Can YouTube translate my captions automatically?

Yes. In YouTube Studio you add a language to your video and, under Subtitles, choose how to add that track, including an auto-translate option. YouTube's help center notes that automatic captions are only created in the video's default language, so publish and correct that source track first.

Does Facebook translate captions on videos?

Facebook can show auto-generated translated captions on some reels. Its help center lists 11 languages, including English, Spanish (Latin America), Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi and Arabic. Meta says reels need spoken dialogue and can't have burned-in subtitles to get them.

Should translated captions be burned in or uploaded as a caption track?

Upload a caption track (such as an SRT file) when one video serves several languages, because viewers pick their language. Burn captions in when you publish a separate version of the video for each language market and want a fixed style.

Is machine translation good enough for captions?

Treat it as a first draft. Check names, numbers, product terms and calls to action, and make sure each translated line is short enough to read in the time it is on screen. A native speaker review is the safest option for anything public or paid.

Does AnimateCaptions translate captions?

No. AnimateCaptions transcribes speech in the language spoken in the video and burns in animated captions in that same language. It is not a translation or dubbing service, so use a translation workflow for other languages.

How to Translate Video Captions Into Any Language

Letter tiles spelling TRANSLATION on a wooden desk next to a laptop, phone and earbuds

Cover photo by Ling App on Unsplash

How do you translate video captions?

The short answer

Translate from a corrected transcript, not from raw audio. Step 1: caption the video in its spoken language and fix every error. Step 2: translate that track into each target language (YouTube Studio can auto-translate; any SRT file can be translated). Step 3: review wording and line length. Step 4: publish as a selectable track or a burned-in version.

Translated captions are usually called subtitles: text in a language other than the one being spoken. If the terms get confusing, see captions vs subtitles.

Why does the source transcript matter so much?

Every translation copies the mistakes in its source. If the original transcript mishears a product name or a number, each translated track repeats it in a new language, where it is harder for you to spot. Fix the source-language captions first.

YouTube's subtitles help page notes that automatic captions are created in the video's default language only. Its video language page adds that if you change a video's original language, future translated subtitles use the new language as their source. Set the language correctly before you translate anything.

How do you translate captions on YouTube?

YouTube Studio lets you add a subtitle track per language. Following YouTube Help:

Step 1: Sign in to YouTube Studio and open Subtitles (shown as Languages in some accounts) from the left menu.
Step 2: Select the video, check the original-language track, and correct it.
Step 3: Click Add language and choose the target language.
Step 4: Under Subtitles, click Add, then upload a translated file, type the translation, or use auto-translate if it is offered.
Step 5: Review the draft and publish. Repeat for each language.

How do you translate captions on Facebook?

Facebook offers automatic translated captions on some reels, and you can upload one SRT file per language. Meta's help page on translated captions for reels lists 11 supported languages: Arabic (Standard), Brazilian Portuguese, English, Hindi, Indonesian Bahasa, Spanish (Latin America), Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Vietnamese. Viewers choose a language from the closed-captions control.

Meta's Business Help Center says these auto-generated subtitles need spoken dialogue or voiceover, auto-generated captions turned on, and no burned-in subtitles. For other languages, upload your own translated SRT files. Facebook expects names like filename.en_US.srt, with a lowercase language code and an uppercase country code. Our guide to adding captions to a Facebook video has the upload steps.

Meta also translates audio, not just text. According to Meta's newsroom, Meta AI can translate and dub reels, with optional lip sync, for free. It is available to Facebook creators with 1,000 or more followers and to all public Instagram accounts in countries where Meta AI is available. As of Meta's July 2026 update, supported languages include English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Kannada, and Instagram also supports French, German, Italian, Japanese and Korean.

Get the source-language captions right first: auto-transcribe, fix every word, export.

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How do you translate an SRT caption file?

Translate only the text lines and leave the numbers and timestamps alone. An SRT file is made of numbered blocks, each with a start and end time and one or two lines of text. If you keep the timing, the translated captions stay in sync with the video.

Step 1: Export or download the corrected source-language SRT.
Step 2: Translate the text lines with a translator, a machine-translation tool, or both. Don't edit the sequence numbers or the --> timestamps.
Step 3: Shorten lines that got longer in translation. Our guides on words per caption line and how long captions should stay on screen give targets.
Step 4: Save one file per language, named the way the platform expects, and upload it.

Should translated captions be burned in?

Burn them in only when each language gets its own video. A selectable caption track lets one upload serve many languages, and viewers choose. Burned-in captions are part of the picture, so you need a separate export per language. In return, the style is fixed and the text shows in every app, even where caption tracks aren't supported. See open vs closed captions for the full comparison.

Where does AnimateCaptions fit?

We should be clear: AnimateCaptions doesn't translate. AnimateCaptions is a browser-based tool that auto-transcribes your video and burns in animated, word-by-word captions in the language spoken in the recording. It isn't a translation or dubbing service.

It is useful when you record in the language your audience speaks. For example, if you film a Spanish version of a clip, the Spanish video caption generator writes Spanish captions you can correct word by word before export. As of October 2026, per our pricing page, the free plan covers 3 videos a month up to 2 minutes long, with a watermark on exports; paid plans start at €6.99/month and remove it.

How to translate video captions into any language.