GeekLink OCR

Turn subtitles burned into the video into an editable subtitle file.

When to use OCR

Use OCR when the subtitles are already visible in the video image but you cannot find a separate subtitle file. GeekLink reads those hardcoded subtitles and generates an editable SRT subtitle file.

OCR analyzes the video image rather than the audio track, so it can recover visible subtitles even when there is no usable audio.

How to Use

1. Choose "Extract hardcoded subtitles (OCR)"Select the OCR card on the home screen.
2. Import videosDrag video files into the OCR workspace, or click "Pick videos". This workspace accepts video files, not SRT files.
3. Click "Run Text Recognition"After confirming your settings, click the button to start processing.
4. Review the subtitle linesWhen the picker opens, every stable text line is detected automatically — subtitles and channel badges each get their own entry with a language dropdown (pre-filled). Delete the lines you don't want, check each line's language, and hit Confirm. Missed a line? Drag a box around it on the frame to add it (see details below).
5. Color sampling (optional)Only if you turned on "Fine-tune subtitle filtering by color" in More settings: you enter the color picker step -- paint over the subtitle text on a video frame to sample its color (see details below). Otherwise OCR reads every line in the box and this step is skipped.
6. Confirm colorAfter painting in the color picker, click "Confirm Color" to continue.
7. Wait for OCR to finishThe system automatically scans video frames to extract text content.
8. View resultsDone! Open the subtitle editor to view and edit the recognition results.

Review the Subtitle Lines

After you click Run, the region picker opens and detects every stable text line automatically: each line is marked on the frame in its own color, with a matching entry on the right. Subtitles, channel badges, and watermarks each appear as separate lines — delete the ones you don't want, check each line's language (pre-filled automatically, but do verify it), scrub the timeline to double-check, then hit Confirm. The languages you confirm also pick the recognition engine automatically: keep one Chinese line and one English line and bilingual recognition turns on by itself.

If a line was missed, drag a box around it on the frame — it is added as a Subtitle box with exact bounds: OCR reads exactly what you framed, nothing more. Detected lines and your boxes coexist, and every entry can be removed with its Delete button. OCR reads only the confirmed lines and boxes and ignores everything else on screen.

Two helpers cover edge cases: Deep-scan full video analyzes the whole video (~1-2 min) to find sparse subtitles that only appear in parts of it, and Convert for preview appears if the video will not play in the picker (older systems) - one click converts a preview copy, recognition unaffected.

While recognition runs you stay in control: Stop task next to the progress bar cancels the run (recognized parts are kept), and Review live in editor opens the subtitle editor read-only so you can check results against the picture as each segment completes.

The region picker now highlights detected text areas live: pause or scrub the timeline and boxes appear around every piece of text OCR will pick up, so you can see at a glance whether your box is accurate and whether stray text is sneaking in (tick "Hide detected text boxes" to turn the overlay off). If small interfering text ends up inside your box — game UI numbers, corner captions — drag the "Ignore small text" slider: filtered boxes fade out in real time, so just drag until only the subtitle stays highlighted.

Fine-Tune Subtitle Filtering by Color (Optional)

By default OCR reads every line of text inside your box. If the box still catches subtitle-sized clutter — a watermark or on-screen label sitting in the same area — turn on "Fine-tune subtitle filtering by color" in More settings. It adds a picker step where you isolate the real subtitle by its color. Leave it off and OCR simply reads everything in the box. (Filtering by font size is now built into the region-picker step via the "Ignore small text" slider — no need to enable this option for that.)

Sample the subtitle color

• Use the mouse to paint over the subtitle text area on the video frame; the system automatically collects the color at the painted positions
• Use the +/- buttons to zoom in/out for precise painting on small subtitles
• Made a mistake? Click "Clear Paint" to start over
• Once the minimum sample size is reached, the "Confirm Color" button becomes clickable

Try to paint directly on the subtitle text strokes and avoid the background area around them -- the more accurate the sampling, the better the recognition results.

Where did font-size filtering go?

Font-size filtering moved forward into the region-picker step: drag the "Ignore small text" slider and watch detection boxes fade in real time to drop small interfering text — no more typing pixel values here. The color picker now does one thing: color sampling.

Filter Out Another Language (Optional)

Some frames carry burned-in text in two scripts at once — for example a Japanese video with Chinese subtitles added on top, or on-screen signage in one language under a caption in another. The "Filter text" setting lets you exclude a whole script so OCR ignores it: pick the language you don't want (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, or Arabic) and that text is dropped, leaving just your subtitle line.

OCR Settings Explained

FAQ