Netflix announced Thursday the introduction of dialogue-only subtitles, addressing the viewing preferences of approximately 50 percent of Americans who watch content with subtitles enabled.
The streaming giant will initially offer this feature on Netflix originals, beginning with season 5 of You, before expanding to additional titles in its catalog.
This new option provides an alternative to the platform’s standard Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH/CC), which include descriptions of ambient sounds, music cues, and speaker identification. The dialogue-only version displays just the spoken lines, catering to viewers who prefer a cleaner subtitle experience.
“Dialogue-only subtitles will be available on all new originals in every language we offer, in addition to SDH/CC,” a Netflix representative stated.
To access the feature, viewers can open the language picker while watching compatible content and select from two distinct English options. The standard “English” selection will display only spoken dialogue, while “English (CC)” retains the audio descriptions and ambient sound cues.
The same distinction will apply across all supported languages, giving international viewers the same customization options.
This update follows Netflix‘s recent addition of subtitle customization tools for its TV app, allowing users to adjust the size, style, and color of subtitles to suit their viewing preferences.
While currently limited to originals, the dialogue-only subtitle option addresses a growing preference among streaming viewers who enable subtitles regardless of hearing ability or language comprehension — often citing inconsistent volume levels and audio mixing as reasons for relying on text assistance.
