I built a free browser extension that OCRs hardcoded subtitles on YouTube. It helped me read native Chinese videos instantly.

Jojo Masala — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 11:27:56 +0000

I'm a developer learning Mandarin Chinese. I was fed up with trying to watch raw videos on YouTube, Bilibili, and streaming sites, only to realize all the subtitles were burned directly into the video frames.

Because the text wasn't selectable HTML, standard hover dictionaries like Yomitan or Zhongwen completely failed. I had to constantly pause the video, open Pleco on my phone, and draw complex Traditional characters by hand just to look up a single word. It totally killed my watching flow.

So I built YuzuLingo to solve that exact friction.

You just hover your mouse over any hardcoded subtitle or text inside a web video player. The extension runs a local OCR engine directly over the video frame and overlays instant pinyin and dictionary definitions.

For example, if I'm watching a Taiwanese drama or news clip with hardcoded Traditional Chinese captions:

I hover over the character on screen.
The extension OCRs the frame in milliseconds.
I get the definition and reading without pausing or switching apps.

It's free, no account to create, and requires no paid API keys. It works on Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Brave.

yuzulingo

If you're studying English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean through video immersion, try it out and tell me what you'd add or change. I read every comment!

DEV Community: Jojo Masala

I built a free browser extension that OCRs hardcoded subtitles on YouTube. It helped me read native Chinese videos instantly.