How to dub a video into another language

Three ways to dub a video

• Record a new voice track

  • Needs a translator and a voice
  • Full control of every line

  Translate the script, record it yourself or with voice actors, then replace the speech in your editor. You need the music and effects as separate tracks to mix under the new voice.

• YouTube automatic dubbing

  • For YouTube uploads
  • On by default if eligible

  YouTube generates dubbed audio tracks for your uploads, in the language pairs on its list. It is on by default for eligible creators. You can hold dubs for manual review and unpublish or delete one later. YouTube says these dubs might contain errors.¹

  YouTube auto dubbing

• AI dubbing from a file

  • Needs only the finished video
  • Output is an MP4

  Upload the finished video. The speech is translated and spoken again in the new language, and you download a dubbed video file that you publish yourself. DubSync works this way, paid per input minute.

Only the first route lets you rewrite a line. YouTube says its automatic dubs can't be edited,¹ and DubSync has no script editing either. The six steps below follow the third route with DubSync. Steps 1 and 5 help whichever way you dub.

1. Record a video that dubs well

A dub is built from what the microphone heard. What makes speech easy to follow for a listener also makes it easier to translate and voice again.

• Stay close to the mic

  Echo, wind and traffic blur the words, and each new voice is created from that same recording.

• Leave small pauses

  The same sentence often runs longer in another language. A breath between sentences gives the dub room.

• Keep music under the voice

  Background audio is kept in the dub, but loud music over speech makes the words harder to pick out.

• One speaker at a time

  Speakers are detected automatically and each gets a voice created from their own. Overlapping speech is harder to tell apart.

Say names, numbers and brand terms clearly, and avoid wordplay that only works in your language. YouTube's notes on its own automatic dubs name the same weak points. Background noise, accents and mispronunciations lead to errors; proper nouns, idioms and jargon are hard to translate; and a video with very fast speech may not be dubbed at all.¹

2. Prepare the file

• Export the finished video as MP4, MOV or M4V, up to 150 minutes and 1 GB. Convert other formats, such as MKV or AVI, to MP4 first.
• It has to be a video file. A link can't be imported, and audio-only files aren't accepted.
• If the video now exists only on YouTube, download your own upload from YouTube Studio. That download is an MP4 in 720p or 360p, so use the original export when you still have it.²
• Keep the final mix: voice, music and effects together. You don't need separate tracks, because the background audio is kept in the dub.
• Cut out what you don't want dubbed. Minutes are counted for the whole file.
• Replace text in the picture yourself. Burned-in captions, slides and lower thirds stay in the original language, because a dub changes only the audio.

3. Run the dub

1. Upload the original

   The spoken language is detected automatically; you don't set it.

2. Choose the target language

   One of 28. Each extra language is a new project and uses the video's minutes again.

3. Check the minutes and confirm

   You see how many input minutes the video needs and what it costs. Nothing starts until you confirm your rights to the video, every speaker's consent and the dub itself.

4. Download the MP4

   You can close the page while the video is processed. The result has a voice created from each speaker's own, the background audio kept and no visible watermark.

Dubbing is paid per input minute: the length of your original video, counted once for each target language.

Plans from $4.90/month. You see the minutes and the cost before anything starts. See pricing

4. Decide on lip-sync

5. Check the result

Play the whole dub before anyone else does. The voices are created from the original speakers, so they sound similar, not identical, and an automatic translation can contain errors.

• Watch the video once without stopping. Does each speaker keep one voice from start to finish?
• Listen to the sound. The music and background should still be there, and no sentence should be cut off.
• Listen for names, numbers, prices and the call to action. A mistake there costs the most.
• If you don't speak the language, ask someone who does to watch it, or play a passage into a translation app with voice input and compare the result with what you said.
• For legal, medical or safety content, have a qualified native speaker approve it.

6. Publish it

The dubbed file is a regular MP4, and you publish it yourself wherever you post video. On YouTube there are two routes.

An extra audio track on the same video. Your channel needs access to YouTube's advanced features, and you add the track under Languages in YouTube Studio on a computer. YouTube takes an audio-only file that is roughly as long as the video, so export the audio from the dubbed MP4 in an editor first. If YouTube already made an automatic dub in that language, delete it before you upload yours.³

A separate channel for the language. Upload the dubbed MP4 as a new video for that audience. The multi-language audio guide compares the two routes.

Translate the title and description as well, because a dub changes the audio, not the text around the video. YouTube Studio lets you add a translated title and description for each language.⁴ YouTube says its search reads those translations when viewers search in their language, and long-form videos can also carry a thumbnail for each language.³

Questions before you start