How much does it cost to translate video subtitles?

Transcription runs locally with Whisper and is free, so captioning any length of video costs nothing on that step. The translation itself and any AI voice dub are metered cloud calls billed per use in cents from a prepaid balance — a free account includes a small daily allowance to start. AI dub voices (Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS) run about $0.12 per 1,000 characters, and free Edge TTS voices are available in many languages.

Which languages can I translate subtitles into?

Many, including Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, French, German, Portuguese, Korean, Italian and Chinese. Whisper recognizes speech in dozens of source languages, and the translate & dub tool covers a broad set of target languages, including right-to-left scripts like Arabic.

Should I use translated captions or a full AI voice dub?

Translated burned-in captions are cheaper and keep the original voice — good for silent-autoplay feeds like TikTok and Reels. A full AI voice dub replaces the audio with a spoken translation — better when viewers actually listen, such as YouTube. You can do either from the same transcript.

Does it lip-sync the translated audio to the speaker's mouth?

No. ViralMint burns in translated captions or generates a dubbed audio track — it does not reshape the speaker's mouth to match the new language. The dubbed voice plays over the original footage.

How to Translate Video Subtitles into Another Language (2026)

You already made the video — now you want it to reach people who don’t speak your language. Translating video subtitles into another language is the fastest way to double your reach without shooting anything new. Here’s how to do it in 2026: auto-transcribe your video locally, translate the captions, and either burn in translated subtitles or generate a full AI voice dub — then export an mp4 and post it yourself.

The fastest way to translate video subtitles

The whole job is three moves: transcribe, translate, render. A good tool does the first step on your own machine (free), then meters only the translation and any dub voice you add.

ViralMint is a free, open-source desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) that runs the transcription locally with faster-whisper, so captioning any length of video costs nothing on that step. You pick a target language, choose between translated captions or an AI voice dub, review, and export a clean mp4 — no watermark, no subscription, no auto-upload. You download the file and post it manually.

Step-by-step: translate a video into another language

Step 1: Load your video

Open the translate & dub tool, then import a local file or paste a URL. If it’s a link, ViralMint downloads the video locally with yt-dlp first. This all happens on your machine.

Step 2: Auto-transcribe locally with Whisper

ViralMint runs faster-whisper on your own CPU to produce a word-level transcript — every word with a start and end timestamp. Because it runs locally, there’s no upload and no per-minute transcription fee, and a 60-minute video costs the same to transcribe as a 60-second one. Word-level timing is what makes the translated captions land exactly on the beat instead of drifting a second off the audio.

Step 3: Pick your target language

Choose the language you want to reach. Common targets creators localize into include Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, French, German, Portuguese, Korean, Italian and Chinese, and the tool supports many more. Arabic and other right-to-left scripts are handled correctly.

Step 4: Choose translated captions OR a full AI voice dub

This is the real decision:

Translated burned-in captions — the original audio stays, and the translated text appears as word-by-word subtitles. Cheaper, keeps the creator’s real voice, and ideal for muted, silent-autoplay feeds like TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
Full AI voice dub — the audio is replaced with a synthesized voice speaking the translation in the target language. Better when viewers actually listen with sound, like long-form YouTube. You can use a paid AI voice (Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS, ~$0.12 per 1,000 characters) or a free Edge TTS voice available in many languages.

Transcription and captioning are free; the translation and any AI dub voice are metered cloud calls billed in cents from your prepaid balance. A free account includes a small daily allowance so you can try it before topping up.

Step 5: Review, export and post

Check the translated text and timing before rendering — machine translation is strong in 2026 but idioms and names still deserve a glance. Then export. You get an mp4 with the translated captions burned in (or the dubbed track mixed in) at whatever aspect ratio you need. Download it and post it manually to each platform.

Captions or dub: which should you pick?

If you’re posting to short-form feeds where most people watch muted, translated captions win — they’re cheaper and viewers read them anyway. If you’re localizing a talking-head explainer or a podcast clip for a listening audience, a voice dub feels more native. Many creators do both: translated captions for the Reels cut, a dub for the YouTube upload. Since both come from the same Whisper transcript, producing the second version is nearly free of extra setup.

An honest note on lip-sync

ViralMint does not lip-sync. It burns in translated captions or lays a dubbed voice track over the original footage — it does not reshape the speaker’s mouth to match the new language. For most short-form and faceless content this is exactly what you want, and it avoids the uncanny artifacts that mouth-reshaping tools still produce. If your goal is a broadcast-grade dub where the mouth matches perfectly, you’ll need a dedicated lip-sync product; if your goal is reaching a new-language audience quickly and cheaply, translated captions or a straight dub get you there today.

From one video to many markets

Localization is one of the highest-leverage things a creator can do: the video already exists, the hook already works, and each new language is a fresh audience. A single strong short can become a Spanish version, a Portuguese version and a Hindi version in the time it used to take to caption one — and because the transcript is shared, the marginal cost of each extra language is just the translation itself. Pair this with Smart Video if you’re building localized shorts from scratch, or run your best existing uploads through the translate & dub tool to turn one video into posts for several language markets. Everything renders locally, exports as a plain mp4, and is yours to post — no watermark, no subscription, no forced upload.