Dubbing pass: a new performance over old frames
A dubbing pass is the stage where a new performance is laid over footage that already exists. It is why lip-sync repair is a product at all, and one entry argues it can be skipped entirely. As of 2026-09-12.
| Arrangement | When the language is chosen | What has to be repaired |
|---|---|---|
| Dub after delivery | After the footage is finished | Mouths made for other words |
| Generate in-language | Before the shot is rendered | Nothing is laid over anything |
| Translate the video | After a master is approved | Handled by the same vendor, as one step |
Inclusion rule. The documented arrangements for reaching another language with a spoken performance, across the entries read for this register. Order. Fixed order: dubbing, generating, then translating.
1The repair exists because two things were made separately
Words recorded after the fact do not have the length or the shape of the words the mouths were made for. Everything in the lip-sync column is, ultimately, about closing that gap, and the gap is created by the order of the work.
So a vendor that changes the order can claim the gap away. If the line is performed in the delivery language while the shot renders, nothing is laid over anything and there is nothing to fix.
2Translating a finished video is a third position
One platform documents translation into thirty or more languages with cloning and lip-sync named together. That keeps one master and one performance and moves the repair inside the vendor's own pipeline, which is convenient and concentrates the risk.
A flaw in the master reaches every market at once. That is the trade against generating each language separately, which spreads both the work and the risk.
3Removing a stage also removes a remedy
A pipeline with a dubbing pass can fix a line without touching the picture. A pipeline that generated words and frames together cannot, because a line change is a regeneration.
For a series that makes script lock a harder deadline than usual. The absence of a repair stage removes a class of problem at the start and a class of remedy at the end.
4Sources read for this entry
This page defines the term and logs what each vendor documents about it, each figure read on 2026-09-12. Related: Timbre, Digital replica.