How to Translate a YouTube Video

If you're watching: use auto-translated captions

1. Open the video and turn on captions (the CC button).
2. Click the settings gear → Subtitles/CC → Auto-translate.
3. Choose your language.

This works when the video has captions, either uploaded by the creator or generated automatically. It's free and instant — no tool needed. Quality depends on the original captions.

If it's your video: subtitles, dubbing or both

Creators can do much better than auto-translate, because they have the original file:

1. Download your video from YouTube Studio or use your original export. mydubly works from the file, not a link.
2. For subtitles only: generate a translated SRT in the subtitle generator and upload it under Subtitles → Add language.
3. For a dubbed version: use the YouTube video translator to get a translated audio track and MP4.
4. Add translated titles and descriptions in YouTube Studio so the video is discoverable in that language.

Can I translate someone else's YouTube video?

To watch it, use auto-translated captions. Downloading, translating and re-uploading other people's videos usually infringes copyright and YouTube's terms — get the owner's permission first.

Start from the best copy of your video

mydubly needs the file on your device; there is no link import. If you still have the original export from your editor, use it, because it carries the cleanest audio you have. A download from YouTube Studio works when the original is lost, but it is a re-encoded copy. For subtitles that hardly matters; for a dubbed MP4 you intend to publish, the picture comes from whatever file you upload, so a lower-quality download means a lower-quality dub. Whichever you use, translate exactly the version that's live: if you trimmed the video in YouTube's editor after uploading, subtitles made from the old export will drift out of sync after the cut.

Decide per video, not per channel

Tutorial or walkthrough with one narrator

Translated subtitles at minimum; add a dubbed track if viewers in that language are a meaningful part of your audience.

Talking-head commentary or vlog

Translated subtitles keep your own voice and personality, which is often why people watch.

Interview or podcast episode

Translated subtitles, because one stock voice would read every guest.

Shorts

Subtitles cost the 5-credit minimum; a dub is billed at the 2-minute minimum, 100 credits (10¢), even for a 40-second Short.

Evergreen explainers with steady views

The strongest candidates for a dub, since the cost is paid once and views keep arriving.

For the full comparison, see subtitles vs dubbing.

One video, start to finish

1. Choose the target language from your channel analytics, which show where viewers are watching from, rather than from guesswork.
2. For subtitles, run transcript mode with that target and download the SRT. If the video qualifies for a dub, run dub mode instead: it returns the translated MP4, the M4A and matching subtitles together.
3. Have a speaker of the language proofread the subtitles, concentrating on your channel name, recurring catchphrases, sponsor mentions and product names.
4. In YouTube Studio, upload the file under Subtitles, then Add language, and add the translated title and description in the same place.
5. If the dub is a separate upload, link it from the original video's description and a pinned comment, so viewers who land on the wrong version can find theirs.

Publishing a dub on YouTube

There are two ways to publish a dubbed version. If your channel has access to YouTube's multi-language audio feature, upload the translated audio (M4A) as an additional audio track on the original video, so views, comments and links stay together; check YouTube's current audio requirements before uploading. Otherwise, publish the translated MP4 as a separate video, ideally in a playlist or channel for that language, and link the two versions in their descriptions. In both cases add the dub-mode SRT as that language's subtitles, since it follows what the voice says. YouTube multi-language audio explains the audio-track route in detail.

Translating a back catalogue on a budget

Most channels have a handful of videos that keep drawing views long after release. Translate those first.

A sensible order is to subtitle the whole set in the new language, watch your analytics for the videos that attract viewers in that language, and dub only those. Translated titles and descriptions matter as much as the video itself, because they are what people see before clicking; see translate YouTube titles and descriptions and translating a YouTube back catalog. The YouTube video translator page covers the per-video workflow.

For viewers: when auto-translate falls short

• Auto-translated captions are built on the video's existing captions. If those were generated automatically from noisy audio, the errors carry into every translated language.
• If you're allowed to keep a copy of the file, such as your own recording or a class recording you have permission to download, transcript mode with your language as the target gives a timestamped translation you can read at your own pace and search later.
• If captions are missing altogether, the creator may have turned them off. Ask them, or look for an official translated upload.
• Re-uploading someone else's translated video is a different matter from watching it; read translating someone else's video legally first.