The short answer
YouTube's own tools will not do it. Google's help gives Auto-translate as a step in choosing a caption language, and says that if you do not see the Closed captions button, captions are not available for that video. Google does not spell out the rest, but it follows: with no captions, Auto-translate has nothing to work on.
So caption the audio instead. Chrome can caption sound playing in a Chrome tab and translate it, to English by default, though the caption text goes to Google. Fraze is a Mac and Windows app that listens to the audio itself, so it never needs a caption track, and both steps run on your computer.
Why the CC button is missing
- The captions are not ready yet, because the audio is complex to process.
- Automatic captions do not support the language spoken in the video.
- The video is too long.
- The sound quality is poor, or YouTube does not recognize the speech.
- There is a long period of silence at the beginning of the video.
- Several speakers talk over each other, or more than one language is spoken at once.
That list is Google's, from its page on automatic captioning: reasons a video gets no automatic captions. If the creator added none either, the video has no captions, and Google's caption settings page says the Closed captions button is visible when captions are available.
Check the language first. Google lists the languages automatic captions cover. For live streams, it says automatic captions are available in English only.
Auto-translate only works on captions that exist
Google documents Auto-translate on the Android and iPhone tabs of its caption settings page. To select a caption language, the steps are More, then Captions, then a language. If yours is not listed, click Auto-translate and select it. The same tabs say that if you do not see Closed captions, captions are not available for the video.
The Computer tab does not list the Auto-translate step today. On a computer the player has the option under Settings, then Subtitles/CC. That is what the player shows, not something Google documents.
Google never says outright that Auto-translate needs existing captions. That is our reading of the two facts above: the option is part of choosing a caption language, and a video without the Closed captions button has no captions to choose from.
Three ways to read it anyway
| Needs captions to exist | Audio it can hear | Where translation happens | |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Auto-translate | Yes | None, it works on captions | By YouTube |
| Chrome Live Translate | No | Audio playing in Chrome | At Google, captions are sent |
| Windows and macOS live captions | No | Any audio on the computer | Windows: Copilot+ PCs only. Mac: none |
| Fraze | No | Any audio, one app, or the mic | On your computer |
On the third row: Microsoft's documentation says translating live captions needs a Copilot+ PC on Windows 11 version 24H2 or later, into English or Simplified Chinese. Apple's Live Captions page for Mac mentions no translation, and Apple describes its separate Live Translation feature for Messages, FaceTime and the Phone app.
Option 1: Chrome, for a video in a tab
Turn on Live Caption
In Chrome, select More, then Settings, then Accessibility, and turn Live Caption on. On Linux, select Captions inside Accessibility first.
Add the spoken language
If the video is not in English, select Add languages next to Manage languages. Chrome downloads a language pack. Then set Preferred caption language to the one spoken in the video.
Turn on Live Translate
Turn Live Translate on in the same settings. It translates to English unless you pick another language next to Translate to.
Google documents Live Translate for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook Plus. It names languages only in the Chromebook Plus part of the page: 19 Live Caption languages as examples, among them Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and both Chinese scripts, translated into what it calls over 100 languages. For Windows, Mac and Linux the page gives no list, so check the menus in your own Chrome.
Two limits. Google describes this as captioning media from the Chrome browser, so a desktop player, a meeting app or a game outside Chrome is out of reach. And the privacy line is split: the page says Live Caption audio and captions are processed locally and never leave your device, while Live Translate sends the captions to Google.
Option 2: Fraze, which listens to the audio itself
Pick what to listen to
Choose system audio to hear whatever the computer plays, a single app on macOS, or the microphone.
Pick the two languages
Set the spoken language and the one you want to read. The first time you use a pair, Fraze downloads the language files. After that it works with Wi-Fi off.
Play the video and read
A small caption window can float over the player. Show the original, the translation, or both. Transcripts are saved on your computer.
Fraze never looks for a caption track, so a video with no captions, a file in a desktop player and a stream are all the same to it. Lines appear about half a second to a second after a speaker pauses.
The limits are languages and hardware. Fraze transcribes 25 European languages, and more on macOS 26 or later, including Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Translation covers about 50 languages to or from English, and other pairs go through English. It needs macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon, or Windows 11 on x64 with a 4-core AVX2 processor and 8 GB of RAM.
The first 30 minutes are free on every account, with no card. After that it is $29.99 once or $2.99 a month, both unlimited. A free Fraze account is required. No audio or transcript text is ever uploaded.
When the built-in option is the better pick
- The video does have captions. YouTube's own caption menu is free and already there.
- The video has an audio track in your language. Google's help says that when a video offers other languages, you pick one under Settings, then Audio track.
- Everything you watch is in a Chrome tab and you do not mind the caption text going to Google. Live Translate is built into the browser.
- You are on a Chromebook, a phone, an Intel Mac or Windows 10. Fraze runs on none of those.
- You want a summary, speaker names or a sharing link. Fraze has none of these. Verli, the cloud version from the same company, has summaries and sharing, but the audio goes to the cloud.
Questions
How do I translate a YouTube video to English without CC?
Caption the audio instead. In Chrome, turn on Live Caption, add the spoken language, then turn on Live Translate, which translates to English unless you change it. If the video plays outside Chrome, or you want the words to stay on your machine, Fraze captions what your computer plays and shows English under each line.
Why is the CC button missing on a YouTube video?
Google says that if you do not see the Closed captions button, captions are not available for that video: the creator added none and YouTube made none. Google's reasons for no automatic captions include an unsupported spoken language, poor sound, a long video and overlapping speakers.
Can YouTube auto-translate a video that has no subtitles?
No, going by Google's help pages. They give Auto-translate as a step in choosing a caption language, and they say a video without the Closed captions button has no captions. Google does not state the conclusion itself. We draw it from those two points.
Does Chrome Live Translate work on a video with no captions?
Yes. Google describes Live Caption as generating captions from audio playing in Chrome, so it does not depend on YouTube's captions. It covers only audio in Chrome, and Google says the captions are sent to Google to be translated.
Can I translate a video that is not on YouTube?
Yes, if your computer is playing it. Fraze listens to the system audio, so a file in a desktop player, a stream or a webinar all work the same way. It is live only: you cannot give it a video file to process.