Speech to Text for Streaming — Real-Time Transcription

Speech to Text for Live Streaming

Speech to text (STT) technology converts spoken language into written text. For streamers, STT means real-time captions that appear on your stream as you speak. This makes your content accessible and opens it up to international audiences.

The challenge for streaming is latency — STT must process audio and produce text within 1-2 seconds to feel "real-time." Not all STT services can handle this. StreamTranslate uses Deepgram, one of the fastest and most accurate STT providers.

Best Speech to Text Tools for Streamers

• StreamTranslate (Deepgram) — Purpose-built for streaming. Real-time STT + translation in 28+ languages. OBS Browser Source overlay. Free tier. Try it →
• Google Speech API — Powerful but requires development work. Not plug-and-play for streamers.
• Whisper (OpenAI) — Very accurate but designed for batch processing, not real-time streaming.
• LocalVocal — OBS plugin using local Whisper. Requires GPU, no translation.

How StreamTranslate Uses Speech to Text

StreamTranslate's speech-to-text pipeline:

• Audio capture — Your browser captures microphone audio and streams it to Deepgram.
• Real-time transcription — Deepgram Nova processes audio and returns text in under a second.
• Translation — Google Translate converts text into target languages.
• Subtitle rendering — Translated text appears on your OBS overlay in real time.

The entire pipeline operates with under 2 seconds of end-to-end latency.

Frequently Asked Questions