It can be difficult to watch videos in a foreign language without live captions or translation. While most YouTube videos offer live captions, this feature does not work outside of the service. Google is aiming to solve this problem with its new Live Caption feature that offers dynamic translations of videos between sites.
Live captions are an accessibility feature that creates real-time transcripts to allow users to enjoy videos in whatever language. You may have used Subtitles on YouTube to watch videos in a different language than yours. However, this feature does not work outside of YouTube.
Chrome’s live captioning will make it easier for anyone who consumes audio/video content without missing out. Let’s understand how live captions in Google Chrome work, where it will work, what media types are supported and how to enable the feature.
Update Chrome Before You Begin
Make sure you’re running the latest version of the Chrome browser on your Windows PC or Mac computer. Google Chrome version 89 and above supports Live Caption. While Chrome should update automatically, there are ways to check for Chrome updates and install them manually.
While Android users will get Live Captions in 2019, there is still no word on when it will be available for iOS and ChromeOS.
Where Will Live Caption Work?
Live Caption supports audio and video playback on any site you open in Chrome browser. This feature will support audio content such as podcasts and radio, as well as working on audio-video content posted on websites and social media platforms.
You can open audio or video files stored on your local hard drive in Chrome to enjoy real-time and device-generated live captions while the audio is playing. This means that live captions work offline without needing an active internet connection.
Since all live captions are generated dynamically on your computer, no data is sent to Google’s servers. Finally, web-based voice and video chat applications are also supported. This means you can now engage in meaningful conversations with family and team members.
While there is no mention of supported audio and video file types, expect all popular file formats to work. There may be some exceptions, but we hope Google adds this with future updates.
Enable Live Captions in Google Chrome
Now that we know how live captions work in the Chrome browser, let’s figure out how you can enable it. As with most accessibility features, this feature is not enabled by default. Optional.
Stage 1: Open the Chrome browser and click on the three-dot menu icon to select Settings.
Step 2: Click on the Advanced option in the left sidebar and select Accessibility. You should see the Live Caption option on the right. Open.
The Chrome browser will start downloading the necessary files for speech recognition.
It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. You will not see a popup asking for permission. These files are part of the Chrome installation on your Windows PC or Mac. Once these files are downloaded, you can start using the feature.
Open and play a web page with a video or audio clip. Live subtitles appear as soon as the audio starts playing.
The subtitles will appear in a box at the bottom of the screen, which you can move around if you think they’re blocking the view and preventing you from seeing what’s on the screen. Turning the volume up or down will not turn off the live captions. It is useful in environments where you do not have headphones with you and cannot increase the volume.
Customize Live Captions in Google Chrome
Windows 10 includes options to customize how text appears when using the Live Caption feature in Chrome. Clicking the Subtitle preferences button in Chrome will open the Windows Settings menu on Windows PC.
You can easily change the font type, size, color and effects from the subtitle settings. There is a live preview option to see how the subtitles will look and feel in real time.
Subtitle
Live Captions is a useful add-on to watch videos or listen to audio in any language in Chrome. It is specially designed to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Besides, you can always use Live Caption to watch videos or listen to audio in different foreign languages. This feature is exclusive to Google Chrome only. This means that Chromium-powered browsers like Opera or Edge will not offer this.
Next: Looking for a Chrome extension to identify fonts while browsing the web? Here are five great selections of Google Chrome extensions from the Chrome Web Store.
