SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit · error · FormatException

Resolution is empty.

Error message

Resolution is empty.

What it means

Thrown by ResolutionParser.Parse when the `--resolution` value is null/empty/whitespace. The parser splits a WIDTHxHEIGHT string (e.g. 1920x1080) into a tuple for bitmap rendering at the correct dimensions; an empty string has no separator or tokens.

Source

Thrown at src/seconv/Core/ResolutionParser.cs:15

using System.Globalization;

namespace SeConv.Core;

/// <summary>
/// Parses <c>WIDTHxHEIGHT</c> strings (e.g. <c>1920x1080</c>) used by <c>--resolution</c>.
/// Both lowercase <c>x</c> and uppercase <c>X</c> are accepted.
/// </summary>
internal static class ResolutionParser
{
    public static (int Width, int Height) Parse(string input)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(input))
        {
            throw new FormatException("Resolution is empty.");
        }

        var s = input.Trim();
        var idx = s.IndexOfAny(['x', 'X']);
        if (idx <= 0 || idx == s.Length - 1)
        {
            throw new FormatException($"Resolution '{input}' is invalid. Expected WIDTHxHEIGHT, e.g. 1920x1080.");
        }

        var wPart = s[..idx];
        var hPart = s[(idx + 1)..];

        if (!int.TryParse(wPart, NumberStyles.None, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var w) ||
            !int.TryParse(hPart, NumberStyles.None, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var h) ||
            w <= 0 || h <= 0)
        {
            throw new FormatException($"Resolution '{input}' is invalid. Width and height must be positive integers.");
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 17a9f07487)

Solutions

1. Pass a WIDTHxHEIGHT value, e.g. `--resolution=1920x1080`.
2. Omit `--resolution` entirely if your conversion does not need bitmap dimensions.
3. Guard scripts: only emit the flag when the variable is non-empty.

Example fix

# before
seconv in.sup out.bdnxml --resolution=
# after
seconv in.sup out.bdnxml --resolution=1920x1080

if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(rawRes))
    throw new ArgumentException("--resolution requires WIDTHxHEIGHT");
var (w,h) = ResolutionParser.Parse(rawRes);

static bool IsResolutionParsable(string? s)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s)) return false;
    try { ResolutionParser.Parse(s); return true; } catch { return false; }
}

try { var res = ResolutionParser.Parse(input); }
catch (FormatException ex) when (ex.Message == "Resolution is empty.")
{
    // require resolution for bitmap targets, else skip
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `ResolutionParser.Parse(input)` with an empty/whitespace string, typically `--resolution=` with no value.

Common situations: Shell expansion blanking the variable; wrapper script defaulting to empty; user assumes a default resolution exists but bitmap export requires an explicit one.

Related errors

• Offset is empty.
• PAC code page is empty.
• Resolution '{input}' is invalid. Expected WIDTHxHEIGHT, e.g.
• Resolution '{input}' is invalid. Width and height must be po
• {StaticName} returned an unexpected response: {responseStrin

AI-assisted analysis of SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit@17a9f07487 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5983d2a78d09e1a8. Report an issue: GitHub.