Wave Subs

What Wave Subs is

Wave Subs is a free subtitle app for macOS and Windows that recognizes dialogue in video, creates SRT or ASS subtitles, and translates them. Speech recognition runs locally with whisper.cpp and detects the spoken language automatically. Translation offers 29 target languages, using a local Qwen3 model by default, with OpenAI-compatible interfaces also supported. The editor lets users change text and timing, add, delete, or merge lines, undo edits, and save automatically. A folder of files can be processed with shared settings, while subtitle track, audio track, or engine can be adjusted for individual files. The macOS version can also recognize and translate visible text in video, such as signs and messages. Inputs include MKV, MP4, MOV, TS, AVI, and audio files. After model downloads, recognition, alignment, translation, editing, and export can work offline. The site says video is never uploaded and the app has no account, analytics, or server. Wave Subs costs nothing, with no usage limits or membership; cloud translation may incur provider fees.