If you’re one of the many people who always watches Netflix with subtitles on, you’re not alone. According to Preply, half of American viewers do the same — and now, the streaming service is adding a feature that makes subtitle watching a little cleaner.
Starting with “You” season 5 (which is now streaming), Netflix is rolling out a dialogue-only subtitle option. That means no more [phone buzzing] or [tense music playing] popping up in the middle of a scene. Instead, you’ll see the actual lines being spoken by the character.
No more [phone buzzing] or [tense music playing] popping up in the middle of a scene.
Before, if you wanted English subtitles, your only real option was the CC (closed captions) version, which is designed for Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.
That version includes speaker labels and sound descriptions.
Now, when you go into the subtitle settings, you’ll see two versions: “English,” which is dialogue-only, and “English (CC),” which includes everything.
This feature is also coming to all new Netflix originals in every language. So if you watch shows in their original language with same-language subtitles, you’ll have a cleaner option there too.
It’s a small change, but honestly, it makes a big difference. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been half-watching something in bed, trying not to wake someone up in the house, or straining my ears because a character decided to whisper the most important line of the episode. This just makes things easier without all the extra noise.
This upgrade is live now for “You” season 5 and will be standard going forward for new titles.
What this means for your viewing experience
A 2023 YouGov survey found that most people who use subtitles do it for two main reasons: to follow the story more clearly and to better understand different accents.
If that sounds like you, you’ll probably notice the difference right away. For example, those tuning into the new action-thriller “Havoc” might find it hard to hear what Tom Hardy is saying during some of the movie's explosive fight scenes.
The last thing you want is extra noise on the screen pulling your attention in several directions.
Watching TV is my downtime, my reset, my end-of-the-day ritual, and by that point, I’m usually too tired to catch every single word characters are saying.
I don’t want to keep rewinding just to figure out what I missed. So little changes like help and makes it way easier to stay focused on a movie or show when I can actually follow what the characters are talking about.
Don’t forget that Netflix already lets you customize subtitles by changing the size and font, which now pairs really nicely with the new dialogue-only option. As someone who’s short-sighted and usually has to wear glasses to watch anything, being able to tweak the text so it’s actually readable (without squinting or getting a headache) is a nice touch.
Netflix’s new upgrade is about making subtitles feel less like a crutch and more like part of the experience. Which I'm sure is something we can all appreciate since Netflix is the biggest streaming service out there.
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