Synthesia AI Video Translation: Complete Guide to Dubbing & Lip-Sync (2026)
Imagine you’ve created the perfect video. It’s for your company’s training, a marketing campaign, or your YouTube channel. It’s clear, engaging, and you’re proud of it. But there’s a big problem: 95% of the world can’t understand it.
I know this pain intimately. At Feisworld Media, we’ve produced over 400 episodes for our YouTube channel and podcast. Every single one started as English-only content. For years, we watched our analytics show traffic from Spain, China, and Latin America, people who clicked, saw English, and left within seconds.
To reach a global audience, you used to need expensive dubbing studios, voice actors, and weeks of waiting. We tried traditional dubbing once for our documentary on Amazon Prime Video. The cost? Expensive, trust me. The timeline? Three weeks per language. It was slow, costly, and completely unsustainable for a content operation producing multiple episodes per month.
Today, that has all changed. With AI, we can now translate and dub videos in minutes. I’ve been testing all the top tools with our actual podcast episodes and one stands out for making professional-quality videos that look and sound completely natural: Synthesia.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about Synthesia AI video translation tool. We’ll cover how it works, and I’ll show you step-by-step how you can use it today. Let’s get started!
What is AI Video Translation and Dubbing?
In simple terms, AI video translation is like having a magical universal translator for your videos. You give the AI a video in one language (like English), and it does three things automatically:
- Transcribes: It listens to the audio and turns it into text.
- Translates: It translates that text into a new language (like Spanish or Japanese).
- Dubbing: It creates a new voice track in the new language and replaces the original audio.
The very best tools, like Synthesia, also do two extra, very important things: voice cloning (making the new audio sound like the original speaker) and lip-syncing (making the speaker’s mouth movements match the new words).
This technology is a real game-changer. It allows businesses and creators to take one video and make it feel native to audiences all over the world, faster and cheaper than ever before.
Our Multilingual Content Experiment: 560% Traffic Increase
Before I dive into why Synthesia is my top recommendation, let me share a quick data point that changed our entire content strategy. Back in 2021, we ran an experiment at Feisworld Media. We took 20 of our best-performing blog posts and automatically translated them into Spanish, and Chinese. These are languages our team actually speaks, our Head of Content, Germán, is a writer for several Spanish-language outlets, and I’m fluent in Chinese.
The result? A 560% increase in organic traffic to those posts within 90 days.
At that time, we did automatic translation for just text and blog posts using WeGlot, because the technology wasn’t ready for anything else. But then we had a problem. For those blog posts linking to videos the retention was awful on the video, because that wasn’t translated.
The lesson was crystal clear: multilingual content isn’t just nice to have, it’s a massive growth lever. But here’s the catch: that experiment was text-only. We still had no scalable way to do this for our 400+ video episodes.
That’s what led me down the path of testing every AI video translation tool on the market. I needed something that could handle our real content library, not just translate it, but make it feel native to Spanish and Chinese-speaking audiences.
Why Synthesia is the Best AI Video Translator for Professionals
I’ve tested many tools with our actual Feisworld content, and while some are good for quick social media clips, Synthesia is the one I recommend for anyone who cares about professional quality. Here’s what makes Synthesia a clear winner to me.
The Magic is the Perfect Lip-Sync
This is Synthesia’s killer feature. Many tools can translate audio, but the video looks wrong because the speaker’s lips are saying the old words. It’s distracting and looks unprofessional.
Synthesia’s AI actually changes the video so the speaker’s mouth moves perfectly with the new translated words. When someone in Spain watches your video dubbed in Spanish, it looks like you were actually speaking Spanish the whole time.
Real example from our channel
I took one of our most popular podcast episodes where I interview a tech founder. The original was 42 minutes of English conversation. After running it through Synthesia’s translator for Spanish, our Head of Content, Germán, who’s a native Spanish speaker and professional writer, watched the entire thing.
His reaction? “If I didn’t know this was AI, I would swear you recorded this in a Spanish studio. The lip movements match perfectly, even when you’re emphasizing certain words.”
That’s when I knew this wasn’t just impressive technology, it was ready for our actual audience. The lip-sync quality is the key to making the video feel authentic, not like a weird dubbed movie from the 1980s.
Translate Videos in Minutes, Not Weeks
The traditional dubbing process can take weeks or even months. You have to find translators, hire voice actors, book a studio, and go through long review cycles.
With Synthesia, the entire process takes just a few minutes. You upload your video, select your languages, and the AI does the rest.
Our typical workflow now: When we publish a new podcast episode that’s performing well in English, we know within 48 hours if it’s resonating. If the engagement is strong, we immediately create Spanish and Chinese versions using Synthesia.
From uploading the video to having the translated versions published on our YouTube channel? About 15 minutes total. That includes:
- 2 minutes to upload and select languages
- 10 minutes for Synthesia to process
- 3 minutes to review and make any terminology adjustments
This incredible speed means we can ride the momentum of a successful video. If a topic is trending or resonating with our English audience, we can have Spanish and Chinese versions live the same day, capturing audience interest while it’s hot, not three weeks later when the conversation has moved on.
An All-In-One Platform (Not Just a Tool)
Synthesia isn’t just a translation tool. It’s a full AI video creation platform. This means you can create a video from scratch using an AI avatar, edit it, and then translate it, all in one place. This integrated workflow saves a ton of time.
How to Translate a Video with Synthesia (Step-by-Step)
Getting started is surprisingly easy. Here’s a simple walkthrough of the process. I did this with one of my own YouTube videos, and it was a breeze.
Step 1: Upload Your Video
First, you drag and drop your video file (MP4, MOV, etc.) into Synthesia. The platform will automatically listen to your video and figure out what language you are speaking.
Step 2: Choose Your Target Languages
Next, you select the languages you want to translate your video into. Synthesia supports over 130 languages, so you can reach almost any audience. You can choose one language or many at the same time.
Step 3: Review and Fine-Tune the Translation
This step is so important for quality control. The AI will generate the translated script for you, but you can easily open an editor to check it. If you want to change a word to match your company’s terminology or fix a phrase, you can just type in the correction. The audio and lip-sync will update automatically.
Step 4: Generate and Share with a “Smart Link”
Once you are happy with the translation, you click “Generate.” In a few minutes, your dubbed videos are ready.
You can download each video file, or you can use one of my favorite features: the smart link. This gives you a single link to share. When someone clicks it, the video player automatically plays the right language based on their browser settings. So, a viewer in France sees the French version, and a viewer in Brazil sees the Portuguese version, all from the same link!
Video Tutorial: Watch Me Translate a Video in 3 Minutes
Reading about it is one thing, but seeing it is another. I made a quick video to show you just how fast and easy this entire process is.
Who Should Use Synthesia for Video Translation?
This tool is incredibly useful for almost anyone, but here are the groups who will benefit the most:
- Content Creators (Like Us): If you have a YouTube channel, podcast, or video series, you’re sitting on a gold mine of content that could be reaching 10x more people. At Feisworld Media, we have 400+ episodes that were English-only for years. Now, we’re systematically going back and creating Spanish and Chinese versions of our top performers.
- The strategy: Don’t translate everything at once. Start with your top 10% by views or engagement. Those are proven winners, they just need to speak more languages.
- Marketing Teams: Create one ad or product demo and localize it for dozens of global markets in a single afternoon.
- Learning & Development: Instantly translate corporate training and HR videos so every employee, no matter where they are, gets the same high-quality materials.
- Sales Teams: Send personalized sales videos to leads in their native language to build stronger connections.
Synthesia AI Video Translation – FAQ
Is Synthesia’s video translator free to try?
Yes! You can use their free AI video translator tool to upload a short video and test the entire process. This is the best way to see the quality for yourself before committing.
How many languages can I translate my video into?
You can translate your videos into over 130 languages, including all major global languages and many different accents.
How accurate is the translation and lip-sync?
The AI translation is very accurate, achieving near-human levels. Most importantly, you can review and edit every word in the transcript to ensure it’s 100% perfect. The lip-sync is frame-accurate, meaning it looks completely natural to a native speaker.
Can I download subtitles?
Yes. Synthesia automatically generates subtitles for every language, and you can download them as standard SRT files to use on YouTube or other platforms.
Final Thoughts: Is It the Right Tool For You?
Synthesia’s AI video translation feature is a top choice for any business or creator who puts quality first. While other tools may offer more languages or a lower price, they often compromise on the details. Synthesia’s perfect combination of natural voice cloning and flawless lip-sync creates a truly seamless and professional result.
The ability to make a translated video that doesn’t feel like a translation is a superpower for global communication. If you want to expand your reach without sacrificing the quality of your brand, Synthesia is the tool to use.
