LiveCaptionIt / Live captions for Zoom
Free live captions for Zoom — any plan.
Skip Zoom Pro. Caption any Zoom Web meeting in your browser — captions float in a Picture-in-Picture window above the Zoom call itself. Free, no signup, audio never uploads. Works on Zoom Basic (free) tier too.
Free · no signup · invisible to the meeting
Step-by-step
- 1
Join the Zoom meeting in the browser
Go to zoom.us/wc/<meeting-id> in Chrome / Edge / Brave to join via the Web client. (Native Zoom desktop app can't be captioned because the audio plays outside the browser.)
- 2
Open LiveCaptionIt in another tab
Visit livecaptionit.com in a separate tab. Click "Start captions".
- 3
Share the Zoom tab with audio
When the browser picker opens, pick your Zoom tab and tick 'Share tab audio' at the bottom. Without it, only video is shared, no audio.
- 4
Switch back to Zoom
A floating PiP caption window appears. Switch back to the Zoom tab. Captions update in real time. The floating window stays visible no matter which app you switch to.
Zoom captions vs LiveCaptionIt
| Zoom built-in | LiveCaptionIt | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Paid plan required (most regions) | Free |
| Floating window | ✗ Locked to meeting | ✓ PiP, any app |
| Privacy | Sent to Zoom's servers | Local-only, no upload |
| Languages | ~10 (varies by plan) | 99 (Whisper) |
| Transcript download | Plan-dependent | Always (.txt/.vtt/.srt) |
Common questions
Why use this instead of Zoom's own captions?
Zoom's built-in captions require a paid plan for most account types (Pro, Business, Enterprise) and even then only work in certain regions. LiveCaptionIt is free, works on any Zoom plan (including the free Basic tier), and adds the floating Picture-in-Picture window that Zoom's native captions don't offer.
Does Zoom know I'm using third-party captions?
No. LiveCaptionIt runs entirely in your own browser tab — Zoom sees no different activity from a normal participant. There's no plugin, no API call, no bot joining the meeting. Your audio is captured by Chrome's tab capture API (the same API that powers screen sharing) and processed locally on your device.
Can I caption Zoom meetings from the Zoom desktop app?
Not directly — the desktop app plays audio outside the browser, so Chrome's tab capture can't see it. Workaround: use Zoom's Web client (zoom.us/wc/<meeting-id>) instead. Same meeting, browser-rendered, captions work. On Windows you can also pick "Entire screen" in the source picker, which captures system audio including the desktop Zoom app.
Will the captions cover the meeting video?
The floating Picture-in-Picture window is draggable and resizable — put it anywhere on your screen. Make it small and tuck in a corner, or wide and edge-to-edge for a subtitle-bar look. Opacity is adjustable (down to ~40%) so you can see through it to the video underneath when needed.
Will the meeting recording include the captions?
No. Zoom records its own audio + video + native captions (if enabled on your plan). LiveCaptionIt's captions live only on your screen — not in the Zoom recording. To save them, click Stop in LiveCaptionIt and download the transcript as .txt / .vtt / .srt — the last 20 sessions are also auto-saved to your browser.
Caption your next Zoom call
Works on any Zoom plan. Invisible to the meeting. Audio never uploads.
Open LiveCaptionIt →