Google Chrome features an accessibility tool called “Live Caption.” When activated, the browser uses on-device machine learning to automatically generate subtitles for any audio or video playing in any tab, completely independently of the website itself. This means even if a YouTube video or a news clip does not have official subtitles uploaded by the creator, Chrome will generate them on the fly in a black floating box at the bottom of your screen.
While this is an incredible feature for the hearing impaired, or for watching videos in a loud environment without headphones, the floating caption box can be highly intrusive. It often overlays important visual information on the video player and appears automatically whenever a website auto-plays an advertisement in the background. If you do not need this accessibility feature, you can permanently turn it off.
Disabling Live Caption in Chrome Settings
You can turn off this feature entirely through the browser’s core accessibility menu.
- Open the Google Chrome browser on your computer.
- Look at the top right corner of the window, just below the close button, and click the three vertical dots (the Customize and control menu).
- From the dropdown menu, select Settings.
- In the left-hand navigation sidebar of the Settings page, click on Accessibility.
- The very first option in the main panel will be Live Caption (with the description “Automatically creates captions for English audio and video”).
- Click the toggle switch next to it to turn it Off (the switch will turn grey).
The change takes effect immediately. The next time you watch a video or an audio advertisement starts playing, the floating black caption box will no longer appear on your screen.
The Quick Mute Toggle
If you prefer to keep the feature enabled most of the time but occasionally find the box annoying during a specific movie, you do not have to dig into the settings menu every time.
When media is playing and the Live Caption box appears on your screen, simply look for the small “X” in the top right corner of the black caption box itself and click it. This will dismiss the box for that specific video session without permanently disabling the feature in the settings.