These instructions explain how to automatically generate live captions (text of the audio content) of audio playing on your computer for free.

These instructions will show how to enable live captions using the Google Chrome browser, allowing any video or audio playing in Chrome to display captions.

How to generate automatic live captions using Google Chrome

Requirement: Google Chrome web browser

You must be using Chrome version 89+ (version 89 was released in March, 2021).

This solution should work for any audio that is played through the Chrome browser. This works with Zoom as long as you connect via the Chrome browser and not the application. You can even drag video files onto Chrome and they will usually play with captions.

Select the customize button (button with three dots) at the top right which will open a menu.

Near the bottom of the menu that opens, select Settings.

On the left, near the bottom select Accessibility.

At the top right, enable Live Caption.

Done!

Most web pages with speech audio in Chrome will now display automatically generated live captions at the bottom. If you have a video or audio file you can usually drag it onto Chrome and Chrome will play the file and display captions (doesn't work with all video formats).

If you'd like to disable this captioning feature in Chrome, return to the Accessibility section in Settings and disable Live Caption.

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