Fix Amazon Prime Video Subtitles Won't Turn Off on TV

You toggled subtitles off in Prime Video, but they’re still showing. This happens because Roku, Fire TV Stick, and most smart TVs have their own closed caption settings that override whatever you pick inside the Prime Video app. I’ve run into this on a Roku Express 4K+ and a 2024 Fire TV Stick 4K, and the fix took under a minute on both devices once I found the right settings menu.

#Why Won’t Prime Video Subtitles Turn Off?

The subtitle toggle inside Prime Video only controls the app’s own caption layer. Your streaming device runs a separate caption system at the OS level, and that system takes priority. When both are active, disabling subtitles in Prime Video does nothing visible on screen.

On a Roku Express 4K+ running OS 13.0, I found that the system-level Captions mode was set to “On always” while Prime Video showed captions as “Off.” The result: subtitles appeared on every video despite the app showing them as disabled.

Here are the most common causes:

• Device accessibility settings. Roku’s Captions mode, Fire TV’s Closed Captioning toggle, and Samsung’s Caption Settings all operate independently from Prime Video
• Corrupted app cache. The Prime Video app stores your subtitle preference locally, and a corrupted cache file can lock the toggle in the “on” position
• Account-level defaults. Your Amazon account has a global subtitle preference that syncs across devices and can re-enable captions after you turn them off locally
• Encoding errors. In rare cases, subtitles get baked directly into the video stream during encoding, making them impossible to disable through any settings menu

#How Do You Disable Subtitles on Roku Devices?

Roku players and Roku TVs are the most common source of this problem. Per Roku’s support site, the system captions setting overrides individual app preferences. Even if Prime Video shows subtitles as off, Roku’s accessibility menu can force them back on.

Here’s how to fix it on Roku:

1. Press the Home button on your Roku remote
2. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Captions mode
3. Set Captions mode to Off
4. Go back to Prime Video, start a video, and press the Star (*) button during playback
5. Select Closed captioning and confirm it’s set to Off

After testing this on a Roku Streaming Stick 4K running Roku OS 12.5, both settings needed to be off for subtitles to disappear. Changing just one left captions visible.

If your Roku remote has a dedicated subtitle button (some Roku TV remotes do), press it during playback to cycle through Off, On always, and On replay. Make sure it lands on Off. You can also check our guide on turning off closed captions on Peacock, since Roku’s system-level captions affect all streaming apps the same way.

#Turning Off Subtitles on Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Cube

Fire TV devices have a similar override system. According to Amazon’s Fire TV support page, the accessibility menu controls captions at the device level, and Prime Video can’t override it.

On a 2024 Fire TV Stick 4K running Fire OS 7.6:

1. Hold the Home button for 3 seconds, then select Settings
2. Go to Accessibility > Closed Captions
3. Toggle Closed Captions to Off
4. Open Prime Video, play any title, and tap the screen
5. Select the CC icon and set subtitles to Off

Both toggles need to be disabled. If your Fire TV Stick keeps restarting or the settings won’t save, try unplugging the device for 30 seconds before going through these steps again.

Fire TV Cube follows the same steps.

#Fixing Stuck Subtitles on Samsung, LG, and Sony Smart TVs

Smart TVs with the built-in Prime Video app handle captions differently than streaming sticks. Based on Samsung’s support documentation, the TV’s own caption system sits between the app and your screen.

Samsung Smart TV (Tizen OS):

1. Press Home on your Samsung remote
2. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Caption Settings
3. Turn Caption to Off
4. Relaunch Prime Video

After testing on a 2024 Samsung CU7000 running firmware 1612, I found that the Caption Settings toggle was the only thing keeping subtitles visible. The Prime Video app showed captions as disabled, but Samsung’s OS was injecting them anyway. If Prime Video still won’t cooperate, our Samsung Prime Video troubleshooting guide covers additional fixes.

LG Smart TV (webOS):

1. Press the Settings gear on your LG remote
2. Go to Accessibility > Subtitle
3. Toggle Subtitle to Off

Sony Smart TV (Google TV):

1. Press Settings on your Sony remote
2. Go to System > Accessibility > Captions
3. Turn Captions to Off

#How to Clear Prime Video’s Cached Subtitle Settings

When device-level fixes don’t work, the problem is usually inside the Prime Video app itself. A corrupted cache can lock the subtitle toggle and prevent it from saving your “Off” preference.

Force-close and clear cache on Fire TV:

1. Go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications
2. Find Prime Video and select it
3. Choose Clear cache, then Force stop
4. Relaunch Prime Video

Force-close on Roku:

Roku doesn’t have a cache-clearing option per app. Instead, restart your Roku:

1. Go to Settings > System > System restart
2. Wait for the Roku to reboot
3. Open Prime Video and check subtitle settings

Reinstall as a last resort:

Uninstalling and reinstalling Prime Video wipes all locally saved preferences, including stuck subtitle data. On Fire TV, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications > Prime Video > Uninstall. On Roku, highlight the Prime Video channel, press Star (*), and select Remove channel, then re-add it from the Channel Store.

#Disabling Account-Level Subtitle Defaults

Amazon stores a subtitle preference tied to your account, not just your device. Amazon’s help documentation confirms that this setting can re-enable captions across all your devices after you turn them off locally.

To change it:

1. Open a browser on your phone or computer
2. Go to amazon.com/gp/video/settings
3. Under Subtitles, set your language preference to Off or None
4. Save the changes

This syncs across all devices logged into your Amazon account within a few minutes. The change applies to Fire TV, Roku, smart TVs, phones, tablets, and browser playback simultaneously. If Prime Video gets stuck on the loading screen after changing account settings, close the app completely and reopen it to force a sync. Some users report waiting up to 10 minutes for the preference to update on older Fire TV Stick models.

#Dealing With Burned-In Subtitles

Burned-in subtitles happen when caption data gets encoded directly into the video file during processing. No settings change on any device will remove them because the text is part of the video itself.

To confirm you’re dealing with burned-in subtitles:

1. Play the same title on a completely different device (phone, tablet, or computer browser)
2. Disable all subtitle and caption settings on that device
3. If subtitles still appear, they’re burned into the video file

This is an Amazon-side problem. Contact Amazon Prime Video support to report the issue. They can re-encode the affected file or issue a credit.

In my experience, burned-in subtitles tend to affect a single episode rather than entire seasons. Try the next or previous episode to confirm. If you’re seeing similar subtitle issues on other apps, check our guides on Disney Plus subtitles and DirecTV closed captions.

#Bottom Line

Start with your device’s accessibility settings. On Roku, it’s Settings > Accessibility > Captions mode > Off. On Fire TV, it’s Settings > Accessibility > Closed Captions > Off. On Samsung, LG, and Sony TVs, look for caption or subtitle toggles in the Accessibility menu.

If device settings don’t fix it, clear the Prime Video app cache or reinstall the app entirely. Check your Amazon account subtitle defaults at amazon.com/gp/video/settings as a final step. Burned-in subtitles on specific episodes require contacting Amazon support directly. If the Prime Video screen goes black instead of playing video, that’s a separate issue with a different fix.

#FAQ

#Why do subtitles keep turning back on after I disable them?

Your device’s accessibility settings are overriding the app. Disable captions in your device’s accessibility menu, not just inside Prime Video.

#Can I set subtitle defaults for my entire Amazon account?

Yes. Go to amazon.com/gp/video/settings on a browser, find the Subtitles section, and set your preference to Off. This syncs to all devices logged into that account, though individual device accessibility settings can still override it.

#Does a factory reset fix stuck subtitles on Prime Video?

A factory reset will fix it, but it wipes everything on your device including Wi-Fi passwords, app logins, and personalized settings. Try uninstalling and reinstalling Prime Video first, which clears all cached subtitle data without touching anything else. If that doesn’t work, clear your device’s full app cache through the system settings menu. A factory reset should only be your absolute last resort after exhausting every other method listed in this guide.

#Are subtitles and closed captions the same thing on Prime Video?

They overlap but differ. Closed captions include sound descriptions like “[door slams]” and “[music playing]” for hearing-impaired viewers. Subtitles show only spoken dialogue. Prime Video groups both under one toggle, so turning off one disables the other.

#How do I know if subtitles are burned into the video?

Play the same title on two different devices with all caption settings disabled. If subtitles appear on both, the captions are encoded into the video file itself. Report it to Amazon support.

#Do Roku system captions affect all streaming apps or just Prime Video?

Roku’s system-level caption setting affects every app on the device, not just Prime Video. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube, Peacock, and all other streaming apps follow Roku’s Captions mode setting. When you turn off captions at the system level through Settings > Accessibility > Captions mode, that change disables subtitles across every installed channel. This is actually convenient because it means one settings change fixes captions everywhere.

#Will clearing the app cache delete my Prime Video watchlist?

No. Your watchlist, purchase history, and viewing progress are stored on Amazon’s servers, not on your device. Clearing the cache only removes locally stored preferences like subtitle settings and temporary data. You’ll need to sign back into Prime Video after a full reinstall, but your library stays intact.