A community AI project from
Brookline Interactive Group
COMMUNITY CAPTIONER CC

Free, open-source live captions for broadcast and streaming

1

Download the App

Click the button below to download Community Captioner. It's a small zip file that works on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Download Community Captioner
🐍Python 3.8 or newer
🎤Microphone or audio input
🌐Chrome or Edge browser

Don't have Python?

Download it free from python.org. During installation, check "Add Python to PATH".

2

Extract the Download

Find the downloaded community-captioner.zip file (usually in your Downloads folder) and extract it:

Double-click the zip file in Finder. It will automatically extract to a folder called community-captioner.

Right-click the zip file and select "Extract All...", then click Extract.

Right-click the zip file and select "Extract Here", or use: unzip community-captioner.zip

3

Open Terminal

You'll need to open Terminal (Mac/Linux) or Command Prompt (Windows) to run the app. Here's how:

  1. Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight
  2. Type Terminal and press Enter

Tip: Easy way

Open the community-captioner folder in Finder, then right-click and select "New Terminal at Folder" (or drag the folder onto Terminal in your Dock).

  1. Open the community-captioner folder in File Explorer
  2. Click in the address bar, type cmd, and press Enter

This opens Command Prompt already in the right folder!

  1. Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open Terminal
  2. Or right-click in the folder and select "Open Terminal Here"
4

Run the App

In your terminal, navigate to the folder and start the app:

If you're not already in the folder, navigate to it:

Click to copycd ~/Downloads/community-captioner

Start the app:

Click to copypython3 start-server.py

If you opened cmd from the folder, just run:

Click to copypython start-server.py

Or navigate first:

Click to copycd %USERPROFILE%\Downloads\community-captioner

Navigate to the folder:

Click to copycd ~/Downloads/community-captioner

Start the app:

Click to copypython3 start-server.py

What happens next?

Your web browser will automatically open to the control panel at http://localhost:8080. Keep the terminal window open while using the app!

5

Add to OBS

In OBS Studio, add a Browser Source with these settings:

Browser Source Settings

URL: http://138.197.15.64:8080/overlay.html
Width: 1920
Height: 1080

Or use http://localhost:8080?overlay=true if OBS is on the same computer as the control panel.

That's it! 🎉

Click "Start Captioning" in the control panel and start speaking. Captions will appear live in OBS!

Frequently Asked Questions

The microphone stops when I switch windows
Click "Pop Out" in the control panel to open it in a separate window. This keeps the microphone active when you switch to other apps.
How do I use audio from a mixer or capture card?
Connect the audio output to your computer (via USB audio interface or built-in input), then select that device in the Audio Input dropdown.
Can I use this with a video switcher?
Yes! Route the audio output from your switcher to your computer, select it as the input, and add the overlay URL as a browser source in your switcher's graphics system.
Which browsers work?
Chrome and Edge work best. Safari and Firefox don't support the Web Speech API used for recognition.