VLC Player introduces offline, AI-based subtitling and translation at CES 2025

Remember when VLC was just that orange traffic cone media player that could handle any video file you threw at it? Well, at CES 2025, the company decided to take this a notch higher with something that turned a lot of heads: the popular media player can now double up as your personal subtitle wizard and translator, courtesy of AI.

The open-source media player stepped into the spotlight with a demo that is likely to change how we have been consuming all our lives. Imagine watching your favourite foreign film or video and getting instant, accurate subtitles. Intrigued? Here’s how the feature works and everything else you need to know about it:

Soon, AI will be able to translate and subtitle your VLC videos

According to VideoLAN President Jean-Baptiste Kempf, VLC Player will soon be able to carry out real-time subtitling and translation on its desktop app. The announcement came in right after the media player company celebrated a milestone of over six billion downloads.

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At the demonstration, the company highlighted how the software supports over 100 languages and can operate natively on the user’s device without any cloud service intervention. It went on to mention how the subtitling technology leverages open-source AI models to generate subtitles as well as translate videos in real-time.

Previously, real-time AI subtitling was dependent on plug-ins, such as OpenAI’s Whisper, which can be seamlessly integrated into the VLC Player. However, with this update, users will be able to benefit from a feature built into the app itself.  

When will the real-time AI subtitling for VLC Plater be available for everyone?

For now, there has been no word from the company about the roll-out timeline for the feature. However, the company has promised to make video content more accessible to users. A step in this direction also involves breaking linguistic barriers without compromising on their privacy or security.

Lastly, VideoLAN mentioned how the VLC Player has continued to grow steadily despite having multiple streaming services available in the market. The company concluded with its plans to open up accessibility, across the types of content and languages that are prominently available today.