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How-to guide

OBS sermon captions — how to add live translation to your church livestream

OBS Studio is the most popular free live streaming software for churches. Voco integrates with OBS via a Browser Source, adding live translated captions as a lower-third overlay on your livestream — or on the projector screen visible to the in-room congregation.

Josh Stannard

By Josh Stannard, Founder of Voco

Building practical live translation for churches. Updated Updated August 2026.

What you need

  • Voco Church plan (OBS integration included)
  • OBS Studio (free — obsproject.com)
  • A live Voco session

Setting up the OBS browser source

  1. 1Get your overlay URL from VocoIn the Voco dashboard, go to Integrations → OBS and copy the Browser Source URL for your desired output language.
  2. 2Add a Browser Source in OBSIn OBS, click the '+' button under Sources and select 'Browser'. Name it (e.g. 'Voco Spanish captions') and click OK.
  3. 3Paste the URL and match the canvasPaste the Voco display URL. Set the browser viewport to match the region and resolution you designed for; 1920 × 1080 is common for a full-HD canvas, but it is not a universal lower-third size.
  4. 4Keep the live source connectedOBS documents that 'Shutdown source when not visible' unloads the page and that 'Refresh browser source when scene becomes active' reloads it. Leave both off initially so a hidden scene does not discard or repeatedly restart the live caption page.
  5. 5Position and style the overlayPlace the Browser Source above the camera or programme feed in the Sources list, then transform it into the safe lower-third region. OBS renders sources higher in the list above those beneath them.
  6. 6Test scene changes liveStart a Voco service, speak through the real pulpit microphone, switch through every scene used on Sunday, and confirm the captions stay connected and readable in both Preview and Program.

Using captions for in-room screens vs livestream

You can use two separate OBS scenes or outputs: one with captions for your in-room projector feed, one without for social media livestreaming (where the broader audience may not need translation). Alternatively, run one output with captions for all viewers — many churches find international livestream viewers appreciate translated captions.

Current OBS reference

OBS Browser Source is a built-in web renderer on Windows, macOS, and official Linux packages. Its URL, viewport, visibility, refresh, custom CSS, and page-permission controls are documented by OBS; use those current labels rather than copying settings from an old screenshot.

Frequently asked questions

Which Voco plan includes OBS integration?

OBS browser source displays are included on the Voco Church plan (£12/week).

Can I show captions for multiple languages in OBS?

Yes — add a separate Browser Source for each language overlay URL. You can show different languages on different screens or stack them in your OBS scene.

Does the OBS overlay work for pre-recorded sermons?

No — Voco's translation is live (real-time). For pre-recorded content, you'd need to generate captions separately and add them as a subtitle track.

Related guides

Useful next pages

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