dubbing

Origins

Films, videos, and sometimes video games are dubbed into the local language of a foreign market. In foreign distribution, dubbing is common in theatrically released films, television films, television series, cartoons, anime and telenovelas.

In many countries, dubbing was adopted, at least in part, for political reasons. In authoritarian states such as Fascist Italy and Francoist Spain, dubbing could be used to enforce particular ideological agendas, excising negative references to the nation and its leaders and promoting standardized national languages at the expense of local dialects and minority languages. In post-Nazi Germany, dubbing was used to downplay events in the country's recent past, as in the case of the dub of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, where the Nazi organization upon which the film's plot centers was changed to a drug smuggling enterprise. The first post-WWII movie dub was Konstantin Zaslonov (1949) dubbed from Russian into the Czech language.

In Western Europe after World War II, dubbing was attractive to many film producers as it helped to enable co-production between companies in different countries, in turn allowing them to pool resources and benefit from financial support from multiple governments. The use of dubbing meant that multi-national casts could be assembled and were able to use their preferred language for their performances, with appropriate post-production dubs being carried out before distributing versions of the film.

Methods

ADR

Automated dialogue replacement or Additional dialogue recording (ADR), also called post-sync or over-dubbing is the process of re-recording dialogue by the original actor (or a replacement actor) in a sound booth after the filming process to improve audio quality (for example, if the microphones from on-set picked up ambient noise such as strong wind or passing traffic) or make changes to the initially scripted dialog.

In the early days of talkies, a loop of film would be cut and spliced together for each of the scenes that needed to be re-recorded, and then the loops would be loaded onto a projector one by one. For each scene, the loop would be played repeatedly while the voice actor performed the lines, trying to synchronize them to the filmed performance. This was known as "looping" or a "looping session". Loading and reloading the film loops while the talent and recording crew stood by was tedious. Later, videotape and then digital technology replaced the film loops, and the process became known as automated dialogue replacement (ADR).

In conventional film production, a production sound mixer records dialogue during filming. During post-production, a supervising sound editor, or ADR supervisor, reviews all of the dialogue in the film and decides which lines must be re-recorded. ADR is recorded during an ADR session, which takes place in a specialized sound studio. Multiple takes are recorded, and the most suitable take becomes the final version, or portions of various takes may be edited together.

As of 2020, the process includes various automated techniques, such as automatically displaying lines on-screen for the talent, automated cues, shifting the audio track for accurate synchronization, and time-fitting algorithms for stretching or compressing portions of a spoken line. There is software that can sort out spoken words from ambient sounds in the original filmed soundtrack, detect the peaks of the dialog, and automatically time-fit the new dubbed performance to the original to create accurate synchronization.

Sometimes, an actor other than the original actor is used during ADR. One example is the Star Wars character Darth Vader, portrayed by David Prowse with a full costume and full face mask; in post-production, James Earl Jones dubbed the voice of Vader due to Prowse possessing a West Country accent that was ultimately deemed unfitting.

Artificial intelligence

In recent years speech synthesis programs and artificial intelligence have been used to artificially automatically dub content. In September 2025 YouTube officially launched an optional multi-language audio-dubbing feature following a two-year-long pilot program. Amazon Prime Video has tested AI-generated dubs in March 2025 and has released AI-dub versions of content such as English dubs of the Banana Fish anime and the Portuguese language show O Silêncio de Marcos Tremmer, though they have been criticized for their overall quality and potential job impact on voice actors. Development of the technology to be able to auto-dub live events has also taken place, though auto-dubs for live events are not currently widely in use.

A related but distinct approach, known as visual dubbing, uses machine learning to modify an actor's on-screen lip and facial movements in post-production to match dubbed target-language audio, rather than replacing the performer's voice. Early models such as Wav2Lip (2020) demonstrated that accurate lip synchronisation could be generated from arbitrary audio and video inputs across any speaker identity or language. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical contract permits adjusting lip and facial movements to match a foreign language as part of standard dubbing practices, without requiring additional performer consent, provided human voice actors perform the dubbed audio.

Global use

Localization

Localization is the practice of adapting a film or television series from one region of the world for another. In contrast to pure translation, localization encompasses adapting the content to suit the target audience. For example, culture-specific references may be replaced, and footage may be removed or added.

The new voice track is usually spoken by a voice actor (VA). In many countries, actors who regularly perform this duty remain little-known, with the exception of particular circles (such as Seiyuu the anime fandom) or when their voices have become synonymous with roles or actors whose voices they usually dub. In the United States, many of these voice artists may employ pseudonyms or go uncredited due to Screen Actors Guild (SAG) regulations or the desire to dissociate themselves from the role.

The dialogue writer's role is to make the translation sound natural in the target language, and to make the translation sound like a credible dialogue instead of merely a translated text.

Africa

In Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, most foreign movies (especially Hollywood productions) are shown dubbed in French. These movies are usually imported directly from French film distributors. The choice of movies dubbed into French can be explained by the widespread use of the French language. Another important factor is that local theaters and private media companies do not dub in local languages in order to avoid high costs, but also because of the lack of both expertise and demand.

Beginning in the 1980s, dubbed series and movies for children in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) became a popular choice among most TV channels, cinemas and VHS/DVD stores. However, dubbed films are still imported, and dubbing is still performed in the Levant countries with a strong tradition of dubbing (mainly Syria and Jordan). Egypt was the first Arab country in charge of dubbing Disney movies in 1975 and used to do it exclusively in Egyptian Arabic rather than Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) until 2011, and since then many other companies started dubbing their productions in this dialect. Beginning with Encanto, Disney movies are now dubbed in both dialects.

In the Arabic-speaking countries, children's shows (mainly cartoons and kids sitcoms) are dubbed in Arabic, or Arabic subtitles are used. The only exception was telenovelas dubbed in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), or dialects, but also Turkish series, most notably Gümüş, in Syrian Arabic.

In South Africa, many television programs were dubbed in Afrikaans, with the original soundtrack (usually in English, but sometimes Dutch or German) "simulcast" in FM stereo on Radio 2000. These included US series such as The Six Million Dollar Man (Steve Austin: Die Man van Staal), Miami Vice (Misdaad in Miami), Beverly Hills 90210, and the German detective series Derrick.

As a result of the boycott by the British actors' union Equity, which banned the sale of most British television programs, the puppet series The Adventures of Rupert Bear was dubbed into South African English, as the original voices had been recorded by Equity voice artists.

This practice has declined as a result of the reduction of airtime for the language on SABC TV, and the increase of locally produced material in Afrikaans on other channels like KykNet. Similarly, many programs, such as The Jeffersons, were dubbed into Zulu, but this has also declined as local drama production has increased. However, some animated films, such as Maya the Bee, have been dubbed in both Afrikaans and Zulu by local artists. In 2018, eExtra began showing the Turkish drama series Paramparça dubbed in Afrikaans as Gebroke Harte or "Broken Hearts", the first foreign drama to be dubbed in the language for twenty years.

Asia

Before 2006, most foreign movies and TV shows in Azerbaijan were shown in Russian dubbing, especially in cinemas and on TV channels. However, AzTV usually aired foreign content with full Azerbaijani dubbing.

In 2006, a law was introduced requiring all foreign content on TV channels to be dubbed or voice-overed in Azerbaijani. Following this, most channels switched to Azerbaijani voice-over to follow the new rules.

In 2011, a similar law was passed for cinemas. But it didn't have much effect due to the local dubbing industry not being well developed yet.

In 2017, the local streaming platform TVSeans began streaming movies and shows with full Azerbaijani dubbing, mainly done by Balans Studio. While full dubs became more common on TV and streaming, home media releases with full dubs remained limited.

China has a long tradition of dubbing foreign films into Mandarin Chinese, starting in the 1930s. While during the Republic of China (ROC) era Western motion pictures may have been imported and dubbed into Chinese, since 1950 Soviet movies became the main import, sometimes even surpassing the local production. In Communist China, most European movies were dubbed in Shanghai, whereas Asian and Soviet films were usually dubbed in Changchun. During the Cultural Revolution, North Korean, Romanian and Albanian films became popular. Beginning in the late 1970s, in addition to films, popular TV series from the United States, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico were also dubbed.

Motion pictures are also dubbed into the languages of some of China's autonomous regions. Notably, the Translation Department of the Tibetan Autonomous Region Movie Company (西藏自治区电影公司译制科) has been dubbing movies into the Tibetan language since the 1960s. In the early decades, it would dub 25 to 30 movies each year, the number rising to 60–75 by the early 2010s.

Motion pictures are dubbed for China's Mongol- and Uyghur-speaking markets as well.

Chinese television dramas are often dubbed in Standard Mandarin by professional voice actors to remove accents, improve poor performances, or change lines to comply with local censorship laws.

Europe

In North-West Europe, Poland, Portugal, Balkan, Baltic and Nordic countries, generally only movies and TV shows that are intended for children are dubbed, while TV shows and movies that are intended for teenagers or adults are subtitled, although adult-animated productions (e.g. South Park and The Simpsons) have a tradition of being dubbed. For movies in cinemas with clear target audiences (both below and above 10–11 years of age), both a dubbed and a subtitled version are usually available.

On 1 October 2008, Nova TV launched its sister channel Mini TV, the first Croatian television channel for children with programming entirely dubbed into Croatian. RTL followed suit with the launch of RTL Kockica in 2014.

Since the 2010s, the dubbing of live-action television series and films aimed at children, teenagers and young adults has been on the rise. With the launch of Nickelodeon's Croatian audio track in 2011, Studio NET was the first in Croatia to focus on "serious production of live-action dubbing," with most of Nickelodeon's major teen live-action titles such as iCarly (2007–2012), Sam & Cat (2013–2014), The Thundermans (2013–2018) and Victorious (2010–2013) receiving a Croatian dub. With the rise of streaming television in the 2020s, NET and various other studios also began producing Croatian dubs for Netflix; although the focus is still on dubbing animated series and films, a notable amount of live-action programming aimed at younger audiences has also been dubbed for Netflix, such as Chupa (2023), Geek Girl (2024), Heartstopper (2022–2024), I Woke Up a Vampire (2023), Matilda the Musical (2022) and Spy Kids: Armageddon (2023).

In Portugal, dubbing was banned under a 1948 law as a way of protecting the domestic film industry while also aiding in Salazarist censorship efforts, as most of the population was illiterate and would therefore not understand the subtitles on foreign cultural imports. While this law was largely undone by the transition to democracy in the mid-1970s, the status quo continued for many years afterwards and animated movies, as well as other TV series for children, were shown subtitled in Portugal (along with imported Brazilian Portuguese dubs) due to the lack of interest from Portuguese companies in the dubbing industry. This lack of interest was justified, since there were already quality dubbed copies of shows and movies in Portuguese made by Brazilians. In 1994, The Lion King became the first feature film to be dubbed in European Portuguese. Currently, all movies for children are dubbed. Subtitles are preferred in Portugal, used in every foreign-language documentary, TV series and film. The exception to this preference is when children are the target audience.

Latin America

In Brazil, foreign programs are invariably dubbed into Brazilian Portuguese on free-to-air TV, with only a few exceptions. Films shown at cinemas are generally offered with both subtitled and dubbed versions, with dubbing frequently being the only choice for children's movies. Subtitling was primarily for adult audience movies until 2012. Since then, dubbed versions also became available for all ages. As a result, in recent years, more cinemas have opened in Brazil, attracting new audiences to the cinema who prefer dubbing. According to a Datafolha survey, 56% of Brazilian movie theaters' audience prefer to watch dubbed movies. Most of the dubbing studios in Brazil are in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Because of the limited global market for Portuguese-language dubbing companies, Brazilian-made dubs are frequently exported to the rest of the Portuguese-speaking world, including Portugal itself.

The first film to be dubbed in Brazil was the Disney animation "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1938. By the end of the 1950s, most of the movies, TV series and cartoons on television in Brazil were shown in its original sound and subtitles. However, in 1961, a decree of President Jânio Quadros ruled that all foreign productions on television should be dubbed. This measure boosted the growth of dubbing in Brazil, and has led to several dubbing studios since then. The biggest dubbing studio in Brazil was Herbert Richers, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro and closed in 2009. At its peak in the 80s and 90s, the Herbert Richers studios dubbed about 70% of the productions shown in Brazilian cinemas.

Dubbing must be made in Mexico by Mexican nationals or foreigners residing in Mexico.

North America

Like in France, dubbing is the most common and most popular translation method for films and television shows in French-speaking Canada. This became the norm in the mid-1940s.

Most films and television shows dubbed in French-speaking Canada are dubbed in a "neutral" or "international" French to be understandable by a broad Francophone audience regardless of the region and to give prestige to Canadian French. Despite the goal of being understandable to all Francophones, dubs from French-speaking Canada are not popular in France due to their own laws regarding dubs and the fact that "neutral" French is disliked by the French.

The first foreign-language film to be dubbed in joual, the Québécois French vernacular, was the 1977 film Slap Shot, released in French-speaking Canada as Lancer-frappé. The film was originally dubbed in European French as La Castagne, but this standard French dub proved unpopular and disliked by the film's writer Nancy Dowd. Universal Pictures, the film's distributor, gave the French-speaking Canada dubbing rights to Hubert Fielden, a Frenchman who lived in Quebec. Fielden decided to make the Canadian French dub in uncensored joual. The film was written by a Québécois and stars Québécois actors, but the decision to dub the film in joual was to make it resonate even further with a French-Canadian audience. The joual dub ended up being immensely popular in Quebec and Lancer-frappé became a cult classic in French-speaking Canada.

Until the 1980s, the vast majority French-language dubbed films in Quebec were imported from France. The government of Quebec, under then-premier Robert Bourassa and with the support of the then-minister of Culture and Cultural Affairs Denis Hardy, passed the Act Respecting the Cinema in 1975. The Act mandated that all foreign language films shown in Quebec must be dubbed in French. This, along with the aftermath of the Quiet Revolution and the rise of the Quebec sovereignty movement, led to the immense popularity of dubs made in French-speaking Canada in the late 1970s. The Act Respecting the Cinema was replaced by a new act of the same name in 1983 by the government of then-premier René Lévesque with the support of then-minister of Cultural Affairs Clément Richard. The new Act mandated that a foreign-language film could only be shown in Quebec if it came with a French dub. If not already dubbed, one had to be made within 60 days.

In 2003, Howard Ryshpan and Jocelyne Côté, the founders of the Québécois dubbing studio Ryshco Media, created the dubbing software DubStudio. The software was created as a way to automize the lip-synch band, the most commonly used dubbing method in use since the 1950s. According to Ryshpan and Côté, the goal of the software is to "become the global standard of dubbing methods and automated dialogue replacement." DubStudio was collaborated with the Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montréal (CRIM) who also worked on electronic directory assistance for telephones. The software detects the film or television show's dialogue, detects the length, and transforms it into phonemes. The script, already inputted into the software, is also transformed into phonemes. The software then combines the two sets of phonemes to create an electronic equivalent of a lip-synch band and then transforms the phonemes into text. DubStudio, however, does not translate the text.

Oceania

Much like in North America, English dubs of foreign non-English productions in Australia and New Zealand are mostly limited to animation as well as children's media. However, these countries do not often produce English dubs domestically and prefer instead to import existing dubs from other English-speaking countries, primarily the United States and the United Kingdom.

Because over 25% of Australians speak a language other than English at home, some cinemas show foreign-language films, for example in Chinese (the most spoken language in Australia other than English). There are also Chinese-language cinemas in Australia, such as the Hoyts Mandarin cinema in Chatswood, Sydney.

Many episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants (Māori: SpongeBob Tarau Porowhā) and Dora the Explorer (Māori: Dora Mātātoa) were dubbed into Māori and shown on Māori Television to promote the Māori language among children. Disney has also started dubbing films into Māori. These films are shown in cinemas in New Zealand and some parts of Australia and then released globally on Disney+. In 2019, the film Moana was dubbed into Māori. In 2022, The Lion King (Māori: Te Kīngi Raiona) and Frozen were dubbed into Māori.

Compared to Māori, dubs into Australian Aboriginal languages are much rarer. The first film to be fully dubbed into an Aboriginal language was the Hong Kong martial arts film Fists of Fury, which received a full Nyungar dub from an independent Perth-based studio in 2021. The first Indigenous Australian cartoon, Little J & Big Cuz, is available in English and several indigenous languages, including Gija, Nyungar, Torres Strait Creole, Palawa Kani, Warlpiri, Yolŋu, Arrernte, Pitjantjatjara and Kriol.

French Polynesia almost exclusively shows films and television programs in either French or English. However, in 2016, Disney's Moana became the first film to be dubbed into the Tahitian language.

Alternatives

Subtitles

In Portugal, one terrestrial channel, TVI, dubbed U.S. series like Dawson's Creek into Portuguese.

Dubbing and subtitling

Netflix provides both subtitles and dubbed audio with its foreign language shows, including Brazil's dystopian 3% and the German thriller Dark. Viewer testing indicates that its audience is more likely to finish watching a series if they select to view it with dubbed audio rather than translated subtitles. Netflix now streams its foreign language content with dubbed audio as default in an effort to increase viewer retention.

Voice-over translation

In voice-over translation, unlike in dubbing, the translation is recorded over the original audio track which can be heard in the background. This method of translation is most often used in documentaries and news reports to translate words of foreign-language interviewees in countries where subtitling is not the norm. Voice-over translation with a single translator's voice used to be ubiquitous in Russian-speaking countries on films shown on cable television and sold on video, especially illegal copies. In Poland, it remains the standard localization technique on television and (as an option) on many DVDs; full dubbing is generally reserved for children's material.

Dubbing into varieties

Hispanic America and Spain use different versions of dubbed films and series. Due to the variety of Spanish accents in Latin America, the dubbing for this region is made in Standard Spanish, which avoids colloquialisms and whose pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammatical features are not recognizable as belonging to any particular Latin American country. For this reason, it is made in different countries, mainly in Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, for the entire continent. In addition, some films have been dubbed to the accent of a certain region of Spanish-speaking Latin America, such as the animated movie The Incredibles, which in addition to being dubbed into European and Standard Spanish, was dubbed into the Rioplatense and Mexican varieties.

Similarly, in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, cartoons are often dubbed locally by Flemish artists rather than using soundtracks produced in the Netherlands.

Sometimes, films are also dubbed into several German dialects (Berlinerisch, Kölsch, Saxonian, Austro-Bavarian or Swiss German), especially animated films and Disney films. They are as an additional "special feature" to entice the audience into buying it. Popular animated films dubbed into German variety include Asterix films (in addition to its Standard German version, every film has a particular variety version), The Little Mermaid, Shrek 2, Cars, (+ Austrian German) and Up (+ Austrian German).

Some live-action films or TV series have an additional German variety dubbing: Babe and its sequel, Babe: Pig in the City (German German, Austrian German, Swiss German); and Rehearsal for Murder, Framed (+ Austrian German); The Munsters, Serpico, Rumpole (+ Austrian German), and The Thorn Birds