A Step-by-step Playbook for Creating Polished Dubbing with ElevenLabs

 Here’s a practical, step-by-step playbook for creating polished dubbing with ElevenLabs—first the fast “auto” workflow, then the precision “Studio” workflow, plus exports, batching, and pro tips.

A) Quick dub (fastest path)

1. Open Dubbing. In your ElevenLabs account, go to Dubbing. Choose Upload file or paste a URL (YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo, X/Twitter, etc.). 

2. Set languages. Pick the source language (or let it detect) and your target language(s). ElevenLabs supports 29 languages in Dubbing/Dubbing Studio. 

3. Preserve original voices (recommended). Enable the option to keep the original speakers’ voices and style in the translated dub. This preserves identity and tone across languages. 

4. Generate the dub. The system will transcribe, translate, detect speakers, and render dubbed audio to the video. (UI uploads generally support files up to 500 MB / 45 min; API supports 1 GB / 2.5 hr.) 

5. Download. Export a finished MP4 (video) or audio/caption files as needed. 

B) Precision editing with Dubbing Studio (best for quality)

Use this when you want full control—fix translations, change voices per speaker, tighten timing, and export stems.

1. Create a Dubbing Studio project. In Dubbing, set up your project (name, source/target languages, upload/link file), then tick “Create a Dubbing Studio project” before creating. (ElevenLabs)

2. Understand the editor.

   • Tracks & clips: Add voiceover tracks, place clips on the timeline, and edit speaker cards (the text for each segment). You can translate text, then Generate or Regenerate per clip for surgical fixes. 

   • Voice choices: Keep the original voice, assign different voices per speaker, or use the voice changer to render your own performance in another voice. 

   • Speaker handling: ElevenLabs detects speakers; you can also use track clones (clone from an entire track) vs clip clones (clone per clip) depending on your control needs. 

   • Subtitles & transcripts. Edit subtitles/transcripts and export SRT/VTT if you want captions separate from the video. 

3. Export options (Studio). From Export, choose: MP4 (video), AAC/MP3/WAV (audio), ZIP of tracks/clips, AAF (timeline for NLEs), SRT (captions), or CSV (speaker, timecodes, transcription/translation). 

C) File formats (in & out)

• Upload: most common audio/video types including MP4, MOV, MKV, MP3, WAV, M4A, etc.

• Output: MP4 video, AAC/MP3/WAV audio, AAF, SRT (captions), ZIPs of separated speaker WAVs. 

D) Batch work & automation (API)

If you’re localizing lots of videos, use the API.

1. Create an API key in your dashboard. 

2. Use the Dubbing API to submit files/URLs and retrieve assets at scale; UI/API size limits differ (UI: 500 MB/45 min; API: 1 GB/2.5 hr). 

3. Fetch captions programmatically (SRT or VTT) for each dub. 

4. Timing control: for CSV-driven projects, there’s a csv_fps parameter to fine-tune frame-rate parsing in dubbing projects. 

5. (Optional) Consistency tricks: SDK features like request stitching help keep style/prosody consistent across segments. 

E) Quality checklist (what pros do)

• Start with clean source audio (dialog clear, minimal music/FX) for better transcription/translation and timing.

• Segment logically in Studio; edit the translation per clip, then Regenerate just that clip instead of the whole video. 

• Assign voices per speaker (or keep original) so characters remain distinct. 

• Export stems (WAV per speaker) and the AAF to finish mixing in Premiere/Resolve if you want broadcast polish. 

• Add captions: export SRT/VTT and upload to your platform for accessibility and SEO. 

F) Common gotchas

• Lip-sync visuals: ElevenLabs currently does not offer lip-sync (mouth-movement) video editing; it focuses on audio dubbing. You can still combine dubbed audio + captions in your editor. 

• Edit mode visibility: The “Edit” button appears only for Dubbing Studio projects (enable that when creating the project). 

• Plan/limits: Dubbing is available on all plans; Dubbing Studio is the pro end-to-end workflow. Check current limits in docs if you’re doing long videos. 

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