How to Turn Off YouTube Auto-Dubbing
As a viewer, open the player Settings, choose Audio track and pick the original language. To stop it on every video, add the languages you understand under Settings > Playback & Performance > Language: YouTube doesn’t dub a video whose original audio is already in one of your preferred languages. As a creator, open YouTube Studio > Settings > Channel > Advanced settings, untick Allow automatic dubbing and click Save.
At a glance
| Switch one video back | Player Settings > Audio track > the original language |
|---|---|
| Stop it for every video (viewer) | Add your languages in Playback & Performance; there is no single off switch |
| Turn it off for a channel | Studio > Settings > Channel > Advanced settings > Allow automatic dubbing |
| Approve dubs first | Tick Manually review dubs before publishing |
| Edit an automatic dub | Not possible: unpublish or delete it, or fix the video’s original language and let it regenerate |
| Videos it skips | Longer than 120 minutes, mostly music, very fast speech, copyrighted content, or an unsupported language |
| Language pairs | From English into 20 languages; from most other languages into English only |
| Own dub instead | Delete the auto dub for that language, then upload your track under Languages > Dub |
Turn auto-dubbing off as a viewer
- On the video, open the player Settings (the gear icon).
- Choose Audio track.
- Pick the language marked as original. This changes that one video only.
- To stop dubs everywhere, click your profile picture > Settings > Playback & Performance, and under Language add or edit the languages you understand. A video whose original audio is in one of them plays in the original.
Turn auto-dubbing off for your channel
- Sign in to YouTube Studio on a computer.
- Click Settings > Channel > Advanced settings.
- Untick Allow automatic dubbing, or keep it on and tick Manually review dubs before publishing to approve each language yourself.
- Click Save. Dubs that already went live stay until you unpublish or delete them on the video’s Languages page.
Remove a dub from one video
- In YouTube Studio, click Content and open the video.
- Click Languages, hover over the language and click the menu in the Audio column.
- Choose Unpublish to hide it for now, or Delete to remove it for good. A deleted dub can’t be republished.
Replace the automatic dub with your own
YouTube’s automatic dubs can’t be edited: a wrong name or a mistranslated term stays until the dub is regenerated. If you want control over the wording and the voice, delete the auto dub for that language and upload your own track: Studio > Languages > the video > Add language > Dub > Add, then choose an audio-only file roughly as long as the video. Uploading your own dubs needs Advanced features on the channel. YouTube says creators who added multi-language audio saw over 25% of watch time come from the non-primary language.
Things that trip people up
- There is no single “auto-dub off” switch for viewers: the Audio track choice is per video, and the preferred-languages setting is what stops it everywhere.
- Your preferred audio languages don’t change your app language, search results or recommendations.
- Wrong source language means a wrong dub. If the video’s language is set incorrectly in Studio, fix it and the dubs are generated again.
- Turning the channel setting off doesn’t remove dubs that are already published; unpublish or delete them per video.
- Previewing, publishing and deleting dubs works only in YouTube Studio on a computer.
- You can’t upload your own track for a language that already has an automatic dub until you delete the auto dub.
Questions
How do I turn off auto-dubbing on YouTube?
For one video, open the player Settings > Audio track and pick the original language. For every video, add the languages you understand in Settings > Playback & Performance > Language. Creators turn it off for the whole channel in YouTube Studio > Settings > Channel > Advanced settings.
Why does YouTube play videos in my language automatically?
The audio track defaults to your preferred language, which YouTube works out from your watch history. Videos dubbed automatically are marked as auto-dubbed in the description.
Can creators edit YouTube’s automatic dubs?
No. You can preview, publish, unpublish or delete them, and fix the original language so they are regenerated, but not change the words or the voice. For that, upload your own dubbed track instead.
Does auto-dubbing hurt a channel’s views?
YouTube publishes no number for automatic dubs. For uploaded multi-language tracks, it says creators saw over 25% of watch time come from the non-primary language. If viewers complain about a dub’s quality, switch on manual review and publish only the languages you have checked.
Which languages does YouTube auto-dub into?
Videos in English can be dubbed into 20 languages, including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Hindi. Videos in most other languages are dubbed into English only. The Languages page in Studio shows what a given video can get.