16. VirtualDub Filters
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