Live captions or chat translation?

The input tells you which tool to choose

Start by asking what you are translating. If someone is speaking, you need an audio-caption workflow. If the words are already typed in the chat, you need written-chat translation. If you have a saved video file, you need recorded-video subtitles.

All three can help someone follow another language, but they have different setup, access and output. Installing a chat extension does not caption the video's audio, and enabling a caption overlay does not translate the written chat next to it.

Live translated captions are for spoken audio

StreamTranslate accepts selected live speech through supported browser microphone, OBS audio-plugin and RTMP routes. It produces captions in 65 supported caption languages. Same-language captions can be useful when the viewer already understands the spoken language but wants text too.

A Browser Source puts the streamer's selected captions into the outgoing video. That means the caption text becomes part of the picture rather than an independently selectable Twitch-extension language. Timing and translation quality depend on the audio, language, connection and settings.

For a streamer, begin with the caption setup guide. Caption processing needs an active account allowance or plan, including completion of the card requirement for the Free Plan.

Two extensions, two different jobs

The official Twitch caption extension is enabled by the broadcaster on Twitch. It needs the streamer's active StreamTranslate audio session. A viewer then selects a caption language and adjusts the caption appearance in the player.

The Chat Translator browser extension is installed by the viewer in a desktop browser. It translates written live chat on Twitch, TikTok LIVE, YouTube, Kick and X without requiring the streamer to set up StreamTranslate. It can also translate a reply draft, but it does not send that reply automatically.

Do not confuse the installation locations: one is installed on the broadcaster's Twitch channel, while the other is installed in the viewer's browser. Chat Translator is free and does not require a StreamTranslate account, subscription or API key.

Recorded-video subtitles are processed after recording

The Video and VOD Translator takes an uploaded video file and produces a subtitled download. Choose from 60 video subtitle languages and up to three tracks, then customize how the subtitles look.

This is not a real-time Twitch overlay, a typed-chat translator or voice dubbing. The original voices stay in the video. Recorded-video translation has separate pay-as-you-go pricing: $0.50 to start plus $0.01 per second, with a five-second minimum.

Compare the setup before you install

Use Studio to open the correct tool. You do not need to set up all four workflows to use one of them.