They could borrow a trick from Netflix mentioned elsewhere in this thread: https://netflixsubs.app/docs/netflix/features/imgsub
I’m pretty sure it’s not too hard to implement an ASS → PNG renderer (especially considering vibe coding is now a thing). Then, just need to split out subs that can be actual text somehow from the ones that have to be overlays.
Apart from that... surely they could at least keep ASS subs for the players that support it, and serve “fallback” subs for low-end devices?
ASS can have frame-by-frame animation IIRC, so a stream of PNGs could end up being quite high bitrate with high complexity files
It can, but that doesn't mean they use that functionality.
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It is harder than you think and will break on many more devices than you think.
So you make the business decision to stop supporting weird devices that can't do the job right? Why on earth does a cartoon streaming site need provably-correct subtitle support for devices that clearly suck?
Because the owners of those devices are paying them.
I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but... why not keep proper ASS subs and fallback subs for those devices?