Live caption translations in 90+ languages during the stream

Vimeo generates live closed captions during your broadcast and translates them into 90+ languages in real time. International viewers pick their language directly in the player and follow along in their own tongue while the event is happening. Available on Premium and Enterprise live streaming plans.
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Live captions in one language leaves most of your audience out

  • One-language captions cap your reach

    If your live event is in English but a third of your audience speaks Spanish, Portuguese, or Mandarin, English-only captions turn viewership numbers into a rounding error for those regions.

  • Post-event translation misses the live moment

    By the time a webinar recording gets translated captions the next week, the news cycle has moved on and your registrants have already unsubscribed from the follow-up sequence.

  • Human translation vendors do not scale to live

    Human live-caption vendors exist, but they only cover a handful of languages, cost thousands of dollars per event, and typically require booking weeks in advance.

For a global product launch, a multi-region town hall, or an international webinar, English-only captions during the live event effectively lock non-English speakers out. Post-event translation solves the on-demand recap but misses the live moment, and human translation vendors only cover a few languages at high per-event cost. What most events actually need is a real-time caption track in every language a viewer might pick.

Live closed captions in the source language, translated in real time

Vimeo generates live closed captions during your broadcast, translates them into 90+ languages in real time, and offers a language switcher directly in the player. Viewers in Madrid, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, or Riyadh pick their language and follow along in their own tongue while your event is happening. Available on Premium and Enterprise live streaming plans, no captioning vendor.
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Live captions in the source language

Vimeo generates closed captions in real time during your broadcast on Premium and Enterprise plans. Captions display in the player and archive with the recording for the on-demand recap.

Real-time translation into 90+ languages

Translations happen during the event, not the next day. Every supported language runs simultaneously, so a viewer in Tokyo and a viewer in Berlin see captions in Japanese and German at the same moment.

In-player language switcher

Viewers pick their preferred language directly in the player. One live stream, one URL, many languages served, without duplicate broadcasts or regional simulcasts.

Recording keeps every language track

The archived recording keeps every live-translated language track, so anyone who missed the event can pick their preferred language for the on-demand replay.

Serve global audiences without duplicate broadcasts

Traditional multi-language events require regional simulcasts, human translator booths, or separate broadcasts for each region. With live caption translations, you run one broadcast, and audiences worldwide follow along in their own language. Registration data, analytics, and Q&A stay unified in one event, and you skip the overhead of running parallel productions per region.
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One broadcast, one URL

Skip parallel productions, regional simulcasts, and separate translated cuts. One live stream serves every language market from a single event and a single registration flow.

Unified analytics across languages

Attendance, engagement, and drop-off analytics stay on a single event even when viewers are watching in five different languages, so post-event reporting shows total reach in one place.

Q&A and chat in the source language

Attendees ask questions in the language they speak. Live Q&A and audience chat run alongside translated captions, so moderators can filter and respond without a translation layer.

Auto-archived and auto-captioned

When the event ends, the recording is auto-captioned in the source language and every translated language track carries over to the on-demand recap for the replay audience.

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Why live caption translations change the reach and ROI of live events

For a global product launch, an international town hall, or a webinar with attendees across regions, live caption translations turn a single broadcast into a genuinely multilingual event. Every supported language is served in real time, registration and analytics stay unified, and the on-demand recording keeps every language track for the recap audience.

  • Higher completion in non-English regions

    When a non-English attendee sees captions in their own language, they stay to the end. Drop-off in non-source-language markets falls in visible ways compared to English-only broadcasts.

  • Broader webinar registration

    Marketing pages can advertise the event in more languages when the live experience actually supports them. Registration lists grow in regions you previously served only through recaps.

  • Q&A participation from more regions

    Non-source-language attendees ask questions when they can follow the event live in their own language, not just when the recap arrives days later.

  • No parallel productions to staff

    Skip separate regional broadcasts, human translation vendors, and simulcast setups. One production team runs one live event for every language market.

  • Compliance-friendly on regulated events

    Multilingual captions help meet accessibility and non-discrimination requirements for public and regulated events across multiple jurisdictions from a single broadcast.

  • Post-event recap for every language

    The archived recording carries every translated caption track, so on-demand viewers see the language they pick and analytics roll up to one event.

  • One registration list across markets

    Attendee data across all languages lands in one registration list and one CRM sync, not five regional exports that need reconciling later.

  • Editable transcripts on the archive

    Post-event, transcripts in every language are editable in the same panel where the captions were generated, so glossary fixes apply to the recap for every audience.

  • A fraction of translator-booth cost

    Compared to booking human live-caption translators for each language at thousands of dollars per event, real-time AI translation runs at a fraction of the operational cost.

How to enable live caption translations on a Vimeo live event

Live caption translations run during the broadcast on Premium and Enterprise plans. Turn on live closed captions in the source language, pick the target languages you want to offer viewers, and Vimeo handles real-time translation and the in-player language switcher for you.

  1. Step 1

    Sign in to Vimeo on a Premium or Enterprise plan. Live closed captioning and live translations run on those tiers, so open the live events dashboard from your workspace to get started.

  2. Step 2

    Create the live event. Set title, schedule, registration form, and destinations if you plan to simulcast to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or another RTMP destination.

  3. Step 3

    In event settings, enable live closed captioning and pick the source language of the broadcast so Vimeo can generate captions in real time as your speakers talk.

  4. Step 4

    Select the target translation languages you want to offer. Every selected language shows up in the in-player language switcher during the event.

  5. Step 5

    Go live. Captions appear in the source language, translations render in real time for every selected target language, and viewers pick their language directly in the player.
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Find the right plan for you

    Vimeo offers discounts to US-based non-profit organizations and educational institutions. Learn more.

    For more information on feature availability, please reference our pricing page.

    Frequently asked questions about live caption translations

    Live closed captioning during live broadcasts is available on Premium and Enterprise live streaming plans, and live caption translations layer on top for real-time multilingual delivery in 90+ languages.

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