What are hardcoded (burned-in) subtitles?
Also called hard subs, hardsubs, or burned-in subtitles: text rendered permanently into the video image — you can't turn it off, select it, or copy it. GeekLink reads that text back out into an editable subtitle file.
Can it do a whole folder at once?
Yes. Import a folder of episodes and GeekLink queues and processes every one, then batch-exports a subtitle file for each.
Does it work if the video has no audio?
Yes — it reads the on-screen text, not the sound, so muted or music-only clips work the same.
What do I get out?
An editable, time-synced subtitle file — the standard .srt format that every editor (Subtitle Edit, Premiere, Final Cut) reads. Edit it, re-time it, or translate it.
Is GeekLink on the Mac App Store?
No. GeekLink is a free direct download from geeklink.dev — it is not on the Mac App Store. Get the DMG from the site; no App Store, no account, and no login required.
Are the subtitle timings accurate?
Yes. GeekLink detects frame by frame when each subtitle line appears and disappears, so the exported SRT is time-aligned to the video — useful even if you only care about the timing and not perfect text (e.g. subs2srs cards for language learning).
Is it really free?
Extracting subtitles and exporting them are free. Pro removes the export watermark and adds AI translation — you don't need it just to pull subtitles.
