Microsoft Edge will soon support real-time translation of videos across multiple platforms, the company announced on Tuesday (May 21). It was announced just a day after the company unveiled its Copilot+ computers, which are also capable of translating pre-recorded and live video in real time. Leveraging generative AI, Microsoft says the upcoming feature can not only translate subtitles in Microsoft Edge, but also dub videos into the viewer's native language, all in real time.
According to an official blog post, the real-time video translation feature will be able to translate spoken content in the form of subtitles and dubbing. It aims to make videos accessible to a wider range of people, especially people with disabilities. Microsoft says the feature is currently capable of translating English into five languages: Hindi, German, Spanish, Russian, and Italian. In addition, it can also translate from Spanish to English.
The real-time video translation feature is also capable of translating videos on platforms such as YouTube, Coursera, and LinkedIn. News websites such as CNBC, Reuters, MoneyControl and Bloomberg will also support this feature. According to Microsoft, content translation is done on the device without any cloud-based processing involved, meaning “no segment of the video or audio content ever leaves the machine.”
An unlisted YouTube video from the official Microsoft Edge channel provides a glimpse into how this feature might work. First use will involve installation of the language translation model by Edge. Then a new Translate Video option will appear at the top of the video. Users can select the language the video is in, with options including English, German, Spanish, Italian, Hindi, and Russian, and then select the output language.
You will then be given a choice to provide subtitles or audio. The subtitle option will provide subtitles in the chosen language, while selecting the audio option will provide a dubbing of the video, after a few seconds of processing. While the exact release timeline for the video translation feature hasn't been announced, Microsoft says it will soon add support for more languages and websites.
