Product Videos for International Stores: A Translation Playbook

Which product videos to translate

Product video comes in several forms, and they have different value abroad:

• Listing videos on marketplace and store product pages, typically short and focused on one product.
• How-to-use and setup videos, which reduce returns because buyers understand the product before and after purchase.
• Comparison or "which model is right for you" videos covering a product range.
• Unboxing and assembly videos, which are often watched after purchase from a link in the packaging or order email.

Brand films, campaign ads and social storytelling are a different job with different priorities; the marketing video translation page covers those. Here the goal is practical: help a shopper in another country understand what they are buying.

Prioritize videos for products you already sell, or are about to list, in the target market, and among those, products with high return rates or many pre-sale questions. Assembly and setup videos often earn their translation fastest.

Marketplaces and store platforms each have their own rules

Each marketplace sets its own requirements for product video: accepted formats, length, resolution, whether a video can carry text overlays or contact details, and whether videos are shared across country storefronts or uploaded per locale. Some platforms require that the language of listing content matches the storefront. These rules differ between platforms and change over time, so check the current seller documentation for each marketplace before producing localized versions.

Your own store platform matters too. Some store themes and video hosts let you attach subtitle files, which shoppers can switch on; others play the video file as is, in which case captions must be part of the picture. Find out which applies before deciding how to deliver captions.

Captions for muted autoplay

Product pages and social feeds commonly autoplay video with the sound off, so a large share of shoppers may never hear your narration. That shifts the balance between dubbing and subtitles for product content.

• If the player supports caption files, upload subtitles in the store's language and, where the platform allows, set them to show by default.
• If the player does not support caption files, add open captions in a video editor so they are burned into the picture. The difference is explained in open vs closed captions.
• Use a dubbed version where shoppers are likely to listen: how-to videos, setup guides and longer demos opened deliberately.
• Keep the first few seconds visually self-explanatory, because the shopper decides whether to keep watching before reading anything.

Units, sizes and specifications

Machine translation translates what was said; it does not convert it. If your narrator says "twelve inches" or "holds sixteen ounces," the translation will say the equivalent of twelve inches and sixteen ounces, which may mean little to a shopper used to centimeters and milliliters.

• Length, weight, volume and temperature units, which differ between countries using imperial and metric systems.
• Clothing and shoe sizes, which use different systems in the US, UK, EU and Asian markets.
• Electrical details: voltage, plug type and included adapters.
• Compatibility statements, such as which phone models, appliances or standards the product works with in that market.
• Package contents, if the bundle differs by country.

The cleanest fix is a source script that avoids market-specific units, or states both: "thirty centimeters, about twelve inches." For existing videos, check every number in the translated transcript and re-record or recut where the spoken value is wrong for the market.

Claims that need a compliance check

A claim that is fine in one country can be restricted in another. Before publishing a translated product video, have someone check health and safety claims, environmental claims such as "eco-friendly" or "biodegradable," performance claims such as "waterproof" or "lasts all day," certifications and marks, warranty and return promises, and anything said about children's products. Consumer protection and advertising rules vary by country and category, so ask your legal or compliance team, or a local adviser, to approve claims for each market. This is not legal advice.

Translating a product catalog, step by step

1. List the products sold in the target market and rank their videos by sales, return rate and pre-sale questions.
2. Read each script for units, sizes, prices, claims and region-specific details, and fix the source where needed.
3. Check the marketplace or store's current video and caption requirements for that locale.
4. Produce subtitles in the target language for every listing video, and dubbed versions for how-to and setup videos.
5. Have a fluent reviewer, ideally someone who knows the product category, check product names, variant names, colors and care instructions.
6. Get claims approved for that market.
7. Add captions as files or burn them in, depending on the platform, and upload per storefront.
8. Track returns and questions per product and market, and update the videos when the product or packaging changes.

Pitfalls specific to product video

• Text overlays in the picture stay in the original language. Price tags, feature callouts and size charts shown on screen need separate editing; see translating on-screen text in videos.
• Translated subtitles take more space. Several languages run longer than English, which crowds burned-in captions on small mobile screens; the article on text expansion in translation explains the effect.
• Music and sound effects stay in a dubbed MP4, but they are lowered while the voice speaks and voice separation is not perfect. For product videos where the sound of the product matters, such as a quiet blender, check that moment in the output and, if needed, dub a dialogue-only export and mix the original product sound back in yourself in an editor.
• Variant and color names get translated inconsistently across videos. Keep a short glossary per language.
• Videos are updated in one storefront but not the others when packaging or specs change.

Using mydubly for product listing videos

mydubly takes the product video files you already have. Uploaded in the browser, a video becomes subtitles (SRT and VTT) and a transcript in the spoken language or a target language, or a dubbed version with a translated voice track and translated video. It supports 21 languages, and each job produces one language. Subtitles are produced as files, one recognized speech segment per cue on a single line; mydubly does not burn them into the picture, so platforms that need open captions require an editor step. More detail is on the video translator page, and the subtitle generator covers the subtitle files.

It does not translate on-screen text, convert units or rewrite claims, so the review steps above still apply. Short videos hit the minimums: a 90-second listing video costs 5 credits (0.5¢) for subtitles and 100 credits (10¢) to dub, because dubbing has a two-minute minimum per file. Fifty such listing videos would cost 250 credits (25¢) for subtitles in one language. The video file stays on your device while only compressed audio is processed.

Start with your best seller

Pick one best-selling product you sell or plan to sell abroad, fix its script for units and claims, and publish subtitled and, if useful, dubbed versions in one market. Compare returns and questions for that product with the period before. Then work down the catalog. The video translator explains file formats and outputs if you want to try a first video.