Live Captions: read every word you hear on your PC

Real-time captions for video calls, YouTube, films, lectures and TV. Big, clear text on top of any app, a different color for each speaker, and a history you can search. For Windows 10 and 11.

Download for Windows

Free minutes to start. No card needed.

Calls in Zoom, Teams, Meet, WhatsApp and Telegram
60 speech languages, detected automatically
Text size up to 64 pt

Listening · computer sound Pause

Speaker 1

Good evening. Today we will talk about getting the garden ready for winter.

Speaker 2

The first thing to do is cover the roses before the first frost

What Live Captions does

It listens to the sound on your computer, or to your microphone, and shows what is said as large text within about a second. Closed captions for your whole PC, not just for one app.

Video calls

Follow a Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp or Telegram call without asking people to repeat themselves. Nothing joins the call, and nobody else sees your captions.

Videos, films and TV

Captions for YouTube, films, TV streams, podcasts, webinars and online lectures, even when a video has no subtitles of its own.

People in the room

Switch to the microphone and read what the person next to you says: at the doctor's, in class or at the family table.

Who it is for

People who are hard of hearing

Read calls and videos instead of straining to hear them. Large text and high-contrast styles also help if your eyesight is not what it was.

Families

Set it up on a parent's or grandparent's computer so they can take part in family video calls again.

Anyone who finds speech hard to follow

Quiet voices, fast talkers, strong accents or poor sound: with speech to text on screen you don't miss a word.

Students and office workers

Live transcribe lectures and long meetings, then search the transcript and save it as a file.

How it works

No setup, no second device, nothing to install in Zoom or your browser.

Open Live Captions

Install it from the Microsoft Store and open it. The caption window appears on top of your other apps.

Choose what to listen to

Computer sound for calls and videos, or the microphone for people in the room.

Press Start and read

Real-time captions appear as people speak. Pause at any time; minutes are used only while captions are running.

Features

Made to be easy to read and easy to use, with big buttons and plain words.

Who said what

Each speaker is labelled "Speaker 1", "Speaker 2" in their own color, and every new speaker starts on a new line.

Big, clear text

Make the text as large as you need, up to 64 pt. Move and resize the window, for example under a video.

Light, dark or high contrast

Pick a style and a text color that is comfortable for your eyes.

60 languages

English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi and many more. The language is detected automatically.

Transcript history

Every session is saved on your computer. Scroll back, search by word, rename speakers, copy the text, or export it to TXT or SRT.

Stays out of your way

The window stays on top. In click-through mode your mouse clicks pass through it to the app underneath.

Captions only. Live Captions writes down what is said, in the language it is spoken in. It does not translate.

Questions and answers

How is this different from the live captions built into Windows 11?

The built-in feature is free and works only on Windows 11, with a limited set of languages that depends on your Windows version. Live Captions also works on Windows 10, recognizes 60 languages and detects the language by itself, shows each speaker in a different color on a new line, keeps a searchable history you can export to TXT or SRT, and lets you make the text very large, up to 64 pt. See the full comparison with Windows 11 Live Captions.

Does it work with Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp and YouTube?

Yes. Live Captions listens to the sound your computer plays, so it works with any app: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp and Telegram calls, YouTube, films, TV streams and online lectures. Nothing needs to be installed in those apps, and nothing joins your call.

Will the other people in the call see the captions?

No. The captions appear only on your screen. Other people are not notified and do not see anything.

Does Live Captions translate?

No. Live Captions writes down what is said in the same language it is spoken in. It is made for reading speech, not for translating it.

How much does it cost?

You start with free minutes, and no card is needed. After that you can buy a one-time pack of minutes or choose a monthly or yearly subscription. Minutes are used only while captions are running. See all prices.

Is my audio recorded?

We do not record or keep your audio. While captions are running, the sound is streamed to our speech recognition provider to turn it into text. The text history is saved only on your computer, and you can delete it. Details are in the privacy policy.

What do I need to use it?

A PC with Windows 10 or Windows 11 and an internet connection. A microphone is needed only if you want captions for people speaking in the room.

Guides

Try Live Captions free

Free minutes of real-time captions, no card needed. Questions? Write to captions@live-subtitles.com, we answer every message.

Download for Windows