The short answer
On Windows or Mac, select More at the top right, then Settings, then Accessibility, and use the Live Caption switch. On a Chromebook it sits under Settings, Accessibility, Audio and captions, Captions. While something is playing, the Media control button in the toolbar is the quick way in.
Captions are made on your machine. Translation is not: Google's help page says you can send captions to Google to translate them.
Live Caption only covers audio playing inside Chrome. A Zoom desktop app, a video player or a person in the room is out of reach. An extension that uses Chrome's tab capture hears one tab and no more. Fraze is a Mac and Windows app that captions any audio your computer plays, or your microphone, and translates on the computer too.
How to turn on Live Caption in Chrome
Windows and Mac
Select More at the top right, then Settings, then Accessibility, and turn Live Caption on. For a language other than English, select Add languages next to Manage languages, then set your preferred caption language.
Chromebook
Select the time at the bottom right, then Settings, then Accessibility. Under Audio and captions select Captions, and turn Live Caption on. Google adds that if the setting is not there, your device does not support it yet. For Chromebook Plus, Google also lists Quick Settings: select the time, then turn on Live Caption.
The quick toggle
Play something with sound in a tab, then select Media control at the top right of the toolbar. Google lists this as the way to turn captions on for all videos. If a video plays on its own, turn its volume on or captions will not start.
On Linux there is one extra step: Settings, Accessibility, Captions, then Live Caption.
How to turn off Live Caption in Chrome
Same switch, same place. Windows or Mac: More, Settings, Accessibility, Live Caption off. Chromebook: Settings, Accessibility, Audio and captions, Captions, then off. Linux: Settings, Accessibility, Captions, then off.
Live Translate has its own switch on that screen. Turn that off too if you do not want captions sent to Google the next time. On Chromebook Plus, Google's page warns that Live Translate stays on the next time you switch Live Caption back on.
Languages, and what Live Translate sends to Google
Google's help page gives no full list. Its Chromebook Plus section names 19 Live Caption languages as examples: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Swedish, Thai and Turkish. The list under Add languages in your own Chrome settings is the one that counts.
Live Translate is listed for Chromebook Plus, Windows, Mac and Linux. An ordinary Chromebook is not on that list. On Windows, Mac and Linux you pick the language next to Translate to. For Chromebook Plus, Google says the captions can be turned into "over 100+ languages".
The two halves are handled differently, and the help page says so. On captions: "All audio and captions are processed locally, are never stored, and never leave your device." On translation: "You can send captions to Google to automatically translate them." Your audio stays with you. The text of what was said does not, once you translate it.
What Chrome Live Caption cannot hear
- The Zoom, Teams or Slack desktop app. Google lists video calls among the media Live Caption covers, so join the same call in a tab and Chrome can caption it.
- A desktop video player, a media app or a game outside the browser. A downloaded file is the exception: Google says Live Caption works on audio and video files saved on your hard drive when you play them in Chrome.
- A person talking next to you. Google's pages describe captions for what you play in Chrome, not for your microphone.
- An extension is not a sure way round this. Chrome's developer documentation describes tab capture as the video and audio of the current tab. An extension can also ask you to share a whole screen or a window, and Chrome may offer system audio with that. Whether a given extension does so is up to the extension.
Google describes the feature as captions for media from the Chrome browser. The Chromebook page says any audio or video you play on your Chrome browser. The rest of what your computer plays sits outside it.
Captioning the audio Chrome misses
| What it hears | Caption languages | Where translation runs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome Live Caption | Audio inside Chrome | 19 named by Google | Caption text goes to Google |
| Fraze | Any audio, or the microphone | 25, more on macOS 26 | On your computer |
Fraze is a desktop app for macOS and Windows. It listens to everything your computer plays, or to one app on a Mac, or to your microphone, and writes each line about a second after a speaker pauses, with a translation under it. Both steps run on your computer, so no audio or transcript text is uploaded, and after the first language download it works with the Wi-Fi off. A small caption window can float over the call or video.
It transcribes 25 European languages, more on macOS 26 and later including Japanese, Korean and Chinese, and translates about 50 languages to or from English. The first 30 minutes are free on every account, with no card, then $29.99 once or $2.99 a month, both unlimited. It needs macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon, or Windows 11 on an x64 PC with a 4-core AVX2 processor and 8 GB of memory, and a free account that carries the plan and never sees your audio.
When Chrome's own captions are the better pick
- Everything you watch is in a tab. Live Caption is built in, free, and made on your device.
- You want a target language Fraze does not cover. Google's page speaks of over 100 translation languages on Chromebook Plus.
- You are on a Chromebook or on Linux, where Fraze does not run at all.
Fraze is for the rest: audio the browser cannot hear, and the case where the words have to stay on the machine. It has no summaries and no sharing links. Verli at verli.app is the cloud sibling that does, and its trade is that audio goes to its servers.
Questions
How do I turn on live caption in Chrome?
More, Settings, Accessibility, then turn on Live Caption. On a Chromebook: Settings, Accessibility, Audio and captions, Captions. While something is playing, the Media control button in the toolbar also turns captions on.
How do I turn off live caption in Chrome?
The same switch: More, Settings, Accessibility, then Live Caption off. On a Chromebook: Settings, Accessibility, Audio and captions, Captions. Live Translate has its own switch, so turn that off too.
Which languages does Chrome live caption support, and can it translate?
Google's help page names 19 caption languages as examples, including English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Thai and both written forms of Chinese. Check Add languages in your Chrome settings for your own list. Live Translate is listed for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook Plus, and works by sending the captions to Google.
Is there a live caption extension that hears other apps?
Not through tab capture, which Chrome's developer documentation describes as the video and audio of the current tab. An extension can also ask you to share a screen or window, and Chrome may offer system audio with that, so it depends on the extension. A desktop app such as Fraze, or your system's own captions, hears other apps directly.
Can Chrome caption a Zoom or Teams call?
Only if you join in a Chrome tab. Chrome cannot hear the desktop app. Fraze listens to the system audio, so it captions the call either way, with no bot joining. In some places you must tell people before you transcribe a conversation.