With the update to Chrome version 89, close caption are available and can be activated to provide captioning for all videos and audios playing in the browser. The captions are available for all Chrome versions 89 or later, running on Windows, MAC OS and Linux; it is also available for some compatible Android devices.
Currently the caption is working only for the English language, but in the future new updates will make it available for other languages too.
These captions in Chrome are created on-device, which allows the captions to appear as the content plays without ever having to leave your device.
Live Caption also works offline, so you can even caption audio and video files saved on your hard drive when you play them in Chrome.
How to activate it in Windows and MAC OS
To activate the functionality in Windows or MAC OS, open Chrome and navigate to: chrome://settings/accessibility
There, activate the Live Captions functionality on the switch:
Once activated, it will download the necessary language files and will be available to use either online or offline, with any audio or video played in Chrome.
When available, the Chrome tab will also show the following icon at the end of the URL bar; clicking on it, the captions can be turned on/off as per user's preference:
How to activate it in compatible Android devices
For compatible Android devices this functionality started to appear in late December 2019, with more devices added in time.
Live Caption works currently on Android 10 or later, and the activation is almost the same for all compatible devices - with some changes depending on the special GUI customisations that your mobile manufacturer might have.
To activate the functionality:
- Navigate to Settings -> Accessibility
- Select Hearing Enhancements
- Select Live Caption
- Toggle Live Caption on to enable the settings; perform any additional changes to the appearance as you see fit
Once activated, the captions will appear on the device for any played audio and video file while in English.