Real-time captioning is the live conversion of spoken audio into text captions displayed simultaneously with speech. StreamTranslate provides real-time captions and translated subtitles for live streams.
Start Translating Free → No credit card · 30+ languages · Works with OBS, Streamlabs, XSplitReal-time captioning (also called live captioning or CART — Communication Access Realtime Translation) is the process of converting spoken audio into text captions with minimal delay, displayed as the words are being spoken. For live streaming, real-time captions appear on screen as the streamer talks.
Captions and subtitles are often used interchangeably but have distinct meanings. Captions are text representations of speech in the same language (English audio → English captions). Subtitles typically refer to translations into another language (English audio → Spanish subtitles). StreamTranslate provides both.
Real-time captions make streams accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, non-native speakers, and anyone watching in a noisy environment. Studies show streams with captions have higher average watch time, more chat engagement, and better viewer retention across all demographics.