How-to
Translate subtitles into another language
Subtitle translation is constrained translation. The timings are fixed, the space is fixed, the reader gets one pass, and the original audio is still playing underneath, which means some viewers can hear when you get it wrong.
How to translate the subtitles on a video
Add the video
Upload an MP4, MOV, AVI, or MKV file, or paste a link from a supported source. Subtitle files are not accepted as input; the subtitles are generated from the audio.
Choose the target language
Any of the 30 available languages. The transcript is translated with the surrounding lines in view, not one line at a time.
Download both files
You get a translated SRT plus an SRT in the original language, and a video with the translated subtitles burned in.
Why subtitle translation is its own problem
- The timings are not yours to change. The line has to be readable in the window the original speech left behind, which often means saying it more briefly than a document translation would.
- Context arrives in fragments. A pronoun in one subtitle may refer to something two lines earlier, which is why line-by-line translation produces subtly wrong results.
- Length changes. Most European languages run longer than English, and East Asian languages run shorter. Both directions need the line breaks redone.
- Register has to be chosen once and held. Languages that distinguish formal and informal address force a decision on the first line that has to stay consistent to the last.
Running the same video in several languages
Each language is a separate job, and each job transcribes the audio again from scratch. Corrections you make in the subtitle editor apply to that job's output only; there is no way to hand a corrected transcript to the next run. So plan on reviewing each language you publish, and treat the audio itself as the thing that improves all of them at once.
What changes per language
Every target language has its own constraints, from right-to-left layout to line-break rules for languages written without spaces. The language pages cover what to expect from each one, and translating subtitles well covers the choices that apply to all of them.
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Can I upload an SRT file to translate?
No. Uploads are MP4, MOV, AVI, and MKV video files. The subtitles are generated from the video audio and then translated, so you get a translated SRT out without supplying one.
Are the timings kept in the translated file?
Yes. The translated text is fitted to the timings taken from the original speech, with lines split where the translation runs longer than the original.
Can I translate into several languages at once?
Run the job once per language. Each run transcribes the audio again, so edits you made on a previous run do not carry over and each language needs its own review.
Which languages can I translate into?
Thirty, covering Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Devanagari, Bengali, Thai, Han, Kana, and Hangul scripts. The full list is on the languages page.