name: "cli-anything-videocaptioner"
description: >-
AI-powered video captioning — transcribe speech, optimize/translate subtitles, and burn them into video via the stable VideoCaptioner backend. Free ASR and translation included.

cli-anything-videocaptioner#

AI-powered video captioning tool. Transcribe speech → optimize subtitles → translate → burn into video.

Installation#

pip install cli-anything-videocaptioner

Prerequisites:

Python 3.10-3.12 (videocaptioner 1.4.1 requires >=3.10,<3.13)
videocaptioner must be installed (pip install videocaptioner)
FFmpeg required for video synthesis

Usage#

Basic Commands#

# Show help
cli-anything-videocaptioner --help

# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-videocaptioner

# Transcribe a video (free, no setup)
cli-anything-videocaptioner transcribe video.mp4 --asr bijian

# Translate subtitles (free Bing translator)
cli-anything-videocaptioner subtitle input.srt --translator bing --target-language en

# Full pipeline: transcribe → translate → burn subtitles
cli-anything-videocaptioner process video.mp4 --asr bijian --translator bing --target-language en --subtitle-mode hard

# Review subtitle/script consistency before a final hard-burn
cli-anything-videocaptioner synthesize video.mp4 -s subtitles.srt \
  --subtitle-mode hard \
  --review-script approved_script.txt

# Render a one-frame subtitle preview for review
cli-anything-videocaptioner review subtitles.srt \
  --script approved_script.txt \
  --preview-video video.mp4 \
  --preview-output review_5s.png

# JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-videocaptioner --json transcribe video.mp4 --asr bijian

REPL Mode#

When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:

cli-anything-videocaptioner
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history

Command Groups#

transcribe — Speech to subtitles#

transcribe <input> [--asr bijian|jianying|whisper-api|whisper-cpp] [--language CODE] [--format srt|ass|txt|json] [-o PATH]

bijian (default): Free, Chinese & English, no setup
whisper-api: All languages, requires --whisper-api-key

subtitle — Optimize and translate#

subtitle <input.srt> [--translator llm|bing|google] [--target-language CODE] [--layout target-above|source-above|target-only|source-only] [--no-optimize] [--no-translate] [-o PATH]

Three steps: Split → Optimize → Translate
Bing/Google translators are free
38 target languages supported (BCP 47 codes)

synthesize — Burn subtitles into video#

synthesize <video> -s <subtitle> [--subtitle-mode soft|hard] [--quality ultra|high|medium|low] [-o PATH] [--review-script PATH] [--max-script-diff-ratio FLOAT]

Mirrors the stable backend synthesize surface
Subtitle look is controlled by the subtitle asset/backend version, not extra harness flags
--review-script checks subtitle/script drift before the final export
Lower --max-script-diff-ratio when copy accuracy matters more than resilience

process — Full pipeline#

process <input> [--asr ...] [--translator ...] [--target-language ...] [--subtitle-mode ...] [--layout ...] [--no-optimize] [--no-translate] [--no-synthesize] [-o PATH]

review — Consistency check and preview#

review <input.srt|input.ass> [--script PATH] [--max-diff-ratio FLOAT] [--preview-video PATH] [--preview-at TC] [--preview-output PATH]

Detects subtitle/script drift before a hard-burn
Can render a single review frame instead of producing a full final video

styles — List style presets#

styles

Reports whether the installed backend exposes preset styling support

config — Manage settings#

config show
config set <key> <value>

download — Download online video#

download <URL> [-o DIR]

JSON Output#

All commands support --json for machine-readable output:

cli-anything-videocaptioner --json transcribe video.mp4 --asr bijian
# {"output_path": "/path/to/output.srt"}

Backend Notes#

The upstream backend currently requires Python >=3.10,<3.13; prefer Python 3.12 for matrix runs.
Advanced synthesize-time style flags are backend-version dependent. Use styles to check whether the installed backend exposes them.
Compatibility flags such as layout, render_mode, style, style_override, and font_file should be treated as non-stable unless styles and the installed backend confirm they are supported.

Target Languages#

BCP 47 codes: zh-Hans zh-Hant en ja ko fr de es ru pt it ar th vi id and 23 more.