Pinyin Subtitles for Bilibili by Henrique Gorni

What it does

Bilibili videos often come with Chinese subtitles. This add-on shows the pinyin reading above each character, right over the video player, so you can follow the pronunciation while you watch.

How it works

When you open a video, the add-on looks for a Chinese subtitle track. If the video has one, the pinyin is worked out on
browser. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.

You can always see what a video offers: the add-on's panel lists the subtitle tracks found for that video, and tells you whether a Chinese one is among them.

Two ways to reach the settings

There is a small button in the top-right corner of the video. It behaves like the player's own controls: on a computer it appears when you move the mouse over the video and fades away again after a few seconds of stillness; on a phone or tablet it appears when you tap the screen and fades the same way. While the settings panel is open it stays put. This is what makes the settings reachable in fullscreen, where the browser toolbar is not.

The same settings are also in the toolbar extension's popup.

Optional translation line

Many Bilibili videos also carry machine translations - Portuguese, English, Spanish, Japanese and others. When the video you are watching has one, you can choose it and it appears as a smaller second line below the Chinese. Only the languages that video actually has are offered.

How to use it

1. Sign in to Bilibili and open any video.
2. Move the mouse over the video (or tap it on a phone) and click the button in
   the corner.
3. Turn pinyin, the original characters, or the translation on and off, and adjust the text size, background opacity, and how high it sits above the bottom of the video.

Changes apply straight away. No need to reload the page.

Limitations, in plain terms

• You need to be signed in to Bilibili. Subtitle tracks are not available to signed-out visitors, and the panel will say so.
• It only works on videos that actually have a Chinese subtitle track. Not every video does, and the add-on cannot create one. When a video has none, the panel says exactly that instead of just showing nothing.
• The text comes from Bilibili, including their automatically generated subtitles. Any mistake in the original will appear in the pinyin too.
• A few Chinese characters are pronounced differently depending on context. The reading is chosen from the surrounding words, which is right in the large majority of cases, but not in every one.