OBS Captions

OBS Live Captions — No Plugin Install

Add live captions to OBS without installing any plugin. Just paste a browser source URL into OBS — captions appear on your stream in 60 seconds.

Try Free for 6 Hours → See pricing

Why OBS plugins for captions break

OBS plugins (LocalVocal, OBS-Whisper-Plugin, OBS-Captions-Plugin) all have the same problems:

OBS updates break them. Each major OBS version requires plugin recompiles. Updates lag for weeks or months.
CPU/GPU cost. Speech-to-text models eat 20-50% of available compute, leaving less for the actual game.
Model downloads. Whisper models are 1-4GB+. Different languages = different downloads.
Configuration friction. Configuring audio sources, hotkeys, model paths — every install is different.
Reliability issues. Plugin crashes can take down OBS mid-stream.

How browser-source captions work without a plugin

OBS has had Browser Source since 2017. It's a built-in feature that loads any web URL into your OBS canvas — same way you'd add an image overlay.

StreamTranslate generates a unique browser source URL per user. The URL points to a lightweight web page that streams captions in real time. OBS just renders the page on the canvas. No plugin, no installation, no configuration.

Setup steps

Sign up at /control — 6 hours free trial
Pick languages: same-language for captions, or different for translated overlay
Copy the unique browser source URL we give you
In OBS: Sources → + → Browser Source → paste URL → set 1920x1080
Start streaming — captions appear on your video

Total setup time: ~60 seconds. Setup guide.

Why this is better than OBS plugins

Always works. OBS updates can't break our captions because we're not a plugin.
Zero CPU cost. All transcription runs in our cloud. Your PC stays free for the game.
No model downloads. All 30+ languages work out of the box, no GBs to download per language.
No configuration. One URL, paste into OBS, done.
Cross-platform. Works on OBS for Windows, Mac, Linux — same URL.

Frequently asked

Do I really not need to install a plugin?

Correct — zero installs, zero downloads, zero plugins. Browser Source is OBS's built-in feature; we just provide a URL.

Will my OBS update break the captions?

No. Browser Source has been stable in OBS since 2017. We don't depend on plugin compatibility.

How does OBS captions without a plugin compare to LocalVocal?

LocalVocal needs plugin install + Whisper model download (1-4GB) + significant GPU/CPU. We need none of that. Full comparison.

Can I caption multiple OBS scenes?

Yes. Add the browser source to as many scenes as you want. Or have one scene with captions and one without — switch via OBS scene controls.

Does this work in Streamlabs OBS / SLOBS?

Yes. Streamlabs OBS, OBS Studio, and any OBS-derivative supports Browser Source. Same URL works in all of them.