YouTube now allows all creators to use automatic subtitles for live streams

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YouTube is expanding automatic captions for livestreams.

James Martin / CNET

All YouTube creators can now enable automatic captions for livestreams to make them more accessible, the Google-owned company said Thursday. Previously, the feature was only available for channels with at least 1,000 subscribers.

Real-time auto captions are currently only available for English livestreams, but the company says it plans to expand the feature to all 13 supported auto caption languages ​​in the coming months.

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Additionally, YouTube says it will launch automatic translation for subtitles in supported languages ​​on Android and iOS later this year. Currently, that feature is only available on desktop. The company also plans to begin testing the ability to search for subtitle transcripts on mobile devices to help users find specific keywords. This will also happen later this year.

YouTube is also testing the ability to add multiple audio tracks to a video, which can help offer multilingual audio for international audiences, as well as descriptive audio for blind or visually impaired people. The company says it hopes to “roll out this feature more widely in the coming quarters.”

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More and more tech companies have added captions to their platforms as they expand their accessibility efforts. Instagram added automatic captions for IGTV late last year and then extended that functionality to Stories in May. TikTok rolled out automatic subtitles in April, and Twitter turned on automatic subtitles for voice tweets on iOS following criticism that the feature, which debuted last year, was not accessible to people with disabilities.

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