Subtitle appearance
The Appearance tab controls the visual rendering of subtitles in the video player and in video export. A real-time preview lets you immediately see the effect of each change.
Presets
Seven ready-to-use styles cover the most common use cases:
| Preset | Description |
|---|---|
| Cinema | White on semi-transparent black background — the classic cinema subtitle look |
| Netflix | White with black outline — the streaming platform standard |
| YouTube | White on dark banner — optimized for web readability |
| DVD / Blu-ray | Yellow with black outline — the physical media standard |
| Arte FR | Arte channel style |
| Broadcast | TV broadcast standard |
| Minimal | Clean style, no background or outline |
Selecting a preset instantly applies all its parameters. Modifying any parameter afterwards automatically switches to Custom mode.
Text
- Font — all fonts installed on the system are available, plus the default system font
- Weight — from Regular to Heavy (5 levels)
- Size — from 12 to 48 points
- Color — free color picker, plus the White level shortcut below
White level
Pure white (255) glares on cinema screens and clips on broadcast delivery. To avoid both, Scene Cut offers a white-level picker that rewrites the text color to the matching neutral gray:
| Preset | RGB value | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Graphic (255) | 255 / pure white | SDH, graphic content, web |
| Broadcast (220) | 220 | EBU R 15, Netflix delivery, TV broadcast |
| Cinema (210) | 210 | Softer for theatrical projection |
| Custom | other | Any non-neutral or out-of-preset color |
Selecting a preset instantly applies the matching shade. The picker switches to Custom as soon as a non-neutral color is used (yellow DVD/Blu-ray, for example).
Background (optional)
When enabled, a colored background appears behind the text:
- Color and opacity — adjustable independently
- Rounded corners — from 0 to 16 points
- Margins — horizontal and vertical around the text
Outline (optional)
The outline improves readability on light backgrounds:
- Color — typically black
- Thickness — from 0.5 to 4 points
On-screen position
- Bottom margin — distance between subtitles and the bottom of the frame (0 to 30%)
- Top margin — same for top-positioned subtitles (2 to 30%)
- Line spacing — spacing between the two lines of a subtitle (0 to 12 points)
- Letterbox compensation — automatically adjusts the position when the video has black bars at the top and bottom
Per-project style and default template
Since Scene Cut 1.1.2, the appearance style is saved inside the project file. Each .scenecut can therefore have its own look — handy for switching between a Netflix project and a cinema project without revisiting the preferences.
A Set as default template button locks the current style as the starting point for new projects. Existing projects are unaffected; they keep the style they were created with (or later edited to).