After searching for a while I've discovered the following script. It works just like mine but it is much better, doesn't have this bug related to ASCII characters and it also can skip sounds by analyzing brackets. I recommend you using this script first instead of mine. Also, set "reset_before" variable in this script to 2 seconds time. Otherwise this script will also speed up small parts of the speech, don't know why it works that way, i personally use following settings:

local config = {
    start_enabled = true, -- enable transitions when mpv starts without having to enable them in the menu
    notifications = false, -- enable notifications when speed changes
    pause_on_start = false, -- pause when a subtitle starts
    pause_before_end = false, -- pause before a subtitle ends
    hide_subs_when_playing = false, -- hide subtitles when playback is active
    start_delay = 0.5, -- if the next subtitle appears after this threshold then speedup
    reset_before = 2, --seconds to stop short of the next subtitle
    min_duration = 2.5, -- minimum duration of a skip
    normal_speed = 1, -- reset back to this speed
    inter_speed = 5, -- the value that "speed" is set to during speedup
    menu_font_size = 24, -- font size
    skip_non_dialogue = true, -- skip lines that are enclosed in parentheses
    skip_immediately = false, -- skip non-dialogue lines without transitioning
}

If it doesn't work to you for some reason you can try using my version.

Automatically skip silent parts in videos using subtitle timing data

This MPV script speeds up playback during silent sections of videos by analyzing subtitle timing information. When dialogue appears, playback returns to normal speed automatically.

The original mpv-skipsilence by ferreum uses audio detection to identify silent parts, which works well for many use cases. However, I needed maximum accuracy for my workflow - specifically for watching and mining Japanese content in Memento Player (the most convenient solution for studying Japanese with Anki integration).

Audio-based detection wasn't precise enough for my goals, so I created this subtitle-based version that analyzes subtitle files directly for perfectly accurate timing synchronization with dialogue.

Key advantage: The script automatically adapts to subtitle timing adjustments made within the player, so if you shift subtitle timing to fix sync issues, the silence detection updates accordingly.

• Speed Control: Automatically speeds up video during gaps between subtitles
• Subtitle-Based Detection: Uses subtitle timing for precise, accurate silence detection
• Dynamic Timing Adaptation: Automatically adjusts to subtitle timing changes made in the player
• Customizable Settings: Fine-tune skip speed, margins, and minimum silence duration inside of the skip-silence.lua file
• Format Support: Works with SRT and ASS subtitle formats
• Non-Intrusive: Preserves your preferred playback speed settings

• MPV Player (or Memento Player - MPV-based)
• External subtitle files (.srt or .ass format)
• Subtitle file must be loaded in the player (just drag and drop it)

1. Navigate to your Memento configuration folder
2. Create a folder named scripts (if it doesn't already exist)
3. Copy skip-silence.lua into the scripts folder
4. Restart Memento Player

Example path structure:

[Memento Config Folder]/
└── scripts/
    └── skip-silence.lua

1. Locate your MPV configuration directory:

   • Windows: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\mpv\scripts\
   • Linux: ~/.config/mpv/scripts/
   • macOS: ~/.config/mpv/scripts/

2. If the scripts folder doesn't exist, create it

3. Copy skip-silence.lua into the scripts folder

4. Restart MPV

Note: You can also place the script in a scripts subfolder next to your mpv.conf file.

1. Open a video with external subtitles loaded
2. Press F2 to activate silence skipping
3. The script will automatically speed up during silent parts
4. Press F2 again to disable

Open skip-silence.lua in a text editor to customize settings. All options are documented in the CONFIGURATION OPTIONS section at the top of the file.

The script cannot read subtitle files with non-ASCII characters in the file path or filename.

This includes:

• Japanese characters
• Chinese characters
• Cyrillic characters
• Other special Unicode characters

Workaround: Rename subtitle files and parent folders to use only ASCII characters (A-Z, 0-9, basic punctuation). So far, I couldn't find any working solution to it. If you know how to fix it please tell me.

• Only works with external subtitle files (not embedded/internal subs)
• Supports SRT and ASS formats only
• Requires subtitles to be loaded before activation

Contributions welcome! If you know how to fix the non-ASCII path issue, please submit a pull request.

• Ensure you have external subtitles loaded (not embedded)
• Check that the subtitle file path contains only ASCII characters
• Verify the subtitle format is .srt or .ass

• Check your subtitle file has proper timing data
• Try pressing F5 to reload subtitles
• Verify min_silence_duration isn't set too high

• Create the scripts folder manually in your MPV config directory
• See installation instructions above for exact paths

This project inherits the license from the original mpv-skipsilence project.

Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome!

Priority improvements:

• Fix non-ASCII file path reading
• Add option to skip silence completely
• Add option to skip sounds