Contribute translated content

Community contributions going away soon
Community contributions will be discontinued across all channels after September 28, 2020. Community contributions allowed viewers to add closed captions, subtitles, and title/descriptions to videos. This feature was rarely used and had problems with spam/abuse so we’re removing them to focus on other creator tools. You can still use your own captions, automatic captions, and third-party tools and services. You have until September 28, 2020 to publish your community contributions before they’re removed. 

Some channels let you contribute titles, descriptions, subtitles and closed captions to their videos. They're viewable on the video watch page and by clicking the [CC] icon in the player. Approved content is controlled by the video owner, but you can get credit for your contributions on the video.

You can submit content for an entire video or add what you know. You can also fill in missing parts of other submissions. Every little bit helps.

If enough people have already contributed transcriptions or translations for a video, you'll be asked to help review the content instead of adding to it.

You can see how many other people are currently working on the same translations with the contributor icon . If there are many people working on a version, consider coming back later. You can find another video to work on in your Contribute tab.

Submit contributions

  1. Go to the video that you want to contribute translations or transcriptions to. Not all videos support community contributions.
  2. In the player, select Settings Settings.
  3. Select Subtitles/CC and then Add subtitles.
  4. Choose what you want to work on:

    Closed captions (original video language)

    1. Select the video's language.
    2. Play the video. When you get to the part where you want to add a caption, enter your caption into the box.
    3. Repeat this process for all the audio in the video, then click Submit contribution.
    4. You'll be asked if the captions are complete or if there's still more to be done. This helps us figure out if other contributors need to pick up where you left off. Choose No - Let others keep working on them or Yes - They're ready to be reviewed.
    5. Click Submit.

    To speed up your work, you can also use these keyboard shortcuts:

    • Shift + left arrow: Seek back one second. 
    • Shift + right arrow: Seek forward one second. 
    • Shift + space: Pause or play the video.
    • Shift + enter: Add a new line.
    • Shift + down arrow: Edit next subtitle.
    • Shift + up arrow: Edit previous subtitle.
    • Enter: Add the subtitle.
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    Subtitles (different language than the video)

    1. Select the language that you'd like to contribute. You can use the search bar to find languages that don't automatically show in the list.
    2. Play the video. When you get to the part where you want to add a subtitle, enter your translation into the box. You can also click Auto-translate to fill each line with a suggested translation from Google Translate. If you do this, make sure to review and fix each line carefully.
    3. Repeat this process for all the audio in the video, then click Submit contribution.
    4. You'll be asked if the subtitles are complete or if there's still more to be done. This helps us figure out if other contributors need to pick up where you left off. Choose No - Let others keep working on them or Yes - They're ready to be reviewed.
    5. Click Submit.

    Note: You can't change the timing of the subtitles since it's automatically set based on the original closed caption timing.

    Title & description

    1. Select the Title & description tab.
    2. Enter your translation. You can also click Auto-translate to fill each line with a suggested translation from Google Translate. If you do this, make sure to review and fix each line carefully.
    3. Click Submit and select whether you’d like to contribute more translations.​
    You might see “locked” for the Title & descriptions tab. This is because you’re providing same language transcriptions that aren't necessary for metadata.

Your contribution may be combined with other submissions for the video until metadata, subtitles, and closed captions in that language are ready for review. Other community members will see your contribution and can add to or improve upon it. They won't see your name or profile info.

Help review submitted content

Once the submitted titles, descriptions, closed captions, or subtitles are completed, they go through a review process. YouTube moderates for spam and inappropriate contributions, but you may also be able to help review content. If enough people have already contributed translations for a video, you'll be asked to help review the content instead of adding to it.

When reviewing content, make sure to:
  • Check for and fix typos or wrong subtitles.
  • Report spam or offensive translations by clicking Report.

If you want to ask the community to make more improvements, click Needs more work.

If you're happy with the content, click Looks good to finish your review. When a submission gets enough reviews, it will be automatically approved — or it can be approved by the owner.

Remove your contributions

You can remove your contributions so they're no longer associated with your account. This will not delete the contribution itself, as approved content is controlled by the video owner.
  1. Open your contributions page.
  2. Select the video and language you want to remove your contributions from, click View.
  3. Click Remove My Contribution and then Remove.

You can always opt out of having your name show in the contributor credits. Learn how to remove credits.

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