The short answer
Live captions are subtitles made on the spot. Your computer listens to the sound it is playing, or to a microphone, and prints each line a moment after it is said. Nothing has to be subtitled in advance.
You may already have them. Windows 11 has Live captions on the Windows key, Ctrl and L. Macs with Apple silicon have Live Captions in System Settings, under Accessibility. Chrome has Live Caption for audio in a tab. Firefox has none of its own.
Separate live caption software is for what those leave out on your setup: translation, audio outside the browser, a language they do not cover, or a transcript you keep.
What live captions are
A subtitle file for a film was written in advance by a person. Live captions are made while you listen, so they can cover a meeting, a game or a stream. The trade is accuracy. Clear speech near a microphone reads well, crosstalk and unfamiliar names do not.
Microsoft's FAQ says only speech is captioned, and that applause, music and sung lyrics will not be reliably detected. All three make the captions on the machine. Microsoft says audio, voice data and captions never leave your device, Apple says audio is processed on device, and Google says audio and captions are processed locally.
How to turn them on
Windows 11
Press the Windows key, Ctrl and L. You can also open quick settings from the battery, network or volume icon and switch on Live captions. Microsoft's page says the feature is in Windows 11, version 22H2 and later, and the first run downloads language files.
Mac
Open the Apple menu, then System Settings, then Accessibility, then Live Captions, and turn it on. Apple lists the feature for Mac computers with Apple silicon only. The first run downloads language data, so you need to be online, and audio from all apps is captioned by default.
Chrome
Open the Chrome menu, then Settings, then Accessibility, and switch on Live Caption. For a language other than English, select Add languages next to Manage languages, and Google's page says the language pack downloads automatically. The captions cover audio playing in Chrome.
What each one can do
| What it hears | Caption languages | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 11 Live captions | PC audio or the microphone | 10, per Microsoft | Copilot+ PCs only |
| macOS Live Captions | Mac audio or the microphone | 8, per Apple | None |
| Chrome Live Caption | Audio inside Chrome | 19 named by Google | Yes, text goes to Google |
| Firefox | Nothing built in | None | None |
| Fraze | Any audio or the microphone | 25, more on macOS 26 | About 50 to or from English |
Firefox is the gap. Mozilla's list of accessibility features has no captioning, and live captioning is still an open request in Mozilla's ideas forum. Mozilla's post on Picture-in-Picture subtitles is about showing the captions a site already provides, which is a different job from writing down audio.
Live captions not working: what to check
- Language files. On Windows the setup error says they cannot be downloaded right now. Microsoft's fix is to check your internet connection and whether you can reach the Microsoft Store, which a work network may block. If the Store is blocked, the same page has language packages you can download and install by hand.
- Default sound output. Microsoft's FAQ says live captions follows the default output device set in Settings, System, Sound. If you listen on a headset that is not the default, you may need to change it.
- Load. Microsoft says apps that share video can delay captions or drop them, and suggests closing unused apps.
- Source and scope on a Mac. Apple says the window hides when no audio is detected, the microphone button switches between computer audio and the microphone, and Live Captions can be set to FaceTime only. It is not available in all languages, countries or regions.
- Volume and source in Chrome. Google says videos that autoplay need the video volume turned on. Chrome hears only Chrome, so a desktop app gets nothing.
Where the built-in options stop
- Translation. Microsoft puts caption translation on Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11 version 24H2 and later. Apple's Live Captions page lists none, and its separate Live Translation feature is listed for Messages, Phone and FaceTime only. Chrome has Live Translate, which Google's Chromebook Plus steps put at over 100 languages, but Google's page says the captions are sent to Google for it.
- Reach. A Zoom or Teams desktop app, a media player or a game sits outside Chrome.
- Languages. Microsoft lists 10 spoken languages in 21 regional variants. Apple's feature availability page lists 8 languages in 18 regional variants, counting Cantonese and Mandarin apart. Google names 19 as examples in its Chromebook Plus steps and gives no full list for Windows or Mac.
- Keeping the words. Microsoft says generated captions are not stored anywhere, Google says captions are never stored, and Apple's page describes no way to save them.
Fraze is a Mac and Windows app for those gaps. It captions any audio your computer plays, a single app on macOS, or your microphone, with a translation under each line. Both steps run on your computer, so nothing is uploaded and it keeps working with Wi-Fi off after the first language download. Lines land about half a second to a second after a speaker pauses, a small caption window can float over a call, and each session is saved on your machine.
When the built-in option is the better pick
- You only need captions in the language being spoken. All three do that at no cost.
- You have a Copilot+ PC and want foreign speech in English, or you watch only in Chrome and do not mind the caption text going to Google.
- You are on Windows 10, an Intel Mac, a Chromebook, a phone or Linux. Fraze does not run there, and Google documents Chrome's Live Caption for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebooks. Fraze needs macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon, or Windows 11 on a 64-bit PC with a 4-core AVX2 processor and 8 GB of memory.
Fraze gives every account the first 30 minutes free, with no card. After that it is $29.99 once or $2.99 a month, both unlimited, with no per-minute meter. It has no summaries, speaker labels or sharing links. Verli at verli.app, the cloud version from the same company, has summaries and sharing, and audio goes to the cloud for them.
Questions
What is live captions?
Live captions is a feature that turns audio into text while it plays. The computer listens to its own sound output, or to a microphone, and writes each line on screen a moment later. No subtitle file is needed, so it works on live calls.
How do I get live captions on my PC?
On Windows 11, press the Windows key, Ctrl and L, or go to Settings, then Accessibility, then Captions, and turn on Live captions. Microsoft's page says the feature is in Windows 11, version 22H2 and later, and documents it for Windows 11 only.
Why are my live captions not working?
Common causes are language files that did not finish downloading, audio playing on a device other than your default sound output, a muted video, or sound from an app the feature cannot hear, such as a desktop program while you use Chrome Live Caption.
Is there live caption software that works outside the browser?
Yes. Windows 11 captions any audio on the PC, and macOS captions all apps by default. Fraze does it on both, adds a translation under each line, and keeps the audio and the text on your computer.
Do live captions work offline?
Once the language files are installed, mostly. Microsoft says captions can be provided even when disconnected from the internet, and Apple says audio is processed on device. Chrome's captions are local, its translation is not. Fraze does both on your computer.
Are live captions free?
The ones in Windows 11, macOS and Chrome are free. Fraze gives every account 30 free minutes with no card, then costs $29.99 once or $2.99 a month, both unlimited. A free Fraze account carries the plan and never sees your audio.