mpv Information
mpv v0.41.0 Copyright © 2000-2025 mpv/MPlayer/mplayer2 projects
built on Feb 11 2026 22:07:06
libplacebo version: v7.360.1
FFmpeg version: n8.0.1 (runtime n8.1.1)
FFmpeg library versions:
libavcodec 62.11.100 (runtime 62.28.101)
libavdevice 62.1.100 (runtime 62.3.101)
libavfilter 11.4.100 (runtime 11.14.101)
libavformat 62.3.100 (runtime 62.12.101)
libavutil 60.8.100 (runtime 60.26.101)
libswresample 6.1.100 (runtime 6.3.101)
libswscale 9.1.100 (runtime 9.5.101)
Other Information
- Linux version:
NAME="Arch Linux"
PRETTY_NAME="Arch Linux"
- Kernel Version:
Linux laptop 7.0.11-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:26:58 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux
- GPU Model:
04:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Lucienne [1002:164c] (rev c1)
- Mesa/GPU Driver Version:
driverInfo = Mesa 26.1.2-arch1.1
- Window Manager and Version:
kde kwin
- Source of mpv:
distro repos.
- Latest known working version:
same version.
- Issue started after the following happened:
nothing I remember except maybe system update.
Reproduction Steps
I noticed recently that mpv shows arabic/persian subtitles in a very buggy way.
the letters are disjoined (persian/arabic is like cursive english, its letters are connected to other letters in a word)
also some of letters are shown bigger than other but the whole subtitles is very small (had to use a bigger size font setting in mpv for it to be seen)
the english words are shown correctly.
I put 3 subtitles that shows the difference between correct and incorrect one.
It was not like this before.
I checked and it seems to be an issue when using noto-fonts .
when I removed noto-fonts (forced removed them as they are dependancies of a lot of GUI apps) then issue is gone as mpv seems to use the next font for it (vazirmatn). also using gnu-free-fonts instead of noto-fonts doesn't have this issue either.
vlc doesn't have this issue.
the noto-fonts had an update two days ago but downgrading to that version doesn't fix this issue.
Expected Behavior
correct subtitle rendering
Actual Behavior
buggy subtitle rendering
Log File
output2.txt
Sample Files
No response
I carefully read all instruction and confirm that I did the following:
mpv Information
Other Information
Reproduction Steps
I noticed recently that mpv shows arabic/persian subtitles in a very buggy way.
the letters are disjoined (persian/arabic is like cursive english, its letters are connected to other letters in a word)
also some of letters are shown bigger than other but the whole subtitles is very small (had to use a bigger size font setting in mpv for it to be seen)
the english words are shown correctly.
I put 3 subtitles that shows the difference between correct and incorrect one.
It was not like this before.
I checked and it seems to be an issue when using noto-fonts .
when I removed noto-fonts (forced removed them as they are dependancies of a lot of GUI apps) then issue is gone as mpv seems to use the next font for it (vazirmatn). also using gnu-free-fonts instead of noto-fonts doesn't have this issue either.
vlc doesn't have this issue.
the noto-fonts had an update two days ago but downgrading to that version doesn't fix this issue.
Expected Behavior
correct subtitle rendering
Actual Behavior
buggy subtitle rendering
Log File
output2.txt
Sample Files
No response
I carefully read all instruction and confirm that I did the following:
--log-file=output.txt.