📘
One-click translation is an Enterprise plan feature.

Translation and Dubbing both produce a video in another language, but they start from different sources and work differently:

For a video you created in Synthesia. Translates the script and on-screen text, and keeps the same avatar and scene design.

Dub a video

For any video file or YouTube link, including ones made outside Synthesia. Replaces the spoken audio track, with optional lip sync.

Translation

Translating a video creates a version of it in another language: the script and any on-screen text elements are translated, while the avatar, scenes, and overall design stay the same.

Text elements are automatically rescaled and repositioned to fit the scene's layout when a language's text runs noticeably longer or shorter than the original, and motion graphics are translated as part of the same flow.

👍
Glossary terms are applied automatically to keep key terminology consistent across languages.
Glossary is an Enterprise plan feature.

To translate a video, do one of the following:

From a list of videos (for example, Workspace or My videos), hover over the video's thumbnail and select Translate.
From the video's Video Overview page, select Translate in the toolbar at the top.

Either opens the translation modal:

Either select languages to translate the video into or upload .xliff files. You can only perform translations using a single method (as soon as an .xliff file is uploaded, manual language selection will be disabled).
Optional: Toggle on Only translate script to only translate the video's script.
This option is disabled by default, meaning that by default the translation engine translates both the script and any text elements included in the video's scenes.
Optional: Toggle on Automatically generate videos to automatically generate all versions of a translated video. Once the translation process is complete, this triggers bulk generation of the original video and all of the translated versions of that video.
Click Translate to start the translation process.

A progress tracker appears showing the status of each language you're translating into. You can minimize it to keep working elsewhere in Synthesia, or close it—this doesn't cancel the translation. The tracker closes automatically once every language finishes, and you'll get an in-app notification, so you don't need to keep it open to know when your translations are ready.

XLIFF uploads

Synthesia supports XLIFF file uploads (version 1.2) for video translation.

When translating via .xliff upload:

You can only upload one .xliff file per language.
You can only translate via .xliff upload or automatic translation, not both.
If the source video has changed since the .xliff file was exported, Synthesia checks whether the change is cosmetic or structural:
- Cosmetic changes (for example, an avatar look or backdrop update) are reconciled automatically — the import uses the current version of the video, and you don't need to re-export the .xliff file.
- Structural changes (a scene or on-screen element added or removed) can't be reconciled automatically. The import is rejected with an error message rather than guessing, so re-export the .xliff file against the current version of the video.

Troubleshooting: Missing target language

If you encounter an error message regarding a missing target language, make sure that each .xliff file you're uploading includes a value for the target-language attribute of the file tag.

For example:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>
<xliff version="1.2">
  <file original="" datatype="plaintext" source-language="en" target-language="de">
    <body>	
      <group>
        <trans-unit xmlns="" id="element__000__scene__000__video-id__000__snapshot-id__000">
          <source><g tag="p">Communication Etiquette</g></source>
          <target><g tag="p">Kommunikationsetikette </g></target>
        </trans-unit>
      </group>
    </body>
  </file>
</xliff>

Troubleshooting: Invalid target language

If you encounter an error message regarding an invalid target language, make sure that:

You're only uploading one .xliff file per target language.
All target languages are included in our list of supported languages.

Translation storage

When you translate a video, Synthesia creates a folder with the translated videos and moves the root video to the folder.

The title of the folder is title_of_your_video - translations. The translated videos are not generated by default — they exist in the folder as drafts until you choose to generate them.

If you translate the root video into another language later on, the new translations are stored in the same folder as the previous translations. All translated versions of the root video are in the same folder.

⚠️
Important:
Keep every translated video, including the root video, in its translation folder. See Moving translated videos below before reorganizing them.

Moving translated videos

Do not move a translated video, or the root video, out of its translation folder individually. A video's membership in the folder is what links it to its other translations. Moving a single translated video out of the folder breaks that video's link:

The moved video no longer appears in the language selection controls of the Multilingual Video Player for the remaining videos in the folder.
The remaining videos in the folder no longer list the moved video as an available language.

Moving the root video out of the folder is more disruptive: since every translation links back to the root video, this unlinks all of the translations at once, not just the root.

This applies no matter where you move it to (e.g. My videos, the main workspace, or any other folder) the break happens as soon as the video leaves the translation folder. To reorganize a set of translations, move the entire folder, not individual videos within it.

Deleting translation folders

⚠️
Important:
Deleting a folder containing translations cannot be undone! You'll get a confirmation prompt when attempting to delete a folder containing translations.

Deleting a folder containing translations disables language switching from the video player, and any new translations create a new folder.

Re-translation

When you update the root video, you can re-translate it to all of the languages it's been translated to before without selecting each language one-by-one. You can also select additional languages to translate it to.

Whether or not you update the root video, if you re-translate it to a language it's already been translated to before, the existing translated version of the video in that language is updated by default. The previous version of the translated video is saved as an older version, so you can restore the updated translation to the previous version if necessary.

Learn more about version management in the Versioning & Commenting page.

Accessing all translations

From the Home page

You can identify the root video from its translation tag, located under the video's title:

Hover over the translation tag to get a list of all of the translations that are available for the video.
Click on the translation tag to open the translation folder for the video.

From the Video Overview page or the editor

When you open the root video (or any of the translated videos) from either the Video Overview page or the editor, you can click on the language button next to the title to navigate to other translations of the video.

Translation displayed on video overview page

Publishing translations

You can publish all of the translations (that have already been generated) in one go from the publish menu. This publishes the latest generated versions of each associated translation. Newly generated translations are not auto-published.

You can also publish each generated translation one-by-one if desired.

📌
To publish a single translation independent of the root video, duplicate the video to detach it from the root video, then publish it.

Languages in the player

You can access and watch your video in its original language and all of the languages it has been translated to from the Multilingual Video Player. The Multilingual Video Player can be accessed from the Video Overview page, the Share page, and anywhere you've embedded your video using the embed code.

Learn more about the Multilingual Video Player in the Video Player page.

Language selection in the Synthesia player

Accessing specific languages with URL query parameters

Developers can set the video to play in a specific language using the embed code feature.

Here's how it works:

If the language parameter isn't set in the URL, the video plays in the same language as the user's browser, but only if that language is available. If it's not, the video plays in its original language.
If the language parameter is set in the URL, the video plays in that language, provided it's available. If not, it defaults to the original language.

Learn more about editing the embed code for the Multilingual Video Player in the Video Player page.

Supported languages for translation

You'll find a list of all the languages supported for video translation in the Supported languages page.

One-click translation is an Enterprise plan feature.

Translation

Glossary terms are applied automatically to keep key terminology consistent across languages.

XLIFF uploads

Troubleshooting: Missing target language

Troubleshooting: Invalid target language

Translation storage

Important:

Moving translated videos

Deleting translation folders

Important:

Re-translation

Accessing all translations

From the Home page

From the Video Overview page or the editor

Publishing translations

Languages in the player

Accessing specific languages with URL query parameters

Supported languages for translation

What’s Next