Aurora with OBS on Windows: desktop captions versus stream captions

Decide who needs to see the captions

If you alone need to read game, Discord, or video audio while streaming, Aurora Subtitles can listen to Windows system audio or your microphone and show a desktop overlay. It does not need an OBS plugin or a Discord bot.

If your viewers need captions in the video, check that OBS captures the overlay in the scene. Text visible on your monitor is not automatically included in a game or single-window capture. OBS Display Capture captures the whole monitor; Window Capture selects one window. Inspect the preview and a short recording before going live: capture behavior can vary by game and capture method.

If you need captions as an OBS text source or embedded stream captions, see the OBS-native options. Aurora displays its overlay in Windows; this article does not claim that Aurora sends text directly to an OBS source.

Set up Aurora alongside OBS

1. Pick the voice you want to caption. For other people playing through your headphones, choose Aurora’s WASAPI system-audio input; for your own speech, choose the microphone. If you need both, read the current Both-mode limits: microphone events appear in Session Activity, not the main overlay.
2. Check the source and target language against the preset requirements. Maximum Compatibility runs on CPU and accepts English source audio for its 51 published translation targets. Maximum Quality has a separate set of 51 selectable languages and can use a compatible GPU with CPU fallback. Do not assume a language pair is shared between presets.
3. Play a spoken sample through the same output device you will use on stream and confirm Aurora receives it. OBS and Aurora have separate audio capture paths: adding an audio source in OBS does not itself route audio into Aurora.
4. If viewers should see the overlay, place it on the monitor or area captured by OBS. Record a short sample and watch it back: confirm that voices are audible, text is inside the frame, and it does not cover important controls.

OBS’s official application-audio guide shows how to isolate an app’s sound and warns about echo from duplicate sources. That setting controls the broadcast mix; it does not replace Aurora’s input selection.

When another route fits better

For text inside the scene, LocalVocal is an OBS plugin that processes speech locally and can output captions to a text source or stream. If you only need to read a conversation on your PC, try Windows 11 Live Captions first. Aurora fits when you need its PC audio options, local translation, and configurable overlay. Compare all three by audience, language pair, and hardware before buying.

See the Discord-specific guide and the Aurora demo. A demo cannot replace checking your actual OBS setup.