IPTV in French: Audio Tracks, Subtitles and Closed Captions

To watch in French, start with the French version of a channel: most French programming comes on its own channels rather than as a second track on an English one. When a channel or film does carry extra audio or caption tracks, switch them from the player’s playback menu, not from the TV’s settings. Device language settings only change menus and keyboards.

French channel or French track? Know which one you need

On live TV, language usually comes with the channel. A French channel broadcasts in French as its main audio, and an English channel broadcasts in English. Switching an English channel to French only works when that channel carries a second audio track, and many don’t.

Some channels do carry an extra track. Wikipedia’s article on the second audio program (SAP) describes SAP as a way to deliver audio in another language and audio description, and notes it has been used in Canada to carry both English and French audio on the same channel.

Movies and series in the on-demand library work differently. A film can hold several audio tracks and several subtitle tracks, so French audio or French subtitles may be one menu away.

Our list includes English and French Canadian channels plus international channels, so the quickest route to French programming is a favourites group of French channels. You build it once and open it every time.

Switching the audio track during playback

In almost every player, audio and subtitle choices live in the playback menu, which opens while the video plays. The steps are much the same everywhere:

1. Start the channel or film.
2. Open the playback menu with OK, Select or the Menu button, or a long press, depending on the app.
3. Choose the speaker icon, or an option called Audio or Audio track.
4. Pick the track you want.
5. Give it a second or two; the sound may cut out briefly while the player switches.

Track labels come from the stream, not the player, and they aren’t always tidy. They often use ISO 639-2 language codes: fra or fre for French, eng for English, and und for undetermined, which means the stream didn’t label the language. A track called Track 2 or und can still be French, so try each one.

Android TV and Google TV players

Full-featured Android TV players put audio and subtitle choices in their on-screen menu during playback. Televizo’s store listing, for example, names selection of video tracks, audio tracks and subtitles among its features.

On Fire TV, these Android players are installed from outside Amazon’s store, which works on Fire OS models. Amazon lists the Fire TV Stick 4K (3rd Gen, 2026), 4K Select (2025) and HD (2026) as Vega OS devices that can’t install Android player apps that way.

VLC

VLC for Android lists multi-track audio and subtitles, Teletext and closed captions among its features in its store listing. On a computer, the audio choice is under Audio → Audio Track, and subtitle tracks have their own menu.

Kodi

In Kodi, open the on-screen controls during playback and use the audio and subtitle settings. With a keyboard, T turns subtitles on and off and L moves to the next subtitle track.

Apple TV

In apps that use Apple’s own player, show the playback controls and open the audio menu, where Audio Track lets you pick a language or audio descriptions. Third-party IPTV apps often use their own player, so their menus can look different; our Apple TV setup guide covers the player side.

Fire TV

In Amazon’s own player, the Menu button opens Subtitles and Audio options during playback. IPTV player apps use their own menus, so look for audio and subtitle icons inside the app instead.

Why the language resets when you change channel

Players treat each channel as a new stream, so an audio choice on one channel doesn’t always carry over to the next. Some players remember a choice per channel; others return to the stream’s default track every time.

If your player has a preferred audio language setting, set it to French. When a stream offers a track labelled fra or fre, the player can pick it automatically. Tracks labelled und can’t be matched by any preference, so those still need choosing by hand.

Apple TV has a related setting for subtitles. Apple’s guide to subtitle settings on Apple TV 4K puts it under Settings → Video and Audio → Automatic Subtitles, where Show for Different Languages turns subtitles on when a video’s language doesn’t match your Apple TV language, and Subtitle Language sets which one to use.

Closed captions and subtitles are not the same thing

Closed captions are a text version of what you hear, including sound cues such as music or laughter, made for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Subtitles usually show only the dialogue, often translated into another language.

On North American TV, captions travel inside the video signal in two standards. EIA-608, also called CEA-608, began with analogue TV, and later revisions added extended character sets for French, Spanish and other Western European languages. Its successor, CTA-708, is the caption standard for ATSC digital TV in the United States and Canada; it adds more of the Latin-1 character set and can carry 608 captions inside it.

The 608 standard defines four caption channels, CC1 to CC4, although only CC1 and CC3 are used in practice. If your player lets you choose between CC1 and CC3, try both, since the second channel can carry different text.

Subtitles for films and series are usually separate text tracks instead. You choose them from the subtitle menu, the same way as an audio track.

Why captions work in one app and not another

Captions only appear if every step keeps them. The channel must include caption data, the stream must carry it through to you, and the player must decode it; our explainer on how IPTV works shows the steps in between.

Player support varies the most. Some players read 608 and 708 captions embedded in the video, while others only show separate subtitle tracks and ignore embedded captions. VLC is a useful test: if VLC shows captions on a channel and your usual app doesn’t, the app is the limit.

Device caption settings can help or confuse. Google TV’s Settings → Accessibility → Captions comes with Google’s warning that caption preferences might not apply to certain apps, and Fire TV’s caption instructions centre on Amazon’s own player. Turn captions on inside the IPTV app first.

Device language settings: menus, keyboards and defaults

Changing the device language changes its menus, the on-screen keyboard and, in apps that support it, the apps’ own menus. It doesn’t change the language a channel broadcasts in.

• Fire TV: Settings → Preferences → Language. Amazon notes that Fire TV doesn’t support every language, and some features may be unavailable in some.
• Apple TV 4K: Settings → General → Apple TV Languages, where you can add French as a preferred language or make it the primary one. Added languages also become keyboard choices.
• Google TV and Android TV: look for Language in the System section of Settings.
• Smart TVs: the language option is usually in the general or system settings, and it also sets the language of the TV’s own apps.

Many player apps follow the device language for their menus when they have a French translation, and fall back to English when they don’t. Some have their own language option in their settings, which overrides the device.

The TV guide stays in the language of the listings

Guide titles and descriptions come from the listing data for each channel, not from your device. French channels generally show French titles and descriptions, and English channels show English ones, whatever language your menus use.

No player setting translates the guide. If a French channel shows English listings, or none at all, tell support which channel, because its guide source may need correcting. Empty or shifted guides in general are covered in our guide to an empty or wrong TV guide.

Dates and times in the guide follow the device’s region and time settings. On Apple TV, Settings → General → Region also sets the display format, so a French region shows dates the French way.

French versions in the movie and series library

In the on-demand library, French can arrive in two ways. Some titles are a single file with several audio and subtitle tracks, and you switch inside the player. Others appear as separate entries, one per language, often with a label in the title or category name.

The labels follow French film-industry shorthand, which Wikipedia’s article on dubbing explains: VF means version française, the French dub; VO means version originale, the original language; and VOST means the original with subtitles, with VOSTFR specifying French subtitles. A category named in French usually holds French versions.

Some films have more than one French dub, one made in Canada and one in France, and catalogues don’t always say which one you are getting. If the accent or the vocabulary surprises you, look for another entry of the same title before assuming that is the only French version.

Subtitle tracks in the library are usually separate text tracks, so they appear in every player that supports subtitles. That makes films and series the easiest place to watch with French text, even on players that can’t decode live captions.

Making subtitles easier to read

Default caption text can be small, thin or hard to read against bright scenes. Device settings let you change it, at least in each maker’s own player:

• Apple TV 4K: Settings → Accessibility → Subtitles and Captioning → Style, where you choose a style or edit font, size, colour, background and opacity.
• Fire TV: Amazon says you can set text size and style preferences when you turn subtitles on, with a sample shown as you change them.
• Google TV: Settings → Accessibility → Captions, then turn on Display and choose your options.
• IPTV apps: many have their own subtitle size or style option in their settings, which applies to their own player.

A semi-transparent dark background behind white text is the easiest combination to read on most pictures. Larger text helps more on a big TV across the room than on a small one up close.

Described video for blind and partially sighted viewers

Described video adds a narrated track that describes what happens on screen: actions, scene changes and on-screen text. Wikipedia’s article on audio description explains that Canada calls this described video (DV), and that under CRTC rules most TV channels must carry quotas of programming with it.

The CRTC uses “audio description” for something else: presenters reading out key on-screen information in news and information programmes. That is spoken in the main audio, so there is nothing to select.

Described video is commonly carried as a secondary audio track. In an IPTV player it appears, when the channel passes it through, as an extra entry in the audio track menu, sometimes with a language code and sometimes just as another track. Programmes with description open with a standard DV logo, which tells you when it is worth checking the menu.

Device settings for audio descriptions mainly serve each maker’s own player. Amazon’s list of Fire TV accessibility features ties its Audio Descriptions setting to Amazon’s own video app, and Apple TV’s Settings → Accessibility → Audio Descriptions applies where Apple’s player is used. In an IPTV app, choose the track by hand.

Typing French characters when you search

Searching for Montréal, Télé or Québec with a remote is slow if you hunt for accents letter by letter. Each platform has a shortcut:

• Apple TV: move to the letter, then press and hold the clickpad centre or touch surface to see alternate characters, including accented letters. An iPhone or iPad can also act as the keyboard.
• Fire TV: the Fire TV app on your phone includes a keyboard, so you can type with your phone’s own keyboard, accents included.
• Google TV and Android TV: if pressing and holding a letter doesn’t offer accents, search without them.
• Any device: type a part of the word that has no accent, such as “Mont” or “nouvelles”.

Player search boxes don’t all treat é and e the same way. If a search with the accent finds nothing, try again without it, and the other way round.

Dictation can be faster where the device offers it in the keyboard. Apple notes that dictation may or may not be available depending on the language you select, so check it in French before you count on it.

By-device quick reference

The table gathers the settings from this article in one place. Paths for Fire TV and Apple TV come from Amazon and Apple; the others vary by model and app version.

Apps built into Samsung and LG TVs have their own menus again; our guide to IPTV apps for Samsung and LG TVs covers them.

Setting up a bilingual household

In homes that move between French and English, a little organisation saves a lot of scrolling. These steps take about ten minutes per TV:

• Make two favourites groups, one French and one English, and put each person’s channels in theirs.
• Give each main TV the menu language its usual viewers prefer.
• On Apple TV, add both languages under Apple TV Languages so the keyboard switches between them.
• For children learning French, choose French channels, and turn on French subtitles on films whose files include them.
• For live sports, the commentary language follows the channel, so pick the French or English channel carrying the game; our game night guide covers sound and commentary in more detail.
• If French and English viewers watch at the same time in different rooms, each stream uses a screen; plans run from 1 to 5 screens, and our guide to planning screens helps you count.
• Apply the same parental locks in both languages; our IPTV parental controls guide shows how.

Using TV to practise French or English

Live TV is a cheap and steady source of listening practice, and a few settings make it easier to follow. Start with programmes where people speak clearly and the picture helps: news, documentaries, cooking and children’s programmes. Fast comedy and talk shows are better saved for later.

On films and series, same-language subtitles work well: French audio with French subtitles lets you see the words you hear. As your ear improves, switch the subtitles off for a scene at a time.

Catch-up and pause help too. Rewind a sentence you missed, or replay last night’s news bulletin the next morning; our guide to catch-up TV and timeshift explains which channels and players support it.

The same habits work in the other direction for French speakers learning English. Put each learner’s practice channels in their own favourites group, so practice starts with one click.

When sound and picture drift after a switch

Switching audio tracks can occasionally leave the sound slightly out of step with the picture. Switching back and forth once, or restarting the channel, usually realigns it.

If a track plays no sound at all, it may be in a format your device or soundbar doesn’t handle; choose another track to confirm. Both problems, and their fixes, are covered in our guide to IPTV audio out of sync.

Still no French audio or captions?

Before you contact us, try the same channel in a second app, such as VLC. If the track or captions appear there, your first app is the limit; if they don’t appear anywhere, the channel may not carry them.

• the channel name and version (4K, FHD, HD or SD);
• the programme and the time you watched it;
• the player app and the device;
• a photo of the audio or subtitle menu showing the tracks offered;
• whether another app shows the track or captions.

Send it through Online Support. Our Canadian IPTV with French channels plans include English and French Canadian channels plus international channels, and the setup guide covers each device.

Questions people ask