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MakeMKV uses ISO-639-2/T instead of ISO-639-2/B (lang codes)

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:14 pm
by Romansh
Create an MKV file from a Blu-Ray with MakeMKV, include a French subtitle track. Open the MKV in MediaInfo - the subtitle track is correctly labeled as French.

Now load the same MKV file in mkvmerge GUI, highlight the subtitle track (do not highlight any other track first): the language displayed is "Undetermined".
This likely indicates that MakeMKV uses the ISO-639-2/T code ("fra"), which mkvmerge GUI doesn't support:

https://www.bunkus.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=598

The mkvmerge developer claims the MKV spec mandates ISO-639-2/B (in this case, "fre").
ISO-639-2/T codes appear generally well supported by players (e.g. VLC, MPlayer - and WDTV Live, IIRC) and similar software (MediaInfo), but it seems the /B variant is at least the preferred form:

http://matroska.org/technical/specs/ind ... #languages

The players I mentioned and MediaInfo seem to support the /B variant as well.

Re: MakeMKV uses ISO-639-2/T instead of ISO-639-2/B (lang co

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:01 am
by mike admin
MakeMKV puts iso-639-3 codes.

Re: MakeMKV uses ISO-639-2/T instead of ISO-639-2/B (lang co

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:42 pm
by Romansh
mike admin wrote:MakeMKV puts iso-639-3 codes.
Heh.