French to English Subtitles
Upload a video and the AI transcribes the French on its own. Translate the whole track into English with Pro, edit any cue, show both languages if you like, and burn the subtitles in free at 720p.
French to English Subtitles Features
EchoWave's French to English subtitle translator is used by documentary editors, French creators and language teachers around the world.
Translate subtitles
From French audio to English captions without swapping tools
Getting French to English subtitles usually means three stops: a transcription site, a translation tool, then an editor to burn the result in. EchoWave folds all of it into one project. It runs on the same engine as our French subtitle generator and subtitle translator, adds bilingual subtitles for dual display, and sits inside a full add subtitles editor. Related: English to French subtitles and transcribe French audio.
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86
subtitle translation languages
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176
caption style presets
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2
languages on screen at once
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63
AI voices for optional voice over
What you get
Built for the French-to-English direction, not a generic swap
Every piece of the workflow, from hearing fast Parisian speech to catching false friends in the translation, lives in the same editor.
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French speech recognition that keeps up with liaisons
Spoken French chains words together, so 'les amis' reaches your ear as one sound. EchoWave's speech-to-text detects that the audio is French on its own, no language picker needed, and returns cues with word-level timestamps that land on the actual syllables. That timing survives translation, so the English lines stay in sync.
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French to English subtitles in one click
Once the French transcript exists, pick English from 86 translation targets and every cue converts while keeping its start and end times. Written French runs about 15 to 20 percent longer than English, so the translated lines usually come out shorter, which gives viewers extra reading time rather than less.
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Show French and English at the same time
Turn on bilingual subtitles to display the original French line together with its English translation. Learners connect what they hear with what it means, and francophone viewers are never locked out of their own video.
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Review tools that catch the false friends
Machine translation of French is good, but 'actuellement' means currently, 'librairie' is a bookstore, and 'déception' is disappointment, not deceit. Click any cue to jump the playhead to that moment, hear the original line, and fix the English text with per-word timing intact.
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176 caption styles for the English track
Style the translated subtitles with 176 named presets, including word-by-word karaoke styles with active-word fill such as hormozi and Beast Mode. Per-word color and emphasis controls let you punch the key English words for people scrolling with the sound off.
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Already have a French SRT or VTT? Import it
If a translator or another tool already produced a French .srt or .vtt file, upload it with your video and translate the cues to English without re-transcribing anything. On a paid plan, download the result as SRT, VTT, TXT or JSON. Both SRT and VTT files can be imported.
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Burn in the English, or keep it as a file
Hardcode the English subtitles into the video for platforms that ignore caption files, or, on a paid plan, download a clean sidecar file for YouTube and festival submissions. You can do both: one burned-in master and one SRT for the archive.
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A full editor wrapped around the translation
This is not a converter with a preview pane bolted on. The same project gives you a multi-track timeline, trim and split, 56 transitions, and text-based editing that cuts the video when you delete a sentence from the French transcript. See add subtitles for everything the caption editor covers.
How it works
How to translate French subtitles to English
Four steps take you from raw French footage to an English-subtitled export.
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Upload the French video
Drag in your file. EchoWave accepts 20 video formats, including MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI and WebM, and the canvas sizes itself to your footage.
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Generate the French transcript
Open the subtitles panel and run auto subtitles. Speech recognition detects the French by itself and writes time-coded cues with word-level accuracy. Skim the transcript and correct any proper nouns it guessed wrong.
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Translate the cues to English
Choose English as the translation target, or switch on bilingual mode to keep both languages visible. Watch for idioms and false friends, then edit any line directly in the cue list. Timing carries over automatically.
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Style, then export
Pick one of 176 caption presets and set your brand font if you have one. Burn the English subtitles into the MP4 for free at 720p, or on a paid plan download the SRT, VTT, TXT or JSON file on its own.
Who uses this
Where translating French video into English earns its keep
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Festival and distributor submissions
Most international festivals ask for English subtitles on non-English films, either burned in or as a clean SRT. Translate your French short's dialogue, review it line by line, and export both deliverables from one project.
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French creators courting English viewers
English-language YouTube carries the biggest advertising pool, and burned-in English captions keep muted-feed scrollers watching. Translate once, restyle with a karaoke preset, and post the same video to both audiences.
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French learners and their teachers
Bilingual display puts the French line and its English meaning on screen together, which beats pausing to check a dictionary. Teachers export the TXT transcript as a study sheet to hand out with the clip.
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Documentary rushes and interviews
Producers who do not speak French need to know what the interviewee said before the edit begins. Transcribe and translate the rushes, then hand editors the SRT or JSON so every quote carries a timecode.
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Companies with French-speaking offices
Translate the Paris team's product walkthrough or all-hands recording so the rest of the company can follow along. Brand kit fonts and colors keep the English captions consistent with your other videos.
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Going the other way
The same engine runs in reverse. Point the French subtitle generator at an English video to reach the more than 300 million French speakers across Europe, Canada and Africa, guillemets and accents included.
Compare
How EchoWave compares
| Feature | EchoWave | Kapwing | VEED | HappyScribe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-transcribe French speech | yes (auto-detects) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Translate subtitles into English | yes (86 languages, Pro) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bilingual French + English display | Yes | No | No | No |
| Edit cues with word-level timing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import an existing French SRT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Subtitle file exports | SRT, VTT, TXT, JSON (paid plans) | SRT, VTT, TXT | SRT, VTT, TXT | SRT, VTT + more |
| Caption style presets | yes (176) | Yes | Yes | limited |
| Burned-in subtitles on export | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free exports | yes (720p, small badge) | yes (watermark) | yes (watermark) | trial only |
| AI dubbing into English voices | No | yes (paid) | yes (paid) | yes (paid) |
| Human translation service | No | No | No | yes (paid) |
| Direct social publishing | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Based on each tool's public pages as of July 2026. Free tiers, language counts and prices change often, so check current pages before deciding.
Translate your first French video today
Upload the footage, get the French transcript in minutes, and turn it into clean English subtitles you can actually check against the audio.
How creators use EchoWave in real projects
About the EchoWave team
EchoWave is a browser-based video and audio editor built by Lemon Vault LLC since 2018. The people who build the editor write these guides and test every step in the production app before publishing.
French to English Subtitles FAQ
How do I add French to English subtitles to a video?
Upload the video to EchoWave, generate subtitles (the French is detected automatically), then choose English as the translation target in the subtitle panel. Review the cues, style them with one of 176 presets, and export with the subtitles burned in or, on a paid plan, as a separate SRT file. The whole flow happens in one editor.
Does it translate the French voices into English audio?
No. EchoWave translates the subtitle text, not the audio track, and it does not do AI dubbing. If you want an English voice, you can generate a voice over from your translated script with the built-in text-to-speech, which includes 28 English voices among its 63, and lower the original French underneath. That is a manual re-voice, though, not automatic dubbing.
How accurate is the French to English translation?
French and English form one of the best-resourced pairs in machine translation, so everyday speech converts cleanly. The usual trouble spots are idioms, slang and false friends like 'actuellement' (currently) or 'demander' (to ask). EchoWave shows every cue next to the video, so you can hear the original line and correct the English in seconds. Plan a review pass for anything going in front of clients or a festival jury.
Can I translate a French SRT file instead of re-transcribing?
Yes. Import the .srt alongside your video and the cues appear on the timeline with their original timing. Run the translation to English, polish whatever needs it, and on a paid plan download it as SRT, VTT, TXT or JSON. Both SRT and VTT files can be imported.
Can I show the French and English subtitles at the same time?
Yes, that is bilingual mode: the original French cue renders together with its English translation, both styled, and both burned in if you hardcode them. It suits language teaching, mixed francophone and anglophone audiences in Canada, and any video where you want nobody excluded.
Will the English lines fit the timing of fast French speech?
Usually better than the original did. Written French runs roughly 15 to 20 percent longer than English, so translated cues tend to shrink, and the common comfort guideline of about 17 characters per second becomes easier to hit, not harder. If a cue still feels dense, split it in the editor and the word-level timestamps keep everything anchored to the speech.
Is the French to English subtitle translator free?
Transcription, cue editing and burn-in export work on the free plan, and free video exports are HD 720p MP4 with a small EchoWave badge and a short end card. Translation into English is a Pro feature. Paid plans remove the badge and end card, add 1080p and 4K, and let you download caption files.
My footage is Quebec French. Will it still translate well?
Speech recognition treats Quebec, Belgian, Swiss and African French as French and transcribes them without any settings to change. Informal Quebecois can come out literal in English, contractions like 'chu' for 'je suis' or 'char' for car, so give conversational footage a closer review than you would newsroom French.
Can I do the reverse and put French subtitles on an English video?
Yes. The French subtitle generator covers that direction: it transcribes the English speech and translates the cues into French with proper accents, cedillas and guillemets. Bilingual mode works there too, showing English and French together on screen.
Ready to translate your French footage?
Generate captions and burn them in free; free exports are 720p MP4 with a small EchoWave badge.
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