Guide

How to translate a YouTube video without re-recording

Updated 2026-11-11

You already recorded the video. Translating it means uploading that file, keeping the picture, and publishing a new language. You film once.

Use the export you already have

Take the file from your editor, the copy you uploaded to YouTube, or the camera original. VidDub starts from a file you have the right to use. The set, the slides, and the face stay. The speech is translated and written into the picture.

A long livestream is the wrong shape. Videos are within 10 minutes. Export the chapter you want in the new language: the tutorial segment, the product minute, the answer you wish more people could follow. Name the chapter so the download is easy to match later.

Pick one audience

Choose one target language for this upload. VidDub supports 17 source languages and 18 target languages. A second language is a second upload, with its own preview, so you can check the wording before you publish that version.

Single-language subtitles are enough when the whole audience reads the target. Bilingual subtitles help when some viewers still want the original sentence on screen. Either way the words are burned into the picture, and a subtitle file comes with the video.

Preview before you replace anything

Sign in on the web or in the iOS or Android app. The free preview after sign-in shows the same picture with the new line. Read names, prices, and the call to action. Add a catalog voice if you want the translation spoken. Basic dubbing is free on the full video. The picture stays as you recorded it.

The full download uses minutes. Packs start at $3.90 for 30 minutes. Under a minute counts as one minute. Pro and Max are in the mobile apps. Finished files stay for about 24 hours, so download the new version the day it is ready. Your YouTube original stays on YouTube. This file is the extra language.

Keep the original and the new cut apart

Give the new file a title that includes the language. The English project stays the project. The French or Spanish download is a publishable video, and it is easy to mix them up when both thumbnails show the same face. A language in the file name saves you from posting the source to the audience you just translated for.

Watch the preview once with the sound off. YouTube autoplay is often muted, and the subtitle in the picture is the whole message. If the line is late, or a word sits on the brightest part of the frame, you see it before you spend the minutes. Then watch once with sound if you added a catalog voice.

Tell the new viewers what changed and what stayed. The picture is the one they may have seen, or the one you are showing them for the first time. The language is the reason this version exists. A single sentence in the description, in the target language, is enough.

A publishing checklist

The picture matches the video people already know.
The new title and description are in the target language.
Names and numbers survived the preview.
You saved a local copy the same day.
The original project file is still in your editor.
You know whether the voice is the original or a catalog voice.
The video is within 10 minutes.
You have the right to publish this version.

Upload the new version yourself

You put the finished file on YouTube the same way you posted the first one. A new title in the target language tells the right viewers to press play. The subtitles are already in the picture, so the meaning survives a muted autoplay.

A worked example: a six-minute desk tutorial in English that you want in French. You export the MP4 you already rendered, sign in, and choose French. The preview shows the same screen recording and French in the frame. You download it, write a French title, and post it as its own video. The English original stays up. Finished files stay for about 24 hours, so the copy on your computer is the one you upload. The picture in both videos is the desk you already filmed.

Related translations

Questions

Do I record again?

Upload the file you already have. The picture stays.

Can I send a YouTube link?

Upload the video file.

What comes back?

A finished video with subtitles in the picture, an optional catalog voice, and a subtitle file.

How long is the file kept?

About 24 hours. Download the copy you will publish.

Where are the languages?

The languages page lists every pair. English to French is one live pair.