Amazon Prime has lots of content from all over the world. For some users, the best way of watching specific movies or shows is to turn on Amazon Prime Video subtitles.
But in some cases, users experience a problem with subtitles where they do not work or are out of sync. Sometimes they have a delay of between three and six seconds.
This delay causes a poor viewing experience on Prime Video. That is because you will be struggling to hear and read subtitles that are not in sync with the video.
Technically, all pre-recorded TV shows and movies have captions synchronized with the video frames. If this isn’t the case, then it becomes challenging to use them.
Why Amazon Prime Video subtitles are not working
If the closed caption is not working on Amazon Prime, several factors can explain the problem.
- You have turned off subtitles
- The closed captions are encoded in an unsupported format
- Your app is out of date
- The video does not support subtitles
How to fix the subtitle issue on Amazon Prime
Here’s how to fix issues with subtitles on Amazon Prime Video:
1. Turn on subtitles
You have several ways on how to turn on subtitles on Amazon Prime on its devices.
- Go to Accessibility Settings
- Tap Device
- Tap Manage Accessibility
- Turn Subtitling on by tapping the switch under Hearing Settings.
The options above will enable subtitles and will display when you play a video on Roku. Another way to turn on subtitles on Amazon Prime is by:
- Go to the video app
- Play the video that contains the subtitle
- Once playback starts, go to the Menu > Subtitles > On
You can also customize the closed captions by adjusting their color and font if the subtitles are too small.
If you want to know how to turn off subtitles on Amazon Prime, then here’s a simple guide. Tap Menu, then Subtitles, and then Off.
You can also follow the instructions in this video to accomplish the same:
2. Check if the video supports subtitles
Subtitles may fail to work because the video you are watching on your smart TV does not include them.
All videos that include closed captioning on Amazon Prime will appear with the symbol CC on their overview pages. If you do not see the “CC” symbol, it means the video does not include subtitles.
3. Turn on subtitles in Apple TV
If you are using Apple TV and Prime Video subtitles are not working, consider turning them on.
- Go to Settings
- Tap on Video and Audio
- Ensure the Subtitle Language is ON
If it is already on, turn it OFF. Exit the settings and then go back and turn Subtitle Language to English if Amazon subtitles are showing in the wrong language. Try again by playing the video on your Apple TV.
Here’s a video showing how to enable or disable subtitles on Apple TV:
4. Update your app
The subtitles can be out of sync because your application is out of date. In that case, you need to update the software to ensure you are using the latest version.
Go to the app’s specific store and check for updates. Update it if a new version is available.
Whether it is double subtitles or a problem with synching, the fastest option of fixing such issues is to update your app. You can also check to determine whether you have turned subtitles ON from your settings.
If the video does not support closed captioning, only the content creators can offer a solution. Also, understand that problems with closed captioning may be out of Amazon Prime’s scope.
Related guides:
I am very hard of hearing and depend on closed captions to watch tv. We are on the 11th episode of The Americans and the CC have stopped working. Can anyone help?
We’re on the last episodes of The Americans, and the closed captioning has stopped working except when the characters are speaking Russian.
We need them even when the characters are speaking English. An Amazon employee worked with me via phone yesterday without any success. She told me to unplug the TV for 1 1/2 hours and then plug it back in. Did so. No change.
I have a little Samsung remote control that doesn’t have a menu or anything other than an on/off switch and arrow to push to get out of Amazon.
Tried all the trouble shooting provided and still subtitles are not working….
I am using Amazon prime video on my Android tablet. Clicking in on the subtitle icon while watching a movie only causes the movie to pause. The movie description says it has 33 subtitle options! What gives Amazon? I don’t have this problem with Netflix
We have to activate subtitles every episode. It isn’t simple. We back out which then you need to refind the episode you were watching which does not resume but starts from the beginning. It was easy before. Upgrades threw everything out of sync making it harder to use.
I have a problem with subtitles getting truncated when watching one specific series: Penoza on Amazon Prime. It doesn’t matter how small I make the subtitles . The first line gets truncated instead of being wrapped onto the next.Sometimes it only misses out half a word (and so can easily guess it) but other times it misses out several words which makes it more difficult to follow. I’m not sure whether it’s worth contacting amazon prime about this directly
My subtitles went off while watching a program tried everything that I was told to do and still did not work, then went to prime support answered questions, and then they tried to sent me to another person who was going to charge me for their service what a rip off I pay every month to watch and they cannot fix it or tell me why it will not work
I’m having the same problem and I’ve already tried doing everything that they said to do and its still not working :/
Stopped working for me too….on Firefox. Tried it on Microsoft Edge and captions showed up.
My subtitles were working at an earlier date. When they were available at the top to turn on. They are not any more and I am not happy.
Subtitles are not working despite trying everything, watching on Amazon prime on my lg tv and tried to select cc multiple times :/
My captions randomly have”demo” in between words or within words. How do I fix this?
I am having a similar issue. I’ve watched this particular TV show before, and ALL episodes and seasons are cc, however, when I play some of them, a disclaimer appears on the bottom of the screen saying “subtitles are not supported on this video” this makes absolutely no sense to me. It says at the beginning before you push play, at the top cc.
I don’t understand.
The problem is that the subtitles are gone despite being set to be on, when I resume playing another day.