diff --git a/app/build.gradle.kts b/app/build.gradle.kts
index cd26dffce..6f5804354 100644
--- a/app/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/app/build.gradle.kts
@@ -271,9 +271,12 @@ ksp {
     // Hilt 2.57 can process Kotlin 2.3.0 metadata without moving to Hilt 2.59 (AGP 9).
     configurations.all {
         resolutionStrategy {
-            force("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-metadata-jvm:2.3.0")
+            force("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-bom:1.7.3")
             force("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core:1.7.3")
+            force("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core-jvm:1.7.3")
             force("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-android:1.7.3")
+            force("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-jdk8:1.7.3")
+            force("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-slf4j:1.7.3")
         }
     }
 
@@ -364,6 +367,9 @@ ksp {
     // (libffmpegJNI.so) is the likely source of the Play Console warning.
     add("sideloadImplementation", "org.jellyfin.media3:media3-ffmpeg-decoder:1.9.0+1")
 
+    // ASS/SSA subtitle rendering for Media3.
+    implementation("io.github.peerless2012:ass-media:0.5.1")
+
     // Networking - Retrofit + OkHttp
     implementation("com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.9.0")
     implementation("com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.9.0")
@@ -449,7 +455,7 @@ ksp {
 
     // Unit Testing
     testImplementation("junit:junit:4.13.2")
-    testImplementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-test:1.7.3")
+    testImplementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-test:1.9.0")
     testImplementation("io.mockk:mockk:1.13.8")
     testImplementation("app.cash.turbine:turbine:1.0.0")  // Flow testing
     testImplementation("com.google.truth:truth:1.1.5")    // Better assertions
@@ -464,7 +470,7 @@ ksp {
     androidTestImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-test-junit4")
     androidTestImplementation("androidx.test.uiautomator:uiautomator:2.2.0")
     androidTestImplementation("io.mockk:mockk-android:1.13.8")
-    androidTestImplementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-test:1.7.3")
+    androidTestImplementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-test:1.9.0")
 }
 
 secrets {
@@ -595,5 +601,3 @@ dependencies {
     add("sideloadImplementation", "org.mozilla:rhino:1.8.1")
     add("sideloadImplementation", "com.google.re2j:re2j:1.8")
 }
-
-
diff --git a/app/src/main/kotlin/com/arflix/tv/ui/screens/player/PlayerScreen.kt b/app/src/main/kotlin/com/arflix/tv/ui/screens/player/PlayerScreen.kt
index 215369912..96bb7ad98 100644
--- a/app/src/main/kotlin/com/arflix/tv/ui/screens/player/PlayerScreen.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/kotlin/com/arflix/tv/ui/screens/player/PlayerScreen.kt
@@ -137,6 +137,8 @@ import androidx.media3.exoplayer.source.DefaultMediaSourceFactory
 import androidx.media3.ui.AspectRatioFrameLayout
 import androidx.tv.material3.ExperimentalTvMaterial3Api
 import androidx.tv.material3.Text
+import io.github.peerless2012.ass.media.kt.buildWithAssSupport
+import io.github.peerless2012.ass.media.type.AssRenderType
 import coil.compose.AsyncImage
 import com.arflix.tv.ArflixApplication
 import com.arflix.tv.network.OkHttpProvider
@@ -1152,7 +1154,10 @@ fun PlayerScreen(
                     .build(),
                 /* handleAudioFocus = */ true
             )
-            .build().apply {
+            .buildWithAssSupport( // Enable ASS subtitle rendering for stylized subtitles
+                context,
+                AssRenderType.OVERLAY_OPEN_GL,
+            ).apply {
                 // Ensure volume is at maximum
                 volume = 1.0f
 
@@ -6106,20 +6111,45 @@ private fun buildExternalSubtitleConfigurations(subtitles: List<Subtitle>): List
 }
 
 private fun subtitleMimeTypeFromUrl(url: String): String {
-    // Trailing slash before the query is real-world (AIOStreams: ".../sub.vtt/?lang=…") — trim it
-    // so the extension check still sees ".vtt"; the SRT fallback would silently fail on WEBVTT.
-    val cleanUrl = url.substringBefore('?').trimEnd('/').lowercase()
+    // idealy the subtitle format should be retrived from the metadata of the subtitle file.
+    // though that would require downloading the subtitle file first, which is not ideal.
+    // maybe you could do some download magic where you download the first few bytes of the subtitle file to get the metadata and then determine the format from that.
+    // this works for now though I suppose but it should really be updated to use the metadata later.
+
+    val lower = url.lowercase()
+
+    val path = lower
+        .substringBefore('?')
+        .trimEnd('/')
+
+    val query = lower
+        .substringAfter('?', "")
+
     return when {
-        cleanUrl.endsWith(".vtt") -> MimeTypes.TEXT_VTT
-        cleanUrl.endsWith(".srt") || cleanUrl.endsWith(".srt.gz") -> MimeTypes.APPLICATION_SUBRIP
-        cleanUrl.endsWith(".ass") || cleanUrl.endsWith(".ssa") -> MimeTypes.TEXT_SSA
-        cleanUrl.endsWith(".ttml") || cleanUrl.endsWith(".dfxp") -> MimeTypes.APPLICATION_TTML
-        // OpenSubtitles serves SRT through extensionless URLs - use SRT as default
-        // since it's the dominant format from subtitle addons (OpenSubtitles, Comet).
-        // SRT and VTT are similar but SRT uses comma for milliseconds (00:01:23,456)
-        // while VTT uses period and requires a WEBVTT header. Using SRT avoids silent
-        // parse failures when the actual content is SRT.
-        else -> MimeTypes.APPLICATION_SUBRIP
+        // Detection by file name
+        path.endsWith(".vtt") ->
+            MimeTypes.TEXT_VTT
+
+        path.endsWith(".srt") || path.endsWith(".srt.gz") ->
+            MimeTypes.APPLICATION_SUBRIP
+
+        path.endsWith(".ass") || path.endsWith(".ssa") ->
+            MimeTypes.TEXT_SSA
+
+        // detection by query string
+        query.contains("format=ass") ||
+        query.contains("format=ssa") ||
+        query.contains("type=ass") ||
+        query.contains("type=ssa") ||
+        query.contains("mime=text/x-ass") ||
+        query.contains("mime=text/x-ssa") ->
+            MimeTypes.TEXT_SSA
+
+        path.endsWith(".ttml") || path.endsWith(".dfxp") ->
+            MimeTypes.APPLICATION_TTML
+
+        else ->
+            MimeTypes.APPLICATION_SUBRIP
     }
 }