ProjectsCaptions

Captions in more languages

Translate a video's captions with Workers AI, review them, and add each language to the player

Example design

  1. 01Choose languagesAn editor picks the languages for a video that already has captions, generated by Stream or uploaded.
  2. 02Fetch WebVTTThe Worker fetches the source captions and keeps every cue's timing.
  3. 03TranslateCues are joined into sentences, translated with m2m100, and split back across the original timings.
  4. 04ReviewThe editor reads each translation beside the video and corrects it.
  5. 05Publish the trackThe Worker uploads each approved language to Stream as a WebVTT caption track, and the player offers it straight away.
  6. ifA product name gets translatedMachine translation sometimes translates names, product terms and legal wording that should stay as they are. A glossary of protected terms is applied before translation, and nothing is published without an editor's approval.

The problem

A video library with captions in one language reaches only part of its audience. Paying for professional translation of every video is slow and expensive, and most internal and educational content does not need it. Machine translation gets a draft in each language within minutes. An editor then corrects it before anyone sees it.

What it uses

Stream
Source captions, caption tracks and the player
Workers AI
Translation with the m2m100 model
Workers and D1
Jobs, review state and the glossary

The decisions, and why

Unit of translationSentences
A cue often ends mid-sentence. Translating whole sentences and splitting them back across the timings reads better than translating fragments.
PublishingAfter an editor approves
Machine translation is a draft. Captions published under your name need a person to read them.
GlossaryProtected terms
Product names and fixed phrases are kept out of translation, so each one only has to be fixed once.
TracksOne per language
Stream allows one caption track per language, so an approved correction replaces the earlier version.

Limits to plan around

  • Stream allows one caption track per language for each video.
  • Caption files on Stream are limited to 10 MB.
  • Translation quality varies by language pair, so plan more editing time for some languages.

What you get

  • Translation Worker and job queue
  • Review page beside the video
  • Glossary management
  • Publishing to Stream caption tracks
  • Tests for timing and cue splitting

Talk about your video project

Tell us what you are building, or what is not working in the platform you have.

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VI Data Services Ltd
128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom
Telephone

020 8058 7616

Company number

17420568
Registered in England and Wales