AI Dubbing: Translate Video and Keep the Original Voice

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AI dubbing translates a video into another language and adds a new voice track that sounds like the original speaker. The software transcribes the dialogue, translates it, clones the speaker’s vocal quality and, increasingly, adjusts lip movements to match. Here’s how the tools handle Polish, what they cost, how to dub a video step by step, and when subtitles are still the better choice.

What AI dubbing does and how it differs from subtitles

AI dubbing is a four-step process that software performs automatically. First, a model recognises speech and separates speakers. Then it translates the text, usually adjusting sentence length to fit the original pace. Next, it synthesises a voice that imitates the original speaker’s vocal quality. Finally, it mixes the new voice with music and effects that the software has separated from the audio. Some tools add a fifth step: altering the video so the speaker’s lips move in time with the new track.

Subtitles leave the audio unchanged, cost less and are easier to edit, but viewers have to read them. An AI voice-over, covered in our article on AI voice-overs, uses one synthetic voice to read the translation over the original, as voice-over narration does on Polish television. Dubbing replaces the original voices while preserving their character, making it a good fit when you want viewers to forget the video was made in another language.

AI dubbing tools and prices

Prices are listed by providers in US dollars and exclude VAT. ElevenLabs charges for dubbing in credits: 2,000 per minute with a watermark, 3,000 without one, and 5,000 or 10,000 in Dubbing Studio mode with manual editing. HeyGen’s Video Translate feature page promises three 3-minute videos on the free plan, while its pricing page lists three 1-minute videos. The provider’s materials are inconsistent. Rask prices are from comparisons published in July 2026, as its pricing changed at least once that year.

How to dub a video from English into Polish

• Prepare your file - Use an MP4 with clear dialogue. Music and background noise make it harder to separate speakers.
• ElevenLabs: Open Dubbing, upload a file or paste a link, set the source language to “English” and the target language to “Polish”, then choose the number of speakers. Select automatic mode or Dubbing Studio if you want to edit the translation.
• Correct the transcript before translation - Check names, abbreviations and numbers. A speech-recognition error can carry through into the translation and generated voice.
• Edit the translation - Polish sentences are often longer than their English counterparts, so shorten them to prevent the voice from having to speed up. Studio displays each line on a timeline.
• Generate and listen back - Check numbers, surname inflections and places where the voice swallows word endings. Edit the text and regenerate only that line.
• HeyGen does the same work in one window: upload the video, choose a language, turn on lip sync and wait. You can edit the translation in the transcript version.

For dubbing in Synthesia, see our tutorial on how to make a video in Synthesia, and read our Synthesia guide for a full overview of the tool. Our ElevenLabs tutorial can help you clone your own voice.

Polish-language dubbing: where AI falls short

• Accent - A cloned English-speaking voice may speak Polish with a slight foreign accent. Many viewers find this natural because it sounds like a non-native speaker.
• Pacing - Polish text is longer, so the software may speed up the speech or shorten it. Edit the translation yourself to avoid this.
• Numbers and inflection - Phrases such as “in 2024” or “for 3 people” may be read with the wrong grammatical form. Write numbers out in the transcript.
• Proper names - Company names and surnames may need to be entered phonetically by hand.
• Lip sync - HeyGen can produce a good result with a talking head centred in the frame. Profile shots, camera movement and multiple people in the frame can introduce artefacts.

Subtitles are a better choice when a video contains many technical terms, several people speak at once, or viewers are likely to watch without sound, as on social media. Kling 3.0, whose translation feature we covered in our article on Kling 3.0, preserves vocal quality but does not guarantee lip sync.

AI dubbing: legal and ethical considerations

Cloning a voice requires consent from the person who owns it. ElevenLabs and HeyGen ask you to make a declaration when creating a clone, but you are responsible for its accuracy. You also need rights to the video itself: dubbing creates an adaptation of the work.

Article 50 of the AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026. Content that resembles an existing person and has been generated or manipulated by AI must be labelled as artificial. A cloned voice belonging to a specific, real speaker meets the definition of a deepfake, so a dub using that voice needs to be labelled. The European Commission’s guidance of 20 July 2026 excludes fictional character voices, such as those in audiobooks, from this definition. Read more in our guide to labelling deepfakes under the AI Act.

YouTube automatically dubs videos from eligible channels. Creators can turn the feature off in YouTube Studio under Settings, Content, Automatic dubbing, and can choose manual publishing so they can listen to a version first. Viewers can switch tracks in the player settings under the gear icon and Audio track, and save a preferred language in their account settings.

Frequently asked questions

Is AI dubbing free?

You can try it for free: ElevenLabs offers 10,000 credits per month, or about 5 minutes with a watermark; HeyGen offers three videos a month with a watermark; and Synthesia’s Basic plan includes 10 minutes. YouTube dubbing is free, but only for selected language pairs.

How much does AI dubbing cost per minute?

Individual plans work out at about $2 to $5 per minute, depending on the plan and whether you need a version without a watermark. Manual editing in a studio uses two to three times as many credits.

Can you dub your own voice into other languages?

Yes. Record yourself speaking Polish, and the software can clone your voice and use it to speak English, German or Spanish. ElevenLabs supports more than 90 languages, and HeyGen supports more than 175.

Does YouTube automatically dub videos?

Yes. The feature is turned on by default for eligible channels. For Polish, it currently works only from English to Polish and from Polish to English. It does not offer an “expressive” mode that reproduces the original intonation.

For a roundup of tools that generate video, see our guide to AI video generators.

// read moreVEED Dubbing on fal.ai: Polish Voice Cloning TestBenchmarksElevenLabs Use Cases: Voiceovers, Voice Cloning & AudiobooksGuidesTypeless in Practice: Email, Chat, Translation & Voice AIGuides

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