Device-level subtitle adjustment

Before getting into specific streaming services and apps, it might be best to point out that while most make subtitle customization fairly painless, once you know where to look, the paths to them vary more than they should.

As a general rule, if subtitles are something you know you want to have consistently on across all your streaming apps, all the major devices have system-level subtitle and captioning settings that you can set and that sometimes override in-app defaults across all your streaming apps at once.

With all of them, you can customize things like fonts, font size, font color, background color, opacity, edged style, highlights, and more. You can also create new styles and save them as presets.

For Apple TV: On the Apple TV device, go to Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles and Captioning > Style. Here you’ll be able to adjust all kinds of subtitle formatting options.

For Fire TV: Open the Settings menu and choose Accessibility > Closed Caption, where you’ll find menu items for text, text background, and more.

For Roku: From the Settings menu, select Accessibility > Captions style for a wide range of options.

For Android TV: From the Settings menu, navigate to Device Preferences > Accessibility > Captions.

For Google TV: From the Home Screen, select Settings > Accessibility > Caption preferences > Caption size and style.

Netflix

Profile-based settings that sync across all your devices’

As mentioned above, Netflix takes care of its own subtitle preferences, which are tied to your account profile, and can be adjusted differently for each. The best way to make these changes is through a web browser, which will sync across the Netflix apps on all your devices.

1. At Netflix.com, log in to your account and select your profile.
2. From the dropdown menu, select Account > Profiles > and then the profile you want to change.
3. Under Subtitle Appearance, you’ll find a range of great modifications you can make—from text size, font, and text color to adding drop shadowing and background colors to make text stand out over busy images.
4. Make the changes you want, which you’ll be able to preview before hitting save.
5. You can always choose Restore to Default if you want to start again or walk away.
6. The changes will take effect across your profile on all your signed-in devices.

Prime Video

Save presets that you can switch between during playback

Amazon Prime Video offers one of the more flexible subtitle systems, allowing you to save multiple style presets and switch between them during playback, often across several devices. Like Netflix, though, one of the best ways to adjust and personalize them is on the web.

1. In a web browser, while a video is playing, you can click or tap the Subtitles & Audio icon (speech bubble) in the upper-right corner of the player.
2. Select Subtitles Settings from the menu.
3. Here you can adjust font size and choose from four presets.

To build and manage those presets so you can access them on the other devices and apps that allow it, though, the best way to adjust is on the web. Log in to primevideo.com and through your profile, go to Account & Settings > Subtitles, where you can edit up to four saved presets.

HBO Max

Different options depending on how you’re watching

Adjusting subtitle settings on HBO Max (beyond just turning them on and off, etc.) varies depending on how you’re watching.

On the web: At hbomax.com, click your profile, then go to Settings > Subtitle Style to adjust font, color, size, and opacity.

On TV and mobile devices: Select the Audio and Subtitles icon during playback for basic styling. For size controls and more, this is handled at the device level (see the top of this post).

Disney+

Access subtitle options from various points

Disney+ has several different ways to adjust subtitle formatting depending on how you’re watching.

On mobile devices that run iOS and Android, they’re accessed through the system’s Settings > Accessibility menus.

On smart TVs, you can access it while watching a video. Press pause and then select the Audio & Subtitles menu that appears at the top right. Then select the Subtitle Styling option.

Apple TV and Fire TV also use their system-level preferences that can be accessed through their Settings > Accessibility and captioning options.

If you watch Disney+ through a web browser, you can access them by pausing a video and selecting Audio & Subtitles in the top right corner. A Gear icon will appear, which will lead to the Subtitle Styling settings. Make your style adjustments and click the back arrow to continue watching.

Hulu

Multiple subtitle options across your viewing entry points

If you’re watching Hulu through Disney+, then you can use the same steps above. If you’re using the Hulu standalone app or Hulu online, it’s pretty similar, too.

On smart TVs and supported streaming devices, from the Home screen, scroll left or select Back to access the Settings > Subtitles & Captions.

On mobile devices like iOS and Android, you can find them through the Settings and Accessibility menus under Subtitles & Captioning/Captions.

Through a web browser, it’s found through the Settings icon > Subtitles & Audio > Settings.

Paramount+

Mostly player-based, with universal device overrides

For Paramount+, subtitle customization is available directly from the player on most devices, but it can also use your device’s system settings (see the top of this post for how). Some devices, like Apple TV, allow you to access and adjust those settings from within the Paramount+ app itself.

On smart TVs and streaming devices, during playback, click the speech bubble icon in the upper-right corner, or bottom right. Depending on your device, you will have different options for adjusting subtitle formatting. The Apple TV device, for example, lets you access some style presets as well as gives you a path to accessing the device’s universal settings through Manage Styles.

On the web, you can access subtitle options through the Settings > Subtitles + Audio menus.

On smart TVs like Hisense, LG, and Samsung, go through the Paramount app’s Settings > Closed Captions menus.

Apple TV

No in-app controls, it’s all handled at system levels

Unlike every other service here, Apple TV has no in-app subtitle size controls. It defers entirely to system-level settings, which do apply globally.

On an Apple TV device, go to Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles and Captioning > Style. This will affect all streaming apps that use the universal settings.

On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles & Captioning > Style and customize from there.

On a Mac, Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Accessibility > Captions.

Most streaming services make subtitle customization fairly painless, once you know where to look. As a general rule, if a service feels limited on your TV, check your streaming device’s system-level accessibility settings. On Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, and most Android TV devices, a single caption style preference can override in-app defaults across all your streaming apps at once.