---
title: "Zoom translation, both ways, no bot | VoxisLive"
description: "Translate a Zoom call in both directions on Windows. Nothing joins the meeting. Which Zoom menu to set, what a virtual microphone is for."
url: https://voxislive.com/use-cases/zoom-translation
language: "en"
source_html: https://voxislive.com/use-cases/zoom-translation
site: "Voxis — real-time voice translation"
og_image: https://voxislive.com/assets/og.png
generated_by: voxislive-markdown-pipeline
---

[Home](https://voxislive.com/) · / · [Use cases](https://voxislive.com/use-cases/) · / · Zoom translation

ZOOM TRANSLATION

# Translating a Zoom call, in both directions, without adding anyone to it

VoxisLive runs next to Zoom instead of inside it: it reads the audio your computer is already playing, speaks it back to you in your language, and — if you set up a virtual microphone — sends your own words into the call in theirs. Nothing joins the meeting.

This page is the Zoom-specific version of [Meeting mode](https://voxislive.com/use-cases/meetings). The mechanism is the same for every conferencing app; what differs between them is which menu you pick the microphone and the speaker from, and Zoom's menus are the ones described here.

## What actually happens during the call

Meeting mode runs **two independent translation sessions** at the same time, one per direction. They do not share a connection and neither one waits for the other.

- **Incoming** — the audio Zoom is playing through your sound device is captured, translated, and spoken back to you in the language you picked. This is the half that works with no extra setup.
- **Outgoing** — your microphone is translated and the translated voice is played into a virtual microphone, which you then select inside Zoom as your mic. This is the half that needs one free driver installed first.

Both directions run a few seconds behind the speaker, the way a simultaneous interpreter does. That span is part of interpreting, not a setting you can turn down.

## Nothing joins the meeting

VoxisLive does not connect to Zoom. It captures at the **operating-system audio layer** — the same place your speakers read from — so the application producing the sound is irrelevant to it. A Zoom call, a Zoom webinar you are only listening to, or a Zoom window inside a browser are all just audio as far as the capture is concerned.

Practically, that means three things Zoom users usually ask about:

- **No participant is added.** There is no bot, no second attendee for the host to admit, and nothing in the participant list.
- **No calendar access is requested.** VoxisLive never asks to connect your Google or Outlook calendar, because it does not need to know that a meeting exists — you start it yourself, when you want it.
- **No Zoom account link, no app install inside Zoom.** Nothing is added to your Zoom account or your organisation's app marketplace.

If your workplace blocks third-party meeting bots, that policy is not what you are working around here — there is no bot to approve in the first place.

## Incoming: hearing the other side

In Meeting mode the capture is pinned to the **driverless path**. It reads the system mix while excluding VoxisLive's own process, which is what keeps the translated voice out of the capture — otherwise the app would hear its own output and translate the translation. That exclusion is not a setting; it is how the meeting capture is built, and it is why Meeting mode does not offer the other capture routes some users know from Video mode.

Because the incoming direction reads your sound output, it does not depend on your microphone at all. If the microphone half fails for any reason, you still hear the other side.

## Outgoing: being heard in their language

For the other participants to hear you in their own language, the translated voice has to reach Zoom somehow — and Windows only lets an application send audio into a call through a microphone device. So you need a **virtual microphone**: a free driver (VB-CABLE is the usual one) that presents itself to Windows as a normal input device while actually playing back whatever another app feeds into it.

VoxisLive plays your translated speech into that virtual device; Zoom listens to it as if it were a headset. Without a virtual microphone installed, **Meeting mode runs listen-only**: you keep hearing the other side in your language, and they keep hearing your original voice. Nothing breaks, one direction is simply missing.

## Setting it up in Zoom

Zoom keeps its audio devices in one place. Open **Settings** (the gear icon in the top right of the Zoom window), then **Audio**. During a call you can reach the same two dropdowns faster with the small **arrow next to the Mute / Unmute button** at the bottom left.

1. In Zoom, set **Speaker** to your headphones. Not the virtual cable — see the warning below.
2. In Zoom, set **Microphone** to the virtual cable's input device, if you want the outgoing direction. Leave it on your real microphone if you are happy with listen-only.
3. In VoxisLive, pick the **Meeting** scenario and select your real microphone as its input — that is the voice it translates.
4. Set the two languages: the one you want to hear, and the one the other side should hear.
5. Start the session, then join the Zoom call as you normally would.

The order matters slightly: install the virtual cable before starting Zoom, or Zoom's device list will not show it until you restart the app. Zoom also remembers devices per profile, so it is worth checking the dropdowns once after any Windows update that reshuffles audio devices.

**Meeting minutes are paid minutes.** The free tier does not cover Meeting mode — the daily free allowance applies to the one-way listening modes only. Every minute of a translated meeting, in either direction, is billed against a paid balance. Check [pricing](https://voxislive.com/pricing) before you schedule a long call, so a meeting does not end mid-sentence.

## Headphones, and the one cable mistake that creates a third voice

**Use headphones.** If the meeting audio and your translated voice play out of open speakers, your real microphone picks them up and sends them back into the call. On Zoom this is the familiar echo problem, made worse by the fact that there are now two voices in the room instead of one.

The more confusing failure is a routing one. If you set Zoom's **Speaker** to the same virtual cable that VoxisLive is feeding your translated voice into, that cable becomes both the way sound leaves Zoom and the way sound enters it. The call audio and the translated voice circle back into the meeting, and participants hear what sounds like a third person on the line, half a beat behind everyone else.

- The virtual cable belongs in **one** Zoom dropdown only: **Microphone**.
- Zoom's **Speaker** should always be a real output device — your headphones.
- If you hear yourself, or the other side reports an extra voice, check those two dropdowns before anything else.

## What this is not

- It is not a Zoom integration. It does not read the participant list, the chat, the meeting title or the recording, and it has no knowledge of the call beyond the sound it produces.
- It does not remove interpreting delay. Both directions run a few seconds behind live speech.
- It does not make the outgoing voice sound like you — the other side hears a synthetic voice speaking your words.
- It is not free to use for meetings. See the note above.
- It does not replace a human interpreter where one is legally or contractually required.

## Where to go next

The same setup covers [Microsoft Teams](https://voxislive.com/use-cases/teams-translation) and [Google Meet](https://voxislive.com/use-cases/google-meet-translation), with their own device menus. For the general explanation of two-way meeting translation, start at the [meetings hub](https://voxislive.com/use-cases/meetings). If a device is not showing up, or you are not sure which output Windows is actually using, work through the [audio setup checklist](https://voxislive.com/docs/audio-setup-checklist) — most Meeting-mode problems turn out to be one dropdown pointing at the wrong device. Known problems and their fixes live in [troubleshooting](https://voxislive.com/troubleshooting).

FAQ

## Common questions

### Will other people in the Zoom call know I am using this?

Nothing joins the meeting, so nothing appears in the participant list and no platform notification fires. What they can notice is the outgoing direction itself: if you enable it, they hear a synthetic voice speaking your words a few seconds after you speak, instead of your own voice. That is audible by design.

### Do I have to install a virtual microphone?

Only for the outgoing direction. Hearing the other side in your language works with no extra driver. Without a virtual microphone, Meeting mode runs listen-only — you are translated to, but not translated for.

### Can I use my free daily minutes for a Zoom meeting?

No. The free tier does not cover Meeting mode. Meetings run on a paid balance, and both directions are part of the same session.

### Which Zoom settings do I actually change?

Two dropdowns, both under Settings › Audio (or the arrow next to the Mute button during a call). Speaker stays on your headphones. Microphone becomes the virtual cable if you want the outgoing direction; otherwise leave it on your real microphone.

### The other participants say there is an extra voice echoing in the call. What is wrong?

Almost always Zoom's Speaker is pointed at the virtual cable. Then the cable carries sound in both directions and the call feeds itself. Set Speaker back to your headphones and leave the cable in the Microphone slot only.

### Does it work with Zoom in a browser, or only the desktop app?

Capture happens at the operating-system audio layer, so the application producing the sound does not matter — a browser tab is captured the same way the desktop app is. The outgoing direction still depends on being able to select the virtual microphone wherever the call is running.


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