Long lectures and streams
Listen while you take notes, look at the slides or do something else, instead of keeping your eyes on the subtitle window for an hour.
Hear the translation instead of reading it
SubLive can read the translation aloud in your language while the tab gets quieter underneath, so you can follow a lecture, a stream or a call by ear. Subtitles stay on screen, and the line being read is highlighted.
Free minutes after you confirm your email. No card required.
Why it matters
When reading is slow going
Following text at the speed of speech is tiring. Hearing the translation takes that load off, and the subtitles are there when you want to check a word.
Low vision
If small text on screen is hard to read, the translation comes through your speakers or headphones, and the subtitles can be set as large as you need.
How it works
- 1
The translation is read aloud
Each sentence is spoken in your language once it has been translated. While the voice speaks, the tab gets quieter by as much as you choose, then comes back.
- 2
Two voices to choose from
The browser voice is free and speaks on your own computer with the voices your system has. The AI voice sounds more natural; while it is on, a minute of conversation spends 1 minute of balance. The AI voice is not part of the free mode.
- 3
In calls, it pauses while you speak
Turn on “Stop dubbing while I speak” and the voice pauses while you talk; only loudness is measured, on your computer. Use headphones in calls, so the voice does not leak into your microphone.
Why people choose to listen
YouTube's own numbers show how many viewers take a translation they can hear when it is offered. On channels that added dubbed audio tracks, over 15% of watch time came from views in a language other than the video's original in January 2023, during the first test. By July 2025, after the feature reached all creators, the average was over 25%.
Those are dubs recorded in advance, before anyone pressed play. SubLive reads a translation aloud for speech that is happening now: a call, a lecture, a stream.
YouTube watch time from dubbed audio
Share of watch time from views in a language other than the video's original, for creators who added dubbed audio tracks.
YouTube's averages for dubs recorded in advance. These are not SubLive figures.
Sources: YouTube Official Blog, 23 February 2023; YouTube Official Blog, 10 September 2025
Reading at the speed of speech
People on the phone speak at about 173 words a minute on average. Adults reading English, their native language, silently manage between 175 and 300 words a minute, around 238 on average. At the lower end of that range, reading captions only just keeps pace with the speaker, and that is before you look at the picture or the slides.
Reading in a second language is slower again. With the translation in your ears, your eyes are free, and the subtitles are still on screen when you want to check a word.
Reading only just keeps up with speech
Words per minute: the average speaking rate in phone conversations, and how fast adults read English, their native language, silently.
Reading in a second language is slower, and captions share your eyes with the picture.
Sources: Liberman, speaking rates in 5,850 phone conversations of the Fisher corpus (2005); Brysbaert, How many words do we read per minute? Journal of Memory and Language (2019)
What you hear while the voice speaks
While a translated line is read aloud, the tab's own sound drops by as much as you choose and comes back up when the voice stops. How far it drops is a setting in the extension.
Sound of the tab
Translated voice
Let's look at last quarter first.Revenue grew in every region.
The tab gets quieter only while a line is being read.
What it will not do
- The voice is about one sentence behind the speaker: a sentence can only be read once it has been translated.
- In long stretches of non-stop speech the voice skips ahead to the newest sentence instead of falling further behind. The subtitles still show everything.
- The AI voice does not yet speak Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Assamese, Cantonese, Georgian, Mongolian or Pashto; subtitles work as usual. The browser voice depends on the voices installed on your system.
Questions people ask
- Will the other people in a call hear the dubbing?
- Not through SubLive: the voice plays only on your computer. Played through speakers, though, it can reach your microphone and go into the call, so use headphones.
- Does the AI voice cost extra?
- A minute of conversation with the AI voice spends 1 minute of balance. The browser voice costs nothing extra, and you can switch between them during a conversation. Without minutes only the browser voice is available.
- Is dubbing on by default?
- No. SubLive shows subtitles only until you pick a voice in the extension settings.
- Can different speakers get different voices?
- Yes. By default everyone is read in one voice; turn that off and speakers get different voices.