How to Extract an SRT From an MKV on a Mac

By Alexander Poirier

Updated February 10, 2017

MKVtoolnix is the only Mac client that can extract SRT files from an MKV file.
i Brian Kersey/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Matroska video files have the ".mkv" file extension, causing them to sometimes be referred to as MKV files. Unlike most video formats, where the SRT subtitle file exists independent of the video file, this file type often contains a subtitle track that must be extracted if you want to use the subtitles independently. On a Mac computer, you can extract the SRT file from an MKV file through the use of a third-party application that can be downloaded from the computer's Web browser.

Open a Web browser and navigate to "jonthn.free.fr." Click the "MKVtoolnix/" link, followed by the "MKVtoolnix-4.9.1" link to download the application image file onto your computer.

Double-click the MKVtoolnix image file to mount the image onto your computer's desktop. Double-click on the mounted image and double-click on the "MKVtoolnix" application icon to launch the application.

Click the "Add" button. Locate the MKV file that you want to extract the subtitles from on the computer's hard drive, highlight it and click the "Open" button. MKVtoolnix will now examine the video file and display its contents in the application window.

Place a checkmark next to the SRT track listed beneath the "Tracks, chapters and tags" heading.

Click the "Browse" button to the right of the "Output filename" heading. Click the arrow to the right of the "Format" heading and select "All Files" from the drop-down menu.

Type a name for the file, followed by the ".srt" file extension in the space labeled "Save As." You can name the file "subtitletrack.srt," for example. Select where you want the SRT file to be saved from the "Where" drop-down menu. Click the "Save" button to save the changes.

Click the "Start muxing" button to extract the subtitle track from the MKV file.

×