YouTube can generate an automatic dubbed track when you upload, and mark the video as auto-dubbed in the description. You replace that track in Studio on a computer by deleting the auto-dub, then uploading a custom file on the same language.
What is YouTube auto-dub on a video?
Automatic dubbing generates translated audio tracks in different languages. YouTube Help, Use automatic dubbing, says videos with those tracks are marked as auto-dubbed in the video description. Viewers can set preferred languages for audio, titles, and descriptions, or switch tracks on a specific video.
When you upload a new video, dubs are generated automatically and published according to your publication settings. Over time, YouTube may also generate dubs for previously published videos.
You cannot edit automatic dubs, so if one was mistranslated you update the original video language to the correct language, and the dubs are generated again. Confirm the original video or channel language is set correctly when you upload, because an incorrect default language can mistranslate the automatic dubs.
The channel-wide switch lives under Settings, Channel, Advanced settings. Sign in to YouTube Studio, open that path, uncheck Allow automatic dubbing, and click Save. If you want the dubs generated but not published yet, leave the box checked and check Manually review dubs before publishing, then Save.
How do you replace an auto-dub with a custom track in YouTube Studio?
Delete the automatic dub first, then upload your own file. Add Multi-language features to your videos says multi-language audio lets you upload your own dubbed tracks, and that it does not automatically create them. If an automatic dub already exists for a language, you must delete it before you can upload your own version.
On a computer, delete the auto-dub on that video:
- Sign in to YouTube Studio on your computer.
- Click Content, then select the video you want to manage dubbing for.
- Click Languages.
- Hover over the relevant language, then click in the "Audio" column.
- Select Delete.
When you unpublish a dub, you can choose to republish it or delete it later. Once a dub is deleted, it won't be available and you can't republish it. Then upload the custom track on that language.
Sign in on a computer, from the left menu select Languages, click the video, click Add Language, and select the language. Next to Dub, click Add, then click Select file. Choose an audio-only file that is roughly the same length as the video, then click Publish when you are ready. If YouTube detects that the copyrighted content in the secondary audio track is different from the original audio, the file may be removed.
YouTube Multi-Language Audio Setup Step by Step is the Studio companion once this language is clear of the auto-dub. Read that post after you have deleted the generated track.
One YouTube Channel or a Channel Per Language, Custom Audio? is the architecture question after the custom track is live. Replace the auto-dub on this channel first. Stay on this channel until that file is published.
When should you replace an auto-dub with a custom human track?
Replace it on the languages where the automatic take is already the one viewers hear, and where you want a recorded performance instead of a generated one. Keep auto-dub on languages you have not recorded yet, or turn the channel setting off if you do not want new uploads dubbed automatically.
Open Analytics and split the report by audio language on a public video that already has viewers in that language. Replace the auto-dub there first, on the language that already has an audience. That split is how you pick which automatic track to delete.
A generated auto-dub is YouTube's machine take of the video you already posted. A recorded human track is a personality-driven performance on that same language. The same voice actors return for every recurring speaker, so the people on camera sound like themselves on the next upload. Human Voice Over records that track after you delete the automatic one.
Nick DiGiovanni cooks in English on camera, and those same videos also run dubbed in German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish. That is a recorded track on the original videos, not an auto-dub left in place.
Let your viewers know you dubbed the content, or that you collaborated with creators in the target language. Do that after the custom file is live on that language.
Every dub from Human Voice Over includes a localized thumbnail, re-rendered in the target language's native typography. Upload that image on the same language after the custom file is live.
Open Studio on a computer, delete the auto-dub on that language, then add the custom file next to Dub.