In the first week of January 2025, VLC Media Player demonstrated a new AI-powered subtitle feature, offering real-time subtitling and translation in over 100 languages. Apparently the subtitles are generated locally using open-source AI models, meaning they do not require internet connectivity or cloud services. This advancement ensures enhanced privacy and accessibility for users across different languages. The feature is built directly into VLC, distinguishing it from previous third-party plug-ins such as OpenAI’s Whisper-based transcription tools.
The ability to generate subtitles in real-time and translate them without relying on external servers marks a significant innovation for VLC. It aligns with the software’s long-standing mission to provide free, open-source, and ad-free multimedia solutions. The move comes as VLC celebrates surpassing 6 billion downloads worldwide, reinforcing its popularity despite the dominance of streaming services. VideoLAN, the nonprofit organisation behind VLC, has not yet announced a release date for this functionality but the feature seems to be nearing a public rollout.
