Translate German audio to English, free, as subtitles
Drop a German recording: an MP3, WAV or M4A, a voice note saved as a file, or a video. Burncaps writes out the German as it was said, translates every line into English with our AI, and gives you SRT, VTT and ASS subtitle files with the English lines and their times; a video can also have the English burned into the picture. It makes written English, not a spoken English voice: no dubbing, no live translation, and no link, because it takes a file. Translating is free and needs no account.
The file stays in your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone, it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the file itself.
- Free, no sign-up
- MP3, WAV, M4A and more
- English SRT, VTT, ASS
- No dubbing, not live
Live preview of English captions, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns a video.
How to translate German audio to English
For a voice note from a colleague in Munich, an interview you recorded for research, a lecture, or a podcast episode saved as a file: three steps in the page, with no account.
1. Drop the German recording
An MP3, WAV or M4A, another audio file your browser can play, or a video. It opens straight on its script. Burncaps listens first and names the language it hears above your script, German here, with a one-click change if it hears it wrong.
2. Choose English under Captions in
Each German line is translated by our AI and laid over the moment it was said. Correct a misheard German word in the script and only its line is translated again; one click fixes a word everywhere it was heard.
3. Save the English subtitles
Press SRT, VTT or ASS. Each file carries the English lines with their times, and its name ends in -en. From a video you can export an MP4 with the English captions burned in instead.
What leaves your device for a translation
Only the lines of text: each word numbered and a mark after the words where the speaker paused, with no times, sent to our server and passed to Anthropic's Claude, which processes API data under its commercial terms and does not train on it. We do not store the transcript. The audio file stays in your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service, which is offered while it listens to a language other than English; on a phone the sound goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the file itself, and passes them to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it. Ticking Keep everything on this device stops the translation, and the captions then stay in German.
How well German is heard, and how well it becomes English
Two steps can go wrong, so each is given as we measured it, or said to be unmeasured: the speech step, which writes the German words, and the English step, which turns them into English.
| Step | German, as measured |
|---|---|
| Speech step, our speech service | About 99 in 100 words right on the Google FLEURS German test recordings |
| Speech step, the model in your browser | About 80 in 100 words right on the same recordings |
| English step, meaning kept | Not measured |
Standard German, Swiss German and long compound words
Listening settings has one German, and our figures are from the Google FLEURS German test recordings, which are standard German. Swiss German dialect (Schweizerdeutsch) is spoken very differently, and we have not measured it, nor Austrian German on its own. The English step for German has not been measured either. Read long compound words and names once in the English, and correct a misheard German word with one click: only its line is translated again.
On the Google FLEURS German test recordings, our speech service wrote about 99 in 100 words right and the model that runs in your browser about 80, before any correction. The English step for German has not been measured, and we give no figure for it. German is spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; the test recordings are one public set, so a single recording can do better or worse.
What it does, and what it does not
| Ask | Burncaps |
|---|---|
| Which way does it translate? | From German into English, or into another language from the same list |
| Which files? | MP3, WAV and M4A, other audio your browser can play (AAC, OGG, FLAC, Opus), or an MP4 or MOV video |
| English subtitle files? | SRT, VTT and ASS carry the English lines with their times, free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes |
| The English as plain text? | There is no separate English text file: the Text file stays in German. An SRT file is plain text, so open it in any text editor to copy the English lines |
| English burned into a video? | Yes, from a video file: a new MP4 with the English in the picture, for a video up to ten minutes. An audio file has no picture, so it gives its script and subtitle files only |
| A spoken English voice? | No. Burncaps makes subtitles, not a dubbed voice |
| Live translation? | No. It works on a recording, not on speech as it is said |
| A link? | No. It takes a file from your device, never a link |
| Longer recordings? | Translation works on recordings up to ten minutes; the whole script of a longer recording stays in German |
| What it costs | Translating is free. Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Pro free for 7 days, no card. Pro is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Starter is $9.98 a month or $49 once. |
Have the video too?
If the recording was filmed, drop the video instead: under Captions in, choose English, and Export the captioned video for an MP4 with the English captions in 60 animated styles. Translate a video to English covers that in full. For the German itself as captions, see German captions.
Questions, answered plainly
How do I translate German audio to English for free?
Drop the German recording, such as an MP3, WAV or M4A, on this page. Burncaps writes out the German as it was said, then under Captions in choose English: every line is translated and laid over the moment it was said. Press SRT, VTT or ASS to save English subtitles. Translating is free and needs no account.
How accurate is the English from German?
There are two steps. On the Google FLEURS German test recordings, our speech service wrote about 99 in 100 words right and the model that runs in your browser about 80, before any correction. The English step for German has not been measured, and we give no figure for it. Translation is done by an AI model, so names, jokes and set phrases can go wrong: read the English once before you share it.
Does it work with Swiss German or Austrian German?
Our figures are from the Google FLEURS German test recordings, which are standard German. We have not measured Swiss German dialect, which is spoken very differently, or Austrian German on its own, so read the script and the English once before you share them.
Does it speak the English, or dub the audio?
No. Burncaps writes English subtitles. It does not make a spoken English voice, and it does not translate speech as it is said: it works on a recording you already have.
Which audio files can it translate?
MP3, WAV and M4A work, and so do AAC, OGG, FLAC or Opus files your browser can play. A video file, MP4 or MOV, works too. It takes a file from your device, never a link.
Can I get the English as plain text?
The English is in the SRT, VTT and ASS files, each line with its time. The Text file stays in the language spoken. An SRT file is plain text, so you can open it in any text editor and copy the English lines.
How long can the recording be?
Translation works on recordings up to ten minutes; the whole script of a longer recording stays in the language spoken. Subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes.
What leaves my device for a translation?
Only the lines of text: each word numbered and a mark after the words where the speaker paused, with no times, sent to our server and passed to Anthropic's Claude, which processes API data under its commercial terms and does not train on it. We do not store the transcript. The audio file never leaves your browser, and ticking Keep everything on this device stops the translation.
Is the translation free?
Yes. Translating needs no account, and each connection has a generous daily limit against abuse. Subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes. Exporting a captioned video is free for 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark and no sign-up. Then try Pro free for 7 days, no card. Pro is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Starter is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Can it translate a German call as it happens?
No. A call you have saved as an audio file, yes: drop the file. Burncaps does not join calls or translate live.
Burncaps facts, checked 7 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Pro trial, no card (your email only); then Pro, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Starter, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Starter paid once is not a subscription. Translations are free.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Pro or Starter) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Pro).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Pro export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.