Chrome now immediately captions audio and video on the web

Google is expanding its real-time captioning feature, Live Captions, from Pixel phones to anyone using a Chrome browser, as XDA developers first spotted. Live Captions uses machine learning to spontaneously create captions for video or audio where they didn't exist before and make the Web much more accessible to anyone who has difficulty hearing.

When enabled, live captions automatically get displayed in a small, movable box at the bottom of your browser when we're watching or listening to a piece of content that people are talking about. Words are seen after a slight delay, and for fast or stuttering speech, you may spot errors. But overall, the feature is as impressive as it was when it first appeared on Pixel phones in 2019. Captions will even appear with audio muted or at low volume, making it a way to "read" videos or podcasts without disturbing other people around you.

In early testing done by some of us here at The Verge, Chrome's live captions worked on YouTube videos, Twitch streams, podcast players, and even music streaming services like SoundCloud. However, it looks like the Live Captions in Chrome only work in the English language, which is similar to mobile.

To enable Live captions in the latest Chrome version, go to Settings, then the "Advanced" section, and then "Accessibility." (If you don't see the feature, try manually updating and restarting your browser.) When you turn them on, Chrome will quickly download some speech recognition files, and then the captions should appear the next time your browser plays audio where people are speaking.

Live captions were first introduced in the Android Q beta, but they were exclusive to some Pixel and Samsung phones to this day. Now that they're on Chrome, Live Captions will be available to a much wider audience.