Enabling subtitles for meetings using Live Caption
Live Caption in Chrome provides real-time, on-screen subtitles for any audio or video playing in the browser. It’s a powerful accessibility tool for following along in video meetings with spoken content.
Note: Live Caption is currently only available in Google Chrome desktop browsers
What is Live Caption?
Live Caption automatically generates on-screen text for spoken audio, making it easier to follow dialogue across:
- Video meetings
- Autoplay videos
- Livestreams
- Podcasts
- Other media with sound
Live Caption is available on:
- Google Chrome desktop browser
- Operating systems: Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chromebook
Live Caption supports the following languages:
- English (default)
- Spanish, German, French, Japanese, and more
- Includes optional Live Translation, allowing auto-translation into over 100 languages
How to enable Live Caption
- Open Google Chrome
- Click the More (⋮) icon in the upper-right corner.
- Select Settings
- Scroll down and expand Advanced
- Under Accessibility, click Captions
- Toggle Live Caption to On
Chrome may briefly download speech recognition files. Once enabled, captions will automatically appear when audio plays.
Customizing captions
To customize captions, select Settings → Accessibility → Caption Preferences
You can customize the following to suit your needs.
- Font: You can adjust font type, size, color, and opacity
- Background: You can customize the caption box color and transparency
- Positioning: Drag captions anywhere on the screen
- Visibility: Collapse/expand caption box with the arrow icon
Usage tips
- Media Control Button: Appears in the top-right of Chrome when audio is active; use it to toggle captions on/off
- Autoplay Videos: Be sure audio is turned on for captions to activate
- Floating Captions: If you switch tabs, captions appear in a hover-bubble that you can drag around
- Returning to Audio Tab: Click the caption bubble to jump back to the original tab
Privacy and performance
- Captions are processed locally on your device—no audio is sent to Google servers
- Works instantly for supported media without affecting browser speed or functionality
For additional support, visit Google Chrome Help: Live Caption in Chrome