ToolPouch.aiSubtitles open as garbled text
Text like “書”, “锟斤拷” or a row of question marks means the file was decoded with the wrong encoding — the file itself is usually intact.
Check these three things first
- It looks fine on your computer but breaks for someone else: the encoding is not stored, so each app guesses.
- A “�” or “锟斤拷” means the characters were already lost; that cannot be undone.
- Old Traditional Chinese files are often Big5, old Simplified ones GBK, while browsers and editors expect UTF-8.
How to fix it
Drop the file into Subtitle Format Repair: it detects the encoding and shows which one it used. If it guesses wrong, pick Big5 or GBK in the encoding dropdown and the text is decoded again instantly.
Re-decode this fileFAQ
Can garbled subtitles be fully recovered?
Yes, as long as the characters still exist and were only read with the wrong encoding. If the file contains “�” or “锟斤拷”, the characters were lost when it was saved and must be retyped.
Will the file break again for someone else?
No. The tool writes UTF-8, which CapCut, Premiere and browsers all read correctly.