Dubbed audio on a video from an international creator can be a surprise. YouTube's auto dubbing is on by default for eligible channels, and a viewer can land on a dubbed track without choosing one. Whether you're a viewer who wants the original audio or a creator who wants control over how your voice sounds in other languages, this guide shows you what you can turn off and how.
Disclosure: Vosko AI is our product. YouTube facts come from YouTube's help page on automatic dubbing.
Viewers, for one video:
Creators, for your whole channel:
We didn't find a single setting that turns dubbing off for viewers across the whole platform. YouTube's viewer tools are the Audio track menu and the preferred-language setting, both covered below.
YouTube says automatic dubbing generates translated audio tracks to make videos accessible to viewers around the world, and that videos with these tracks are marked "auto-dubbed" in the video description. YouTube's blog says auto dubbing is available to everyone in 27 languages. Viewers can set preferred languages or switch tracks, and audio tracks default to a viewer's preferred language, which YouTube determines from their watch history.
The reasons people turn it off are usually about quality and control. YouTube's help page says dubs can contain errors from mispronunciations, accents, dialects, or background noise, that proper nouns, idioms, and jargon can be hard to translate, and that matching the dub's voice to the original can be difficult. Quality also varies by language, and creators can't edit auto dubs. Because lip sync is an experimental feature for select channels, a dub usually won't match the speaker's mouth movements.
For our own results on one video, see our Vosko vs YouTube Auto Dubbing comparison and our YouTube auto dubbing review.
You have two tools: switch the audio track on a video, or set your preferred languages. These steps follow YouTube's help pages, and menu names can vary by device and app version.
If you hear a dubbed voice, you can switch back right away. The video description also tells you whether a video is marked "auto-dubbed."
On a computer:
On a phone or tablet (iOS and Android):
YouTube lets viewers indicate preferred languages for audio, titles, and descriptions. It isn't an off switch for dubbing. It tells YouTube which languages you want, so add every language you understand, including the original language of the videos you watch. YouTube doesn't spell out exactly how it applies the setting, so results can vary, and you can always change the audio track on a video.
On a computer:
On a phone or tablet (iOS and Android):
YouTube says automatic dubbing is enabled by default for eligible creators, and that you can turn it on or off at any time. You can also keep it on and review each dub before it goes live. Pick the option that fits your channel.
In the YouTube Studio app, the path is profile picture, Settings, Content, then Automatic dubbing. Turning it off stops new dubs. It doesn't say what happens to dubs that already exist, so check your videos and remove any you don't want.
If you'd like to hear a dub before viewers do, choose the manual review option in the same settings. The Studio app calls it Publish manually. YouTube then holds the dubs until you publish them, and you can preview them first.
YouTube says you can preview, publish, unpublish, or delete dubs only in YouTube Studio on a computer.
An unpublished dub is hidden from viewers, and you can republish it later. A deleted dub is gone, and you can't republish it.
YouTube says auto dubs have no negative impact on the original video's discovery and might help with discovery in other languages. That is YouTube's own claim. YouTube also reports that creators who uploaded multi-language audio saw over 25% of their watch time come from views in the video's non-primary language, on average. Turning auto dubbing off means YouTube won't generate those tracks for you. You can still upload your own.
You can replace an auto dub with your own track. YouTube calls this multi-language audio, and its help page says you must delete an existing auto dub in that language before uploading yours. Your file must be audio-only and roughly the same length as the video, and you need access to Advanced features. If you're still deciding whether localizing is worth it, see why localize your video content.
Vosko AI Dubbing is one way to make that track. Here is what it offers for this job:
We didn't find a single setting that does it. YouTube's tools for viewers are the Audio track menu on each video and the preferred-language setting. Adding every language you understand to your preferred languages is the best way to reduce unwanted dubs.
The option appears only on videos with more than one audio track. Those tracks can be auto dubs or tracks the creator uploaded.
Set Audio track back to the original, then open Subtitles/CC and choose your language. Subtitles depend on what the creator or YouTube provides for that video.
Yes. Creators can choose manual review in Advanced settings, or Publish manually in the Studio app. YouTube then holds the dubs until you publish them.
YouTube says auto dubs don't hurt a video's discovery and might help in other languages. Neither outcome is guaranteed for your channel. Check YouTube Analytics, which can break down views by audio language, and compare before and after.
YouTube lets viewers set preferred languages for titles and descriptions, so what a viewer sees can differ from what you published. That is a viewer-side setting. If you're a viewer, see our guide to disabling YouTube auto translate video titles.
Yes. Delete the auto dub for that language, then upload your own audio file through multi-language audio. See our guide to dubbing a YouTube video for the full options.
You have more control than it may seem. Viewers can switch to the original audio on any video and set preferred languages. Creators can turn auto dubbing off, review dubs before they publish, or delete a dub and upload their own.
If your goal is better dubs rather than none, an editable tool such as Vosko AI Dubbing lets you fix the script and keep the speaker's voice before you upload the track to YouTube.
