SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit · error · FileNotFoundException

Subtitle file not found: {filePath}

Error message

Subtitle file not found: {filePath}

What it means

Thrown by LoadSubtitleWithFormat when the subtitle file does not exist on disk (File.Exists returns false). This is the standard FileNotFoundException — the path is unresolvable, the file was deleted, or the path is wrong. The file path is embedded in the message for diagnostics.

Source

Thrown at src/seconv/Core/LibSEIntegration.cs:65

        return entries;
    }

    public sealed record FormatEntry(SubtitleFormat Format, string Kind);

    /// <summary>
    /// Loads a subtitle file using LibSE. When <paramref name="encodingName"/> is null/blank,
    /// the encoding is auto-detected from the file's content. When
    /// <paramref name="fallbackEncodingName"/> is supplied (and <paramref name="encodingName"/>
    /// is not), the fallback replaces the ANSI codepage heuristic: a BOM still wins, valid
    /// UTF-8 still wins, but anything else uses the fallback rather than DetectAnsiEncoding.
    /// Also returns the detected source format so the save side can apply
    /// <c>RemoveNativeFormatting</c> if the target is different.
    /// </summary>
    public static (Subtitle Subtitle, SubtitleFormat Format) LoadSubtitleWithFormat(string filePath, string? encodingName = null, string? fallbackEncodingName = null, List<string>? warnings = null)
    {
        if (!File.Exists(filePath))
        {
            throw new FileNotFoundException($"Subtitle file not found: {filePath}");
        }

        var subtitle = new Subtitle();
        Encoding encoding;
        if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(encodingName))
        {
            encoding = GetEncoding(encodingName);
        }
        else if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fallbackEncodingName))
        {
            encoding = DetectEncodingWithFallback(filePath, fallbackEncodingName);
        }
        else
        {
            encoding = LanguageAutoDetect.GetEncodingFromFile(filePath);
        }

        var lines = new List<string>(File.ReadAllLines(filePath, encoding));

View on GitHub (pinned to 17a9f07487)

Solutions

1. Verify the path with File.Exists before calling LoadSubtitleWithFormat, and surface a clean error.
2. If the path is relative, resolve it against the intended base directory with Path.GetFullPath before the call.
3. Check for typos, trailing spaces, or shell-quoting issues in the argument.

Example fix

// before
var (sub, fmt) = LibSEIntegration.LoadSubtitleWithFormat(path);

// after
if (!File.Exists(path))
    throw new FileNotFoundException($"Input subtitle not found: {path}");
var (sub, fmt) = LibSEIntegration.LoadSubtitleWithFormat(path);

if (!File.Exists(filePath))
    throw new FileNotFoundException($"Subtitle file not found: {filePath}", filePath);
var (sub, fmt) = LibSEIntegration.LoadSubtitleWithFormat(filePath);

static bool IsSubtitleFileReadable(string path) => File.Exists(path);

try { var (sub, fmt) = LibSEIntegration.LoadSubtitleWithFormat(path); }
catch (FileNotFoundException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("Subtitle file not found"))
{ /* report missing input file to user, check path/spelling */ }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling LoadSubtitleWithFormat(filePath, ...) where filePath points to a non-existent file. Common in CLI invocations with a typo'd path, a relative path resolved from the wrong working directory, or a file that was moved/deleted between validation and load.

Common situations: Typo in the CLI input path; relative path resolved against an unexpected CWD (especially in scripts or batch jobs); file on a network mount that dropped; race between file creation and this call.

Related errors

• EBU header file not found: {ebuHeaderFile}
• ASSA style file not found: {assaStyleFile}
• Multiple-replace file not found: {path}
• OCR model file not found: {name}
• No Blu-Ray sup subtitles found in: {filePath}

AI-assisted analysis of SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit@17a9f07487 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3ef7aa53347da32f. Report an issue: GitHub.