It seams only happens when ass is on How to reproduce? 1. ./mplayer -ass -font ~/Library/Fonts/msyh.ttf -quiet -slave -sub-fuzziness 1 {the movie path} 2. with the slave mode, type set_property sub_scale 3 3. sub_load "the sub path" the subs could be loaded correctly, but the sub size are not the same with the "sub_load" sub and pre-load sub. if ass is off, it seams all right.