What to Do If Your Hulu Subtitles & Captions Are Out of Sync

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Take control of your Hulu captions so they match what’s being said

Co-authored by Janice Tieperman Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: June 6, 2024 Fact Checked

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How to Fix Hulu Subtitles & Captions

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Why are my Hulu subtitles out of sync?

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Troubleshooting Other Subtitle Issues

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Delayed or unsynced subtitles can be an incredibly frustrating experience, especially if you’re watching something that’s in another language. Thankfully, Hulu has plenty of simple troubleshooting options for uncooperative subtitles (like enabling and disabling your captions)—and we’re here to walk you through them all. Read on to learn 8 different ways to troubleshoot your unsynced subtitles, and how to handle other subtitle issues you might run into.

Fixing Out of Sync Subtitles on Hulu

Open the subtitle menu for your movie or show, turn off subtitles off, and then back on. If that doesn’t work, try restarting Hulu, checking your internet connection, rebooting your device and/or modem/router, updating the Hulu app, or clearing Hulu’s cache and data.

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How to Fix Hulu Subtitles & Captions

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Switch off your captions and turn them on again. Pull open the "Subtitles” menu in your video player and toggle it to “Off.” Then, toggle your subtitles back on in your selected language. Continue playing the video and see if that helps resync your captions. ^{[1]
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- TVs and streaming sticks (Roku, Fire Stick, etc.): Open the playback bar by hitting the “Up” button (or swiping down) on your device’s remote. From there, open the Settings menu. In the Captions & Subtitles section of the settings, hit Off to disable captions and then On to enable them again.
- Mobile: Hit the Settings icon on your Hulu program and find the Subtitles & Captions section. Here, hit Off to disable your captions and On to enable them. You’ll need to hit the X to confirm your choices.
- Web: Hit the Settings icon and find the Subtitles & Audio section. Click Off to disable subtitles and select your language to enable them again.
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Close and reopen Hulu. Close the window you’re using to watch Hulu, or exit the Hulu app. Then, reopen Hulu to see if subtitles are working properly.
- Tip: If you're using a computer, phone, or tablet to watch Hulu, try to close out any other apps you’re running on your device.
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See if other movies and shows have the same subtitle issues. Switch to a completely different movie or TV episode, ensuring that subtitles are toggled on. Do they seem synced to the video, or are they still out of whack?
- If the subtitles are in sync: Report the issue to Hulu directly via Hulu’s Contact Us page . If Hulu’s customer service team is currently helping a large volume of customers, you might not see the option to chat with a live person right away.
- If the subtitles are still out of sync: Keep troubleshooting your device using the options below.
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Optimize your internet connection. Hulu suggests performing a speed test on your device—typically, a 3.0 Mbps download speed is the minimum requirement for most Hulu streams. If you aren’t quite meeting that threshold, try: ^{[2]
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- Disconnecting any other devices from your modem/router
- Closing down any extra programs on your device besides Hulu
- Sitting physically closer to your router/modem
- Connecting the ethernet cable directly to your device
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Reboot your device and modem/router. Turn off the device you’re using to watch Hulu, and then turn it back on again to see if that improves your subtitle problems. It may also help to restart your router or modem to fix your internet connection , in case that’s the source of your problems.
- If you are watching Hulu on a TV or streaming device, unplug the device from the outlet, then plug it back in. Otherwise, turning off your TV may only put the device into sleep mode.
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Check that the Hulu app is up to date. If you’re watching Hulu via an app on your Android, iPhone, iPad, or smart TV/streaming device, head to your device's app store and see if there are any updates you need to download.
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Clear Hulu’s cache and data on your device. According to Hulu, corruption issues within the cached files for Hulu could create issues with the platform (like subtitle problems). Here’s a quick look at how to clear Hulu’s cache and data on different devices:
- Android: Go to Settings > Apps > Hulu > Storage . Then, check off Clear Cache and Clear Data. ^{[3]
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- Amazon Fire TV/Fire Stick: Go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications . Then, choose Clear Cache and Clear Data. ^{[4]
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- Android TV: Go to the Settings > Applications Hulu . Then, check off Clear Cache and Clear Data.
- Computer browser: Clear your browser’s cache if you watch Hulu on your computer.
- iPhone and iPad: Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Hulu . Use the Offload App to remove the app, and then reinstall Hulu.
- Nintendo Switch: Head to your System Settings, followed by Data Management > Manage Save Data > Delete Sava Data > Hulu .
- PS4: Go to Settings > Storage > System Storage > Saved Data > Hulu > Options > Delete .
- Roku : Go to the Home screen and hit the following buttons on your remote: Home (5x), Up (1x), Rewind (2x), and Fast Forward (2x).
- Xbox One: Head to the My Games and Apps page and go to Apps > Hulu > ☰ > More options > Manage App to clear your Hulu data. ^{[5]
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Uninstall Hulu and reinstall it again. If you’re accessing Hulu via an app, uninstall it completely from your device before reinstalling it again. Then, test out a video and see if the subtitles are working properly.