Not on their upload, unless the owner gives you access. YouTube switched off Community Contributions, the feature that let viewers submit captions for other people's videos, after 28 September 2020. Since then, only the channel owner, or people the owner gives access, such as a Subtitle Editor invited in YouTube Studio, can add captions that every viewer sees.
You still have options. As a viewer, you can use the video's automatic captions, auto-translate them, read the transcript, or switch on Chrome's Live Caption, all of which show captions to you alone. With the owner's permission you can caption the video for them, or post a captioned copy. Without permission, downloading and reposting someone else's video breaks YouTube's Terms of Service, whatever captions you add.
Your options at a glance
| Option | Who sees the captions | Owner involved? | Source, as read 19 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner adds captions in YouTube Studio | Every viewer | The owner does it | YouTube Help 2734796 |
| You add them as a Subtitle Editor | Every viewer | Yes, they invite you | YouTube Help 11983512 |
| Send the owner a transcript to upload | Every viewer, once uploaded | Yes | YouTube Help 2734796 |
| Automatic captions and auto-translate | Only you | No | YouTube Help 100078 |
| Chrome Live Caption | Only you | No | Chrome Help 10538231 |
| Community contributions | Ended after 28 Sep 2020 | Not available | TeamYouTube post, 30 Jul 2020 |
| Caption a copy and post it | Your audience | Yes, you need the rights | YouTube Terms of Service |
What happened to community contributions
Community Contributions let anyone submit translated titles, descriptions, closed captions and subtitles to a video. The creator reviewed them, or they were published after enough community reviews. In a TeamYouTube post on 30 July 2020, YouTube said the feature was "rarely used", that people kept reporting spam and abuse, and that "less than 0.001% of channels" had published community captions in the previous month, showing on "less than 0.2% of watch time".
YouTube discontinued it on all channels after 28 September 2020. Drafts had 60 days to be published. Contributions that were already published stayed on the videos, and creators can still manage them in YouTube Studio. YouTube also paid for a six-month Amara.org subscription for creators who had used the feature on at least three videos in the previous 60 days.
So the old answer, "submit captions from the video's menu", no longer works on any video. Our earlier guide to adding subtitles to a YouTube video covers the owner's side of the job.
The route that replaced it: Subtitle Editor access
If you know the creator, ask to be a Subtitle Editor. It is a channel permission made for this job, and YouTube's help page on Subtitle Editor access describes both sides.
The owner, on a computer:
- Signs in to YouTube Studio, opens Settings, then Permissions.
- Clicks Invite, enters your email address, and under Access picks Subtitle editor.
- Clicks Done, then Save to send the invitation.
- Sets a video language on the videos you will caption, because Subtitle Editors "can only add or edit subtitles on the videos where you've set a video language".
You then accept the email titled "Invitation to access [channel name]", open YouTube Studio, go to Subtitles, pick the video and add captions in your language. You see only the Subtitles section, not the channel's analytics or revenue. The role is not available on channels that still use a Brand Account, so if the owner cannot find it, check that first.
How to ask
A specific offer gets a better answer than "can I add subtitles?". Include:
- The video and the language. Name the video and say which language you will caption it in.
- What you will deliver. Captions added as a Subtitle Editor, or a transcript file the owner uploads.
- How you will check it. Say you will watch the whole video with your captions on before you call it done.
- Their spelling. Ask how they want names, brand terms and slang written, so the captions match the channel.
If the owner would rather do it themselves
Offer a transcript instead. YouTube lets the owner upload a caption file with timing or without timing, or paste a transcript and let auto-sync set the timing. Auto-sync needs the text to be in the language spoken in the video and works best on clear audio; YouTube does not recommend it for videos over an hour long or with poor sound. A plain, correct transcript is often the easiest thing to send, because it costs the owner a few clicks.
What you can do as a viewer
These options put captions on your screen only. Nobody else sees them, and nothing is added to the video.
- Turn on the video's captions. If the CC button is in the player, the video has a caption track, either the creator's or YouTube's automatic one.
- Auto-translate them. YouTube's caption settings help gives the path on Android: tap More, then Captions, and if your language is not listed, tap Auto-translate and choose it. Translated captions are only as good as the captions they start from.
- Read the transcript. For videos with captions, Show transcript in the description opens a scrolling transcript you can click to jump through the video. If a video has no captions at all, transcribing a YouTube video without captions covers your options.
- Switch on Live Caption in Chrome. Chrome's help page gives the path on Windows and Mac: More, then Settings, then Accessibility, then turn on Live Caption. It captions any audio playing in Chrome, and Google says the audio and captions "are processed locally, are never stored, and never leave your device". Languages other than English are added through Add languages.
Automatic captions can also produce odd words over music and silence, which is a separate problem, covered in why YouTube captions say "foreign", "heat" or "thank you".
With permission: caption a copy and post it
Sometimes the goal is not to fix the original but to share it: a clip of a guest's interview for your own channel, a client's video cut for Reels, a talk you were filmed giving. If you have the owner's permission, or rights through a contract or licence, the workflow is the one in adding captions after posting: get the file, caption it, post the new version.
Two points specific to someone else's video:
- Ask the owner for the original file. YouTube's download help says you "can't download other user's YouTube videos", and the owner's own copy is the better file anyway: the camera original or an editor's export, not a stream copy.
- Captions come out in the language spoken. CapsAI transcribes English, Hinglish, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada and Punjabi, and does not translate. You upload the MP4 or MOV, up to 10 minutes per video, edit the text and timing, and export an MP4 with the captions burned in. It does not take a YouTube link and does not post to YouTube.
The YouTube subtitle generator page covers the burned-in route for a landscape video, within the 10-minute limit.
Copyright, credit, fair use and YouTube's Terms
This is general information, not legal advice. YouTube itself suggests getting legal advice before you upload videos that use someone else's copyrighted content.
The binding text is the YouTube Terms of Service. The version you see depends on your country: on 19 October 2026 the US version was dated 15 December 2023, the UK version 17 March 2025 and the Indian version 5 January 2022. Each says you may not "access, reproduce, download, distribute" or otherwise use any content except as the Service permits or with prior written permission from YouTube and, where applicable, the rights holders; the UK and German versions also allow uses permitted by applicable law. Adding captions does not change that.
YouTube's help page on fair use answers the usual hopes directly:
- Credit is not permission. Giving credit "won't by itself turn a non-transformative copy" into fair use, and phrases like "I do not own" don't automatically make it fair use.
- There are no magic words. "No infringement intended" won't automatically protect you from a claim.
- Adding something is not always enough. If your version "doesn't add new expression, meaning, or message to the original, it probably isn't fair use." Captions on a whole video are hard to argue as new meaning.
- Rules differ by country. Fair use is a US concept. In the EU, YouTube notes, a use must fit categories such as quotation, criticism, review, caricature, parody and pastiche.
For Shorts specifically, can you repost downloaded YouTube Shorts on Instagram or TikTok goes through the reposting questions. The short version holds for any video: ask first, get the answer in writing, and credit the creator as well.
What to do next
If you want a specific video captioned, message the creator and offer to do it as a Subtitle Editor or send a transcript. If you are working from a video you have the rights to, open the uploader with English selected, or pick the language spoken. A new account has 3 free minutes to start, and packs are a one-time payment from $4 (₹49 in India, €4 in the euro area).
