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+date = 2023-07-19T17:00:00
+title = "How to Fix Plex Error: 'Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up.'"
+description = "Read to learn how to fix a common Plex error where the transcoder crashes due to SRT subtitle files."
++++
+
+## Plex Transcoder Error
+
+Occasionally, you may see an error in your Plex client that references a
+failure with the transcoder conversion process.
+The specific error wording is:
+
+```txt
+Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up.
+```
+
+## Debugging the Cause
+
+In order to get a better look at what is causing the error, I'm going to observe
+the Plex console while the error occurs.
+To do this, open the Plex web client, go to `Settings` > `Manage` > `Console`.
+Now, try to play the title again and watch to see which errors occur.
+
+In my case, you can see the errors below are related to a subtitle file (`.srt`)
+causing the transcoder to crash.
+
+```txt
+Jul 19, 2023 16:49:34.945 [140184571120440] Error — Couldn't find the file to stream: /movies/Movie Title (2021)/Movie Title (2021).srt
+Jul 19, 2023 16:49:34.947 [140184532732728] Error — [Req#7611/Transcode/42935159-67C1-4192-9336-DDC6F7BC9330] Error configuring transcoder: TPU: Failed to download sub-stream to temporary file
+Jul 19, 2023 16:49:35.225 [140184532732728] Warning — [Req#760d/Transcode] Got a request to stop a transcode session without a valid session GUID.
+Jul 19, 2023 16:49:45.561 [140184532732728] Info — [Req#7648] AutoUpdate: no updates available
+Jul 19, 2023 16:51:23.402 [140184510081848] Info — Library section 1 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in "/movies/Movie Title (2021)/Movie Title (2021).srt"
+```
+
+## Solving the Error
+
+In my case, I simply removed the subtitle file because it was not critical to
+keep.
+You may also avoid this by turning off subtitles if you don't want to delete the
+file.
+
+```sh
+rm -rf "/movies/Movie Title (2021)/Movie Title (2021).srt"
+```
+
+Once the subtitle is removed from the directory or subtitles are turned off,
+try to play the title again.
+At this point, it should play without error.
+If not, reopen or refresh your Plex client and the Plex server:
+
+```sh
+sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver.service
+```
+
+## Related Discussion
+
+Looking at [a related Plex forum post](https://forums.plex.tv/t/subtitles-crashing-plex-transcoder-samsung-q80-tv-with-or-without-hardware-transcode/741441/2),
+it seems that `.srt` subtitles are the core issue here.
+However, Plex does not seem to have a resolution that fixes these errors.
+
+Unfortunately, I would suggest converting subtitle formats, burning the
+subtitles into the title, or simply removing subtitles when they cause crashes.