One of the bigger features to hit YouTube over the past couple of years, and the platform has had some large ones, is the brand’s AI dubbing feature. This feature automatically adds additional language audio tracks to a YouTube video, allowing creators to gain a more global reach.
Prior to this feature going live, we saw big YouTube creators rolling out their own dubbed content, but that simply just wasn’t an option for every single channel. Luckily, YouTube saw an opportunity and made a powerful tool that can really level the playing field. While it was available for a select number of channels, it’s now going live to all as of today.
This is a big one
YouTube announced on its official blog that it’s auto-dubbing feature is now available to every creator on its platform. Creators and audiences will now have the option to listen to their favorite creators in 27 different languages. Furthermore, YouTube is rolling out its Expressive Speech feature for all YouTube channels as well in eight languages.
While it might seem like commonsense, YouTube will also have a Preferred Language setting in order to allow users to make changes as they please, watching videos in the native language it was recorded or the dubbed variant. And while this is pretty good already, YouTube shared that it is experimenting in making it even better.
The future
While the auto-dubbed videos are good, YouTube thinks that they can be even better. The brand is currently testing a Lip Sync feature that “subtly matches the speaker’s lip movements to the translated audio so a dubbed video feels as seamless as watching the original.” As you can imagine, if this is done right, it will add another layer of realism to the content being viewed.
If you’re a content creator, the auto-dub feature will automatically be available. If you’re not seeing the best results from the feature, you might want to look over some of the tips that YouTube has to offer. For the most part, this be a win for creators. Not everyone will agree with auto-dubbed content, but at least it’s available as an option.
I usually just turn the audio dubs off and read translated subtitles, which seems to work better for me. But if YouTube manages to really master Expressive Speech and Lip Sync, things could really change.
