Translate Arabic subtitles to English
Last updated September 2026
Found a video with only Arabic subtitles? You can translate the Arabic .srt or .vtt file into English right in your browser. Arabic is written right-to-left in a cursive script where letter shapes change by position, and numerals and Latin words inside a line run left-to-right. The tool sends each cue's text to the on-device translation model in desktop Chrome or Edge and writes the English back with the original timing, so the new file stays in sync with the video. The file never leaves your computer.
How to do it
- Get the Arabic subtitle file as .srt or .vtt, and make sure it's saved as UTF-8 (see the tips below if the text looks garbled).
- Open the translator in desktop Chrome 138+ or Edge — the button here presets Arabic → English.
- Drop the file in. If the browser supports language detection, it will confirm the source is Arabic.
- Press Translate. The first run downloads the Arabic–English model once; later files in the same pair start immediately and work offline.
- Download the English subtitle file and load it next to your video (same file name as the video makes most players pick it up automatically).
Tips
- Dialectal Arabic (Egyptian, Gulf, Levantine) written in subtitles may translate less accurately than Modern Standard Arabic.
- Arabizi (Arabic typed with Latin letters and numbers like 3 and 7) isn't Arabic script and won't translate properly.
- Machine translation is a strong first draft. For anything you'll publish, have someone fluent in Arabic spot-check names and jokes.
FAQ
Can it translate dialect subtitles, like Egyptian Arabic?
It will try, but the model is strongest on Modern Standard Arabic. Everyday dialect lines usually come out understandable; idioms and slang are worth a manual check.
Is my Arabic subtitle file uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read and translated inside your browser by its built-in model. Only anonymous usage analytics are collected — never file contents.
Why does it say my browser isn't supported?
The on-device Translator API currently exists only in desktop Google Chrome 138+ and Microsoft Edge. Brave, Opera, Firefox, Safari and all mobile browsers either lack the API or the model.