# Audio Description Translation for Streaming | Vitra.ai

> Audio description narrates what a blind viewer cannot see. Why it cannot be translated between languages, and what gets rewritten for each version.

**Canonical URL**: https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/audio-description-translation
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4 min read

# Audio Description Translation for Streaming

Audio description narrates what a blind viewer cannot see. Why it cannot be translated between languages, and what gets rewritten for each version.

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Senior Product Manager , Vitra.ai
Updated Aug 17, 2026

![Audio Description Translation for Streaming](https://www.vitra.ai/static/images/blog/audio-description-translation.jpg)

Table of contents

[What it is, and where it fits](#what-it-is-and-where-it-fits)

[The gaps move](#the-gaps-move)

[What changes beyond timing](#what-changes-beyond-timing)

[Practical sequence](#practical-sequence)

[FAQ](#faq)

Contributors

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Senior Product Manager

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> **Quick answer —** Audio description is a narration track describing visual action in the gaps between dialogue. It cannot be translated line for line, because the gaps differ once a programme is dubbed and the new narration has to fit new silence.[Vitra.ai Universe](https://www.vitra.ai/platform) handles the dub, the captions and the artwork around them.

## What it is, and where it fits

A separate audio track that describes what is happening on screen — who entered, what they are wearing if it matters, where the scene has moved — spoken in the pauses between dialogue.

It is the accessibility deliverable most often left until last, and the one most often quoted as a straight translation job. It is not one.

## The gaps move

An English description is written into English silences. Dub the programme into German and the dialogue runs longer, so those silences shrink or disappear. The description written for the English version no longer fits. Not approximately — the words physically will not go in the space.

So each language version needs its description timed against that version's dialogue, which means the work sits after the dub rather than beside it. Plan it in that order or it becomes an emergency.

## What changes beyond timing

Element

Why it is rewritten

Length of each description

Fits the gaps in that language's mix

What gets described at all

Shorter gaps force harder priorities

Cultural references

A visual shorthand may not read the same

On-screen text

Read aloud, and it is now in another language

Names and pronunciation

Must match the dub, not the original

The priority question is the interesting one. When the available silence halves, the describer chooses between the character's expression and the object they picked up, and that is an editorial decision rather than a translation.

## Practical sequence

Lock the dub, then write the description against the dubbed mix, then record.

Working from the English description as a reference is fine and usually sensible — it captures what the original team judged important — but treat it as a brief rather than a source text.

The recorded track sits alongside the other language deliverables, so keep it with them in an [asset manager](https://www.vitra.ai/features/asset-manager) rather than in a separate accessibility folder that nobody looks in when the next platform asks.

Names must match the dub exactly. [Translation memory](https://www.vitra.ai/features/translation-memory) is the practical way to guarantee that, and a [quality check](https://www.vitra.ai/features/quality-control) against the dubbed mix confirms no description is speaking over dialogue.

The other accessibility track has its own confusions, sorted out in [captions against subtitles](https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/closed-captions-vs-subtitles).

## FAQ

**What is audio description?** A narration track describing on-screen action for blind and partially sighted viewers, spoken in the pauses between dialogue. It covers who is present, what they are doing, and any visual information the soundtrack does not convey.

**Can audio description be translated between languages?** Not line for line. Dubbing changes the length of dialogue, so the silences the original description was written into no longer exist. Each language version has to be written against that version's mix.

**When should audio description be produced?** After the dub is locked, because the description has to fit the gaps in the dubbed dialogue. Scheduling it in parallel with dubbing means rewriting it once the mix changes.

**Does audio description have to match the dub?** Yes, particularly names and pronunciation. A description using the original pronunciation of a character's name while the dub uses another is confusing for exactly the viewer the track exists to serve.

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