Extract Subtitles from MP4

Why this matters

MP4 can carry soft subtitles as metadata tracks, but most short-form exports burn them into pixels instead. The right tool depends on which case you have.

The API probes the container first — if an embedded track exists it extracts it; otherwise it falls back to OCR.

How it works

Submit the MP4 URL and the API auto-detects: embedded track extraction is instant, OCR takes a bit longer.

Submit a job with an input URL (S3, GCS or HTTPS), poll the job URL, and download the rendered output. No GPU, no queues, no ffmpeg builds to babysit.

Code

import requests, time

API = "https://api.mlslabs.io/v1/subtitle-extractor/jobs"
headers = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
payload = {"input": "s3://bucket/video.mp4", "output_format": "srt"}

resp = requests.post(API, json=payload, headers=headers)
job = resp.json()
while job["status"] not in ("succeeded", "failed"):
    time.sleep(3)
    job = requests.get(job["url"], headers=headers).json()

print("Output:", job["output_url"])

Pro tips

• Check for embedded tracks first — they are free to extract.
• For hardcoded subs, 1080p or higher gives the best OCR accuracy.
• Export VTT for web players, SRT for editors and translation.

Run the MP4 extraction example in Postman.