Best Online AI Video Dubbing Tools (Free)

Before the explosion of AI technology and accessibility, producing videos in multiple languages required heavy resources.

To do it right, content creators and enterprise marketing teams would hire a translator to translate a script, then re-shoot scenes with different actors or presenters delivering their lines in the new language.

This was expensive and inefficient for just one language, let alone several.

Many production companies opted for a cheaper option: hire voice actors to record translated versions of just the audio tracks. These tracks would then replace the original audio. We’ve all seen how this looks in old foreign films: awkwardly-spoken lines that don’t match the mouth movements or facial expressions of the original actors.

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AI has changed all of this. AI engines have the capability to analyze, and learn from, millions of words, phrases, facial expressions, mouth movements, and overall body language. These engines can also handle extremely accurate translation, down to slang and idioms.

The result: anyone can take any video, request a different language, and get a translated video in minutes.

This has obvious implications for the entertainment industry, making it extremely affordable to produce content for worldwide audiences. But it’s easy to think of other industries where AI dubbing can have a huge impact, such as localized branding, advertising, education, news, travel, etc.

Picture an auto mechanic apprentice in Russia who wants to learn a repair technique with the help of a video from Germany. With the right AI platform, in just a few clicks, he could have a perfectly translated video, delivered in a natural accent.

In this article, we’ll look at the dubbing capabilities of one popular platform, AKOOL, and compare AKOOL’s dubbing results with several other platforms.

The same video was used for each dubbing test: a talking avatar video produced by AKOOL, with a short script delivered in US English. You can find this video here. 

A Look at Several AI Video Dubbing Tools

Dubverse

Dubverse has a 7-day trial, with a decent number of free credits - enough to create a few translated videos.

The UI took a bit of exploring; you need to first create a project then start the Get Dubbing process.  For the source video, you can upload a video, or enter a link from TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook, or Vimeo.

The language in the original video is detected automatically.

The next step is to choose a speaker, though “Choose Language” would have been a bit more clear. Choose your desired language from the long list, then choose one of the several speakers offered. Each has a Play icon to hear what they sound like. 

Then click Let’s Dub.

A nice feature is that the AI-translated script is written out for you, ready for edits if needed. 

And at the bottom of the page, click the Play button to see how audio and video are synced. If needed, you can also adjust the timing of each line. If a set of words comes out too fast or slow, you can expand or contract script segments.

When all looks good, click Process Video at the top right.

The script translation and translated audio turned out great, but the lip synching did not quite align. The results were more like a dubbed overlay. Script timing adjustments could be made to improve the delivery, but that’s a bit of work. For a long video, this timing editing would take a bit of work.

Check out the resulting video.

Dubverse’s UI is clean and easy to learn. Though with the tiny Home button at the top left, it wasn’t immediately obvious where to go to find results. 

AKOOL

AKOOL is a popular AI platform with several features, all conveniently listed in the Platform menu. The free trial is not time-limited, but comes with a set number of credits. The size and type of project determines how many credits are required.

The Realistic Avatar tool is what was used to create the original English video used for the platform testing for this article. 

The Video Translate tool handles dubbing.

The three-step UI here could not be easier: Upload the video, choose from a long list of languages, and click Translate this Video. The original language is auto-detected, no need to specify.

The important feature that sets AKOOL apart is the Lip-sync checkbox - this tells AKOOL to match the mouth movements and facial features with the translated words. This AI facial animation feature makes AKOOL a market leader in dubbing.

Rather than choose a speaker based on the selected language, AKOOL clones the voice of the original video.

Another nice AKOOL feature is the Results link at the top right. Clicking Results takes you to the list of everything you’ve generated so far, whether a new video, translated video, talking photo, etc.

AKOOL’s results are strikingly accurate, with very good facial animation and corresponding body movements. Rather than a dubbed overlay, it appeared that the subject was actually speaking in the translated language.

The only minor issue is that some translated words were spoken quickly, to accommodate for the need to squeeze longer words into a video with a set length of time.

Hei.io

This online platform offers a free trial. And, like with many similar platforms,  you can easily sign in with a Google or social media account. With the trial version, you can produce dubbed videos under one minute.

The UI is clean and simple, with an easy video upload. One small drawback - the original language is not automatically detected - you have to specify both language and the number of speakers.  Then choose the target language and click Submit.

The scripts are presented in both languages - handy for making edits to the translation if needed. Hei.io offers an AI script re-writing option which is nice to have; direct translations can often turn out somewhat awkward (though still understandable) to the ear of a native speaker.

The default voice will be a clone of the original, but there is an option to choose a different voice. There are free and premium voices. When ready, click Start dubbing.

Once the dubbing is complete, you can export the video with or without subtitles - another nice feature.

Hei.io’s results are dub-only, not synched. The Korean language delivery (you can see it here) is accurate, but the experience reminds one of watching an old foreign movie dubbed into another language:

Rask

Rask is another popular platform, and has a limited free trial. The UI is intuitive, with a hard-to-miss "Translate" button on the landing page. In addition to manual upload, you can also enter a YouTube or Google Drive link. 

By default, the original language is auto-detected, though you could change this, perhaps handy  if the original presenter speaks with a heavy-accent. 

Rask also offers an SRT Upload option. SRT files contain time-stamped subtitles, which can be used to more accurately time the dubbing.

Choose the target language and click "Translate."

After the AI analysis, both scripts are presented. A default speaker is assigned, but you can change this by clicking on the speaker’s name (which we found by chance - it’s not obvious).

The translated script is also listed above the audio translation track at the bottom, but it wasn’t clear if the audio could be edited: spliced, shortened, lengthened, etc.

The Download option enables you to get the video, just audio, or an SRT file. There is a Lip-sync beta, but this feature did not appear to be enabled at the time of this test.

Because lip-synching did not appear to be an option, the resulting video has a perfectly translated audio track, but it is a dub-only production. 

Rask results will likely become more natural once the lip-sync feature is available.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Video Translation Platform

If you’re looking for effortless translation for your videos, the options are vast. The question would be the level of accuracy, and natural look and feel.

For example, if you produce educational videos on math or chemistry in English, your audiences in Croatia or Ghana or Vietnam may not mind that the audio doesn’t align with the presenter. This is particularly true for instructional videos that have no physical (or avatar) presenter.

But if your videos are for the advertising or marketing space, and will appear on social media platforms or as paid spots on YouTube or X, you’ll probably want something more polished and slick. Or consider public safety or museum-quality videos, which need to be eye-catching and captivating. These videos need to have excellent facial animation in order to stay engaging. 

In these cases, you’d want to go with a tool like AKOOL, for its ease of use, accurate translations, and sophisticated lip-sync and facial animation.

Top Use Cases for Automatic Video Dubbing

AI video dubbing tools use artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to automate the process of translating and synchronizing audio tracks in videos. This is a godsend for marketing teams!

Automatic video dubbing has become essential across various industries by making content accessible to global audiences quickly and efficiently. Movies, TV shows, and YouTube videos can be dubbed into multiple languages, helping creators reach a wider audience without the high costs of traditional dubbing.

E-learning platforms and corporate training also benefit, as they can now easily localize educational content and training videos for international learners and employees.

For marketing and advertising, automatic dubbing allows brands to localize ads and social media campaigns, expanding their reach in different language markets. 

Corporate communication uses it to dub webinars, presentations, and internal training videos for global teams. Automatic dubbing helps improve the overall user experience.

Overall, automatic dubbing saves time and reduces costs while making content scalable and accessible, enhancing global reach across various sectors.

Try AI Translation for Yourself

AI video dubbing tools use artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to automate the process of translating and synchronizing audio tracks in videos. This is a godsend for marketing teams!

The best of these tools can analyze the original audio, recognize the speech, and generate a new dubbed version in different languages while maintaining the original tone, emotion, and lip-sync with the speakers in the video. This saves time and cost traditionally associated with manual dubbing processes, making it easier for content creators, filmmakers, and businesses to reach global audiences.

The best AI dubbing tools incorporate voice cloning and synthesis, enabling the dubbed voices to closely mimic the original actors' voices, further enhancing the authenticity and engagement of multilingual content. With continuous advancements, AI video dubbing tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, offering high-quality, customizable, and scalable solutions for diverse media and entertainment applications.

AKOOL came out as the clear winner in the tests run for this article.

The platforms featured here represent just a fraction of the options available today, and more AI tools coming to market every day. Try out the platforms mentioned above, or try out some different ones. And don’t limit yourself to the first few search results - you can find some lesser-known gems farther down on the list.

Try out AKOOL with your own videos, and see how professional dubbing makes a world of difference!

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