Get the transcript of a YouTube video
Paste a YouTube link and get the video’s transcript, with or without timestamps. Read it as paragraphs, search it, and download it as text, Markdown or subtitles.
- Free, no sign-up
- Updated
Any video with captions, in any language. Several links? One per line.
Keyboard
- /
- Search the transcript; Enter for the next match
- T P
- Timestamps, paragraphs on or off
- C D
- Copy, or download in the last format you used
- J K
- Next or previous transcript in a batch
- L
- Back to the link box
How do I get a YouTube video’s transcript?
Paste the video’s link above and press Enter. The tool reads the video’s captions and shows them as a transcript. You can search, copy and download it. It works with any video that has captions, including automatic ones, in any language.
- Copy the link from the address bar or the Share button. Watch pages, youtu.be links, Shorts, embeds and links with a start time all work.
- Choose how to read it: with or without timestamps, in paragraphs or one caption line at a time. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment.
- Copy it, or download it. The tool remembers your format for next time.
Which format should I download?
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| TXT | Reading, quoting and pasting into notes or an AI chat. Follows your timestamp and paragraph choices. |
| Markdown | Notes apps like Obsidian. Has the title and channel, and each timestamp links back to that moment in the video. |
| SRT | Subtitles for video editors and players. Keeps every caption’s timing. |
| VTT | Subtitles on the web (the HTML video element) and in most players. |
| JSON | Scripts and data work. Each caption’s start, duration and text, in seconds. |
What if YouTube won’t share the captions?
YouTube sometimes refuses requests from servers, ours included. You can still get the same text in a few seconds. Open the video on YouTube and click …more under it. Click Show transcript, copy the lines from the panel and paste them here on the Paste a transcript tab. The tool tidies up the timestamps and line breaks. If you have a subtitle file (.srt or .vtt), drop it on the Subtitle file tab. Both run entirely in your browser.
What do paragraphs do?
Captions come in short pieces of a few words, timed to the speech. Paragraphs join them into readable blocks. A block ends after a full sentence once it is long enough. If the captions have no punctuation, as automatic ones usually do not, a block ends at a pause in the talk. Each paragraph keeps the time it starts at.
Questions
How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?
Paste the video’s link into the box above and press Enter. The transcript appears with timestamps you can turn off, in paragraphs or line by line. Copy it, or download it as TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT or JSON.
Can I get a transcript for a video with no captions?
No. This tool reads the captions YouTube already has, made by the creator or by YouTube’s automatic captions. It does not listen to the audio, so a video without captions has no transcript to read.
Why does it say YouTube didn’t let our server read the captions?
YouTube limits automated requests, and sometimes it refuses ours. When that happens, open the video on YouTube, click …more under it, then Show transcript. Copy the text from the panel and paste it here. Or upload a subtitle file. Both work entirely in your browser.
How does it get the transcript, and is that allowed?
Our server asks YouTube for the video’s public caption track: the same text the CC button shows. It never downloads the video or the audio. It keeps each transcript for a day, so a video is asked for once. Plainly put, YouTube’s terms do not allow automated access like this, so we keep it to the minimum. The paste and file options do not touch YouTube at all.
Which languages can I get?
Every caption track the video has, including automatic captions. Pick one from the language menu above the transcript. We do not translate captions ourselves.
Is it free, and is there a limit?
It is free, with no sign-up. To keep YouTube from blocking the tool for everyone, one person can fetch about 20 videos a minute. Pasted transcripts and subtitle files have no limit.
How do I add a YouTube video to Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)?
Gemini Notebook can add a YouTube video by its link if the video has captions. To edit the text first, or to add a video it will not take, download the transcript here and add it as a source. Kortex, our Chrome extension, imports YouTube videos into the notebook you pick in one click.
More free tools
- SRT to Text Turn .srt and .vtt subtitles into clean, readable paragraphs.
- Webpage to Markdown Turn any article or page into clean Markdown for notes and AI.
- Merge PDF Join PDFs into one file. Reorder and rotate pages in your browser.
- Split PDF Split a PDF by page, range or size. Or pull out the pages you need.
- PDF to Text Get clean text or Markdown out of any PDF, page by page.
Send it to your notebook in one click.
Kortex sends web pages, highlights, posts, YouTube videos and AI chats into the Gemini Notebook you pick. Bulk import also takes your open tabs, CSV files and RSS feeds (lists of a site’s new posts).
No card needed.