StreamTranslate gives you an OBS Browser Source overlay and a native Twitch Extension. They work differently, serve different audiences, and you can run both at the same time. Here is what you need to know.
Get Started FreeCaptions on a live stream can mean two different things. They can be part of the video itself — burned into the picture so every viewer on every platform sees them automatically. Or they can be an interactive layer that lives inside the player UI — something each viewer controls for themselves. StreamTranslate supports both approaches because they solve different problems.
The OBS Browser Source overlay puts captions into your video feed. The StreamTranslate Twitch Extension puts captions into the Twitch player as a separate interactive panel. Understanding the difference before you set anything up will save you time and make sure you pick the right tool for your situation.
The OBS Browser Source overlay is a URL you paste directly into OBS Studio (or Streamlabs, or any streaming software that supports browser sources). Once added, the captions appear as a layer on top of your scene — positioned wherever you choose, styled however you want. When you go live, those captions are part of your video output.
Because the overlay is rendered into your video before it leaves your machine, every viewer sees those captions regardless of what platform they are watching on. Someone watching on Twitch, someone watching the same stream mirrored to YouTube, someone catching a VOD two weeks later, someone watching a clip on Twitter — they all see the same captions in the same position. You set it once and it works everywhere.
The streamer controls everything: font size, position on screen, whether captions are always visible or only appear when speech is detected, background color, maximum line count. Viewers have no controls and cannot hide the overlay. This is a deliberate tradeoff — predictable, always-on accessibility versus viewer flexibility.
StreamTranslate powers the overlay using Deepgram Nova-2 speech-to-text, which delivers sub-500ms latency on live audio. The captions keep up with fast speech, gaming callouts, and rapid-fire commentary without the multi-second delays that plague other captioning tools.
Use the OBS overlay if your primary goal is accessibility — making sure deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers can follow your stream without needing to do anything themselves. Use it if you stream to multiple platforms at once and want captions everywhere automatically. Use it if you produce VODs or clips where you want captions baked in. Use it if you stream on Kick, YouTube Live, Facebook Gaming, or Rumble where the Twitch Extension is not available.
Go to streamtranslate.live/setup and sign in. Connect your Twitch account so StreamTranslate can listen to your live audio feed and generate real-time transcription.
From your dashboard, copy the Browser Source URL. It is unique to your account and stays the same across streams — you only set this up once and every future stream uses the same URL automatically.
In OBS, add a new Browser Source to your scene. Paste the URL, set the dimensions to match your canvas (usually 1920x1080), and check "Shutdown source when not visible." Position the source where you want captions to appear on screen.
Start streaming. Visit streamtranslate.live/live-translator to confirm captions are generating. You should see text appear within a second or two of speaking.
The StreamTranslate Twitch Extension is a native Twitch feature — it lives inside the Twitch player UI as an overlay panel that each viewer controls independently. Unlike the OBS overlay, the extension captions are not part of your video. They exist only in the Twitch player, only while the stream is live, and only if the viewer has them enabled.
Every viewer who opens your stream on Twitch can toggle the captions on or off using the Extensions button in the Twitch player. They can also pick a language — so a Spanish-speaking viewer can see your English speech translated to Spanish in real time, while a Portuguese-speaking viewer sees Portuguese, all from the same stream. The streamer does not need to change anything. StreamTranslate handles the transcription once and delivers each viewer's chosen language to them individually.
Because the extension runs inside the Twitch player rather than in your video feed, it does not affect your broadcast at all. Viewers who do not want captions never see them. Viewers who do want them get captions personalized to their language. This is a fundamentally different value proposition than the OBS overlay — it is about viewer autonomy and multilingual reach rather than universal accessibility.
One important limitation: because the extension is not part of your video, it does not appear in VODs, clips, or highlights. Someone watching a recording of your stream will not see extension captions. If you care about captioned recordings, you need the OBS overlay as well.
Use the Twitch extension when you have a multilingual audience and want viewers to self-select their preferred language. Use it when you want captions available without burning text into your video — perhaps because your stream layout does not have a clean area for persistent on-screen text. Use it when viewer experience flexibility matters more than universal coverage. The extension works best alongside the OBS overlay, not as a replacement for it.
Log into StreamTranslate and go to your channel settings. Enable the Twitch Extension option. This links your StreamTranslate transcription session to the extension backend so viewer requests route correctly.
Open your Twitch Creator Dashboard, navigate to Extensions, and search for StreamTranslate. Click Install, then set it as an active overlay component on your channel page.
When you start streaming with StreamTranslate running, the extension becomes active for your viewers automatically. They will see a captions toggle appear in the Twitch player controls without any additional action on your part.
Each viewer opens the extension panel and selects their preferred language from the 50+ available options. StreamTranslate delivers a real-time translated caption feed to that viewer individually, independent of what every other viewer has selected.
The OBS overlay and the Twitch extension are not mutually exclusive. Running both simultaneously gives you the best of both approaches — universal captioned video output for accessibility and recordings, plus interactive viewer-controlled captions with language selection for your Twitch audience.
Both methods draw from the same StreamTranslate session. There is no extra cost to enabling both, no performance hit on your stream, and no conflict between them. The setup is additive: get the OBS overlay working first (it takes about five minutes via streamtranslate.live/setup), then activate the Twitch extension from your dashboard as a second step.
OBS overlay active, positioned at the bottom of the screen with a subtle dark background so it reads without disrupting the visual design. Twitch extension also active, giving multilingual viewers the ability to read captions in their preferred language on top of the overlay text. Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers get captions in every clip and VOD. International viewers get their own language. Viewers who simply prefer no on-screen text can toggle the extension off — though they cannot hide the OBS overlay if you have one running.
The right balance depends on your stream aesthetic and the makeup of your audience. But having both options enabled costs nothing extra once you have a StreamTranslate subscription at $9.99 per month for the streamer, with the viewer-facing extension completely free for your audience.
Here is how the OBS Browser Source overlay and the Twitch Extension differ across the factors that matter most when choosing between them.
Visibility: the OBS overlay is part of the video output, so captions appear on all platforms you stream to simultaneously, show up in all recordings and clips, and cannot be hidden by viewers. The Twitch extension lives only inside the Twitch player, is invisible to viewers on other platforms, disappears from VODs and clips, and gives every individual viewer an on/off toggle plus a language selector.
Setup complexity: the OBS overlay requires only pasting a URL into OBS — most streamers are done in under five minutes with no developer steps involved. The Twitch extension requires one extra step inside the Twitch Creator Dashboard to install and configure, adding roughly ten minutes total.
Language control: the OBS overlay displays whichever language the streamer selects in the StreamTranslate dashboard — one language for all viewers. The Twitch extension lets each viewer pick independently from 50+ languages, with no action required from the streamer.
Platform support: the OBS overlay works on Twitch, YouTube Live, Kick, Facebook Gaming, Rumble, and any other platform that receives your OBS output. The Twitch extension works only inside the Twitch player on Twitch.
If you stream exclusively on Twitch and your audience is multilingual, the extension delivers the stronger viewer experience. If you simulcast or care about captioned VODs and clips, the overlay is non-negotiable. If you want the complete solution that covers every use case, run both — that is what StreamTranslate is designed to support. You can verify your setup is working correctly at any time through streamtranslate.live/live-translator.
Yes. Both methods run off the same StreamTranslate session, so enabling one does not disable the other. Your OBS overlay burns captions into the video feed while the Twitch extension gives viewers a separate interactive layer in the Twitch player. Most streamers who care about accessibility run both simultaneously — it is the recommended setup and there is no additional cost for using both.
The OBS overlay is better for raw accessibility because the captions are encoded into the video itself. Anyone watching on any device or platform — including mobile viewers, Twitch embed viewers, or people watching clips — will see them without needing to take any action. The Twitch extension is better for viewer choice: people who do not need captions can turn them off, and viewers can pick their own language for real-time translation. If accessibility is the primary goal, use the overlay. If viewer autonomy and multilingual reach are the goal, use the extension.
Yes. Because the OBS overlay is rendered into your video output before it reaches Twitch's servers, captions appear on VODs, clips, highlights, and any recording of the stream. The Twitch extension does not appear in recordings or clips — it only exists in the live Twitch player UI and is removed once the stream ends. If accessible archives matter to your audience, the OBS overlay is the method you need.
No. The OBS overlay is baked into the video stream at the encoder level — viewers have no way to hide it, just as they cannot hide any other element of your stream layout. If viewer control is important to your audience, pair the overlay with the Twitch extension so viewers at least have a separate interactive option, or design the overlay to be minimal so it does not disrupt the viewing experience for people who prefer no text on screen.
The OBS Browser Source overlay is faster — it is a single URL you paste into OBS as a browser source, with no additional software installs, no Twitch developer steps, and no extensions to configure. Most streamers complete the full setup in under five minutes. The Twitch extension adds one step inside the Twitch Creator Dashboard, bringing total setup time to around fifteen minutes. Both are significantly simpler than captioning alternatives that require virtual audio cables, custom encoding software, or third-party middleware.
The OBS overlay works on any platform your OBS output reaches — Twitch, YouTube Live, Kick, Facebook Gaming, Rumble, and simultaneous multistreaming setups. The Twitch extension is Twitch-specific. If you simulcast or primarily stream on a non-Twitch platform, the OBS overlay is the right tool and a single setup covers all your destinations at once.