Taking external subtitles (sub/idx) and making them permanent

[Dropbear]

I have some encoded MP4 files with external subtitles.. I'm looking at some standalone divx/xvid players that can't deal with external subs, so I'm looking for a way to make them permanent as part of the avi file.

Can this be done without having to re-encode the movie again?

[castellanos]

No, if you want to put permanent subs into an avi,and in your case, you will have to re-encode the entire movie, in the process, you might loose some quality too.
Greetings! :)