remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

The language option is required for the multilingual model "

Error message

The language option is required for the multilingual model "${model}" because automatic language detection is not supported.

What it means

Multilingual Whisper models require an explicit language because this library does not support automatic language detection. Calling transcribe() on a multilingual model with language undefined or 'auto' throws this error.

Source

Thrown at packages/whisper-webgpu/src/transcribe.ts:118

			'repetitionPenalty must be a finite number greater than 0.',
		);
	}

	if (!Number.isInteger(noRepeatNgramSize) || noRepeatNgramSize < 0) {
		throw new TypeError('noRepeatNgramSize must be a non-negative integer.');
	}

	if (task !== 'transcribe' && task !== 'translate') {
		throw new TypeError('task must be either "transcribe" or "translate".');
	}

	const {multilingual, supportsTranslation} = getModelInfo(model);
	if (task === 'translate' && !supportsTranslation) {
		throw new Error(`The model "${model}" does not support translation.`);
	}

	if (multilingual && (language === undefined || language === 'auto')) {
		throw new Error(
			`The language option is required for the multilingual model "${model}" because automatic language detection is not supported.`,
		);
	}

	if (
		!multilingual &&
		language !== undefined &&
		language !== 'auto' &&
		language !== 'en' &&
		language !== 'english'
	) {
		throw new Error(
			`The English-only model "${model}" does not support the language "${language}".`,
		);
	}

	const output = await withLoadedWhisperPipeline({
		model,

View on GitHub (pinned to b2f4e34732)

Solutions

1. Pass an explicit language code (e.g. 'en', 'de') when using a multilingual model
2. Default the language in your config/UI instead of 'auto'
3. Or use an English-only (.en) model when only English audio is expected

Example fix

// before
await transcribe({model: 'onnx-community/whisper-base', language: 'auto'});
// after
await transcribe({model: 'onnx-community/whisper-base', language: 'en'});

const {multilingual} = getModelInfo(model);
if (multilingual && (language === undefined || language === 'auto')) throw new Error('an explicit language is required for multilingual models');

try {
  await transcribe({model, language});
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('language option is required')) {
    language = detectedLanguage ?? 'en';
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling transcribe() with a multilingual model (e.g. 'onnx-community/whisper-base') and language omitted, undefined, or set to 'auto'.

Common situations: Migrating from transformers.js or other Whisper stacks where 'auto' detection is supported; options objects with language left as an unset optional field; UI defaults of 'auto'.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Invalid whisper model ${model}. Available: ${models.join(',
• Non-semantic version provided. Only releases of Whisper.cpp
• Unknown Whisper model: ${selectedModel}
• Unknown Whisper model: ${modelName}.
• task must be transcribe or translate.

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@b2f4e34732 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ded32556d9ade78f. Report an issue: GitHub.