Netflix Allows Customizing TV Subtitle Appearances

After a long week, settling down to unwind with a great show or movie is a welcome break. Whether you’re using one of the top entertainment apps or streaming services, you have access to an abundance of great content. However, subtitles are a critical aspect of accessibility, especially for international programming. Netflix is now providing an upgrade to enhance your viewing experience on your TV by allowing you to customize subtitle appearances.

Streaming Subtitles to Your TV

Manually adjusting subtitle look and position on desktop and Android media players is easy. However, when streaming online, the service limits options. TechCrunch reports that Netflix already supported changing subtitle appearances on the web, but the controls are now accessible when streaming to your TV too.

Customizing Subtitle Appearances

Netflix provides three font size options and four style presets to customize subtitles. These presets have different text and background colors, such as white text without a background, white text with a drop shadow, black text on a white background, or yellow text on a black background. Though the options are limited, this is still a significant step forward considering the most popular choices are now available.

Impact on Accessibility

Customizing subtitle appearances may seem like a minor convenience or visual tweak to some, but it has a significant impact on users with hearing or vision-related disabilities. The default subtitles can be challenging to read when overlaid on bright footage, and these new style presets can aid those with color sensitivity.

Improving Accessibility on Netflix

Netflix’s aim is to make its platform and content more accessible. With this move, the technology company has taken a significant step forward. The upgrade is now available to everyone on smart TVs and connected TVs. However, it only works with a handful of languages for now.

Source: Netflix