Switch Audio Tracks and Languages

6:23 To change the language you hear on a YouTube video, click the Settings gear in the player, choose Audio track, and pick a language; the track marked original is the creator's own audio. The menu only appears on videos that have more than one track. Those extra tracks come from two places: dubs the creator recorded and uploaded (multi-language audio), and dubs YouTube generated with Automatic Dubbing, which are labeled "auto-dubbed" in the video description (Use automatic dubbing).

Quick facts

Sources: Watch videos in your preferred language, Use automatic dubbing and Add Multi-language features to your videos, YouTube Help.

How do I change the audio track on YouTube?

On a computer:

1. Open the video and hover over the player.
2. Click the Settings gear.
3. Click Audio track. If there is no such line, the video has only one track.
4. Choose a language. Pick the one marked original for the creator's own voice.

In the YouTube app, tap the video once, tap the Settings gear, then Audio track, and pick a language. The choice applies to that video only.

On Nov 6, 2026 the Audio track menu of George Vanous's 2020 video "How to NOT GET HACKED on YouTube!" listed "English (US) original" plus 20 dubbed languages, from Arabic and Bangla to Telugu and Ukrainian: exactly the 20 languages YouTube Help lists for automatic dubs of English videos.

How do I stop YouTube playing dubbed audio?

YouTube picks the starting track from your preferred languages. Add every language you understand, and videos whose original audio is in one of them will play in the original, without a dub (Watch videos in your preferred language):

1. Click your profile picture, then Settings.
2. Click Playback & Performance.
3. Under Language, click add or edit languages.
4. Select your languages and click confirm.

YouTube Help notes this setting is separate from the app's display language and location, and changes neither search nor recommendations. For a single video, switching back to the original track in the Audio track menu is enough.

YouTube Help offers viewers no switch that turns off all dubbing at once, as of Nov 6, 2026: the preferred languages list is the control.

Automatic dubs and creator dubs

1:28 Automatic dubbing is on by default for eligible channels. English videos can be dubbed into 20 languages (Arabic, Bengali, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu and Ukrainian), and videos in many other languages can be dubbed into English. Some languages use expressive speech, which copies the speaker's pitch and intonation. Videos over 120 minutes, videos with little speech or very fast speech, and videos with copyright claims are not dubbed. Dubs can contain mistranslations and mispronunciations, and the creator cannot edit them; correcting the video's original language setting makes YouTube generate them again.

Multi-language audio is the creator's own recording. Viewers see it in the same Audio track menu. YouTube reports that creators who uploaded multi-language tracks saw over 25% of their watch time come from views in a language other than the video's main one.

How do I add an audio track to my YouTube video?

You need advanced features on the channel (see Feature Access). Then, on a computer (Add Multi-language features to your videos):

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio and select Languages in the left menu.
2. Click the video.
3. Click Add Language and choose the language.
4. Next to Dub, click Add, then Select file: an audio-only file of roughly the same length as the video.
5. Click Publish.

3:49 If YouTube already made an automatic dub in that language, delete it first. To review automatic dubs before viewers hear them, open the YouTube Studio app, then Settings > Automatic dubbing and turn on Publish manually; previewing, publishing and deleting dubs happen in Studio on a computer (Use automatic dubbing). Multi-language audio used to be available to only some channels: George Vanous's notes from 2023 record the Audio column appearing only for channels in a network, before the feature widened to every channel with advanced features.

What creators say

5:17 Jeremy Chapman, who speaks German, judged YouTube's automatic German dub of his own video when the feature reached his channels around December 2024. He found the translation "pretty accurate" at his level, noted that the voice speeds up and slows down to keep pace with the original, and said it is "crystal clear" the dub is automated, which keeps expectations of accuracy lower. That is one listener's view of one language.

8:00 His advice for better dubs is to fix the English captions first, since the translation starts from them: capitalize proper nouns and product names, lowercase words YouTube wrongly took for names, and punctuate full sentences.

8:42 He also wished for two things: uploading your own audio tracks, which multi-language audio now offers channels with advanced features, and a descriptive audio track in the video's own language for accessibility. He still called automatic dubbing "an awesome first step".

Frequently asked questions

Why is there no Audio track option on my YouTube video? The video has only one audio track. The Audio track line appears in YouTube's Settings menu only when the creator uploaded dubs or YouTube generated automatic dubs.

How do I get the original audio back on YouTube? Open Settings, then Audio track, and pick the language marked "original". To make it the default, add the video's language to your preferred languages in YouTube's Playback & Performance settings.

Why is a YouTube video dubbed in my language? YouTube starts videos in your preferred language when a dub exists. Videos whose original audio is already in one of your preferred languages play in the original.

Sources

• Watch videos in your preferred language, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• Use automatic dubbing, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• Add Multi-language features to your videos, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• Advanced features, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• YouTube's FREE Automatic Dubbing (multilingual audio), Jeremy Chapman, Dec 14, 2024 (video)
• How to NOT GET HACKED on YouTube!, Freedom!, Aug 16, 2020 (video), its Audio track menu read Nov 6, 2026