AI subtitle translation with DeepSeek
AI subtitle translation turns a subtitle track in one language into a fully timed, ready-to-watch track in another — without the manual copy-paste-and-hope workflow. AI Subtitle Studio sends your subtitle text to DeepSeek's AI models for translation using your own API key, so you get frontier-quality, context-aware translation without a separate subscription on top of your one-time app license.
What makes AI subtitle translation different from a generic translator
Pasting subtitle text into a general-purpose translation tool almost always breaks something — timestamps get separated from their lines, cues get merged or split, styling tags disappear, and long translated lines overflow the screen. AI Subtitle Studio's translator is built around the subtitle file itself, not raw text:
- Subtitles are sent to the AI in batches (5–20 lines per request, configurable), each numbered so the response maps back cleanly to the original timestamps.
- A window of preceding lines is included as context on every batch, so pronouns, callbacks and running jokes translate consistently instead of line-by-line guessing.
- You can name the show or movie as context so the model treats character, place and organization names as proper nouns instead of translating them literally.
- Formatting tags like
<i>,<b>and ASS position codes such as{\an8}are preserved around the translated text. - An optional metric-conversion pass rewrites imperial units (mi→km, °F→°C, lb→kg) for target languages that use the metric system.
Three translation styles
You choose how much the AI may depart from the source wording:
- Faithful — stays close to the source phrasing wherever the target language allows it. Best for documentaries and educational content.
- Natural — the default. Rephrases freely so the result reads like something a native speaker would actually say, avoiding stiff literal translation.
- Cinematic — polished, punchy subtitle language that may condense or rework a line to fit the on-screen moment while staying true to its intent. Best for film and prestige TV.
Bring your own DeepSeek API key
Translation is powered by DeepSeek's language models. To use it, grab an API key from platform.deepseek.com/api_keys and paste it into AI Subtitle Studio under Settings → AI Providers. The key is stored locally on your machine and used only to call DeepSeek's API directly from the app — we never see it or proxy the requests.
Because translation calls DeepSeek's servers, it requires an internet connection and is billed by DeepSeek at their own usage-based rates (check DeepSeek's pricing page for current numbers) — separate from, and typically far smaller than, the one-time AI Subtitle Studio license. This is different from transcription and subtitle syncing in the app, which run entirely offline with no API key and no per-use cost.
Any subtitle source, one translation workflow
The translator accepts whatever subtitle you already have in the app: a sidecar .srt or .ass file, a track extracted straight from an MKV or MP4, an OCR'd Blu-ray/DVD subtitle, or a track AI Subtitle Studio just transcribed from the audio. For freshly transcribed subtitles, a combined clean-and-translate pass can fix speech-recognition errors and translate in a single step.
How to translate subtitles with AI
- Add your DeepSeek API key once Get a key at platform.deepseek.com/api_keys and paste it into Settings → AI Providers. This only needs to be done once.
- Load the subtitle track Open an .srt/.ass file, extract an embedded track from your video, or transcribe one first — encoding is detected automatically either way.
- Choose source and target language Pick from the supported language list, and optionally add a show/movie name as context so names translate correctly.
- Pick a translation style and translate Choose faithful, natural or cinematic, then run the translation — the app batches requests to DeepSeek and keeps every timestamp untouched.
- Review and export Skim the source and translation side by side in the built-in editor, then save the translated .srt or .ass.
Translate your first subtitle file
Free to try on Windows & macOS · full version $9.99 one-time · 100% offline