The default Kodi player does not scrape IMDb IDs for local files. It only knows the filename. When A4kSubtitles asks "What is the IMDb ID?", the player says "I don't know."

a4kSubtitles (and most modern subtitle scrapers) rely on "Unique IDs" (like IMDB IDs, e.g., tt1234567 ) rather than just the filename. This ensures that if you have a file named my.movie.2023.mp4 , the scraper knows it corresponds specifically to "The Movie (2023)" on IMDB.

If you are playing files from your local Kodi library (not a streaming add-on):

Some forks of a4ksubtitles allow manual ID entry. If the error persists:

a4kSubtitles relies on the IMDb ID to search subtitle sites correctly. Without it, the add‑on doesn’t know which movie or episode to look for.

You are using the Stremio application (not Kodi) with the A4kSubtitles add-on for Stremio.