Get the YouTube transcript of any video that has captions: paste the link and the full transcript appears instantly, ready to copy or export as TXT, SRT or VTT. No captions? We generate an AI transcript (uses minutes), or you can upload the video file instead.
Free, no sign-up: up to 30 minutes a day (60 a month), files up to 30 minutes. Sign in with Google for 60 free minutes a month. YouTube caption transcripts don't use minutes. Privacy: your video stays on your device. Only extracted audio is sent, in short chunks, for transcription; it isn't stored and isn't used for training. Privacy policy
INPUT
Videos with captions are free and instant. No captions? We generate an AI transcript (uses minutes, up to 30 min), or upload the file instead.
Drop a video or audio file hereor click to choose · MP4, MOV, WebM, MP3, WAV, M4A · up to 30 min free
TRANSCRIPTTXT · SRT · VTT
Your transcript will appear here. Edit it, then copy or download.
A YouTube transcript is the text of everything said in a video, taken from its caption track. Creators can upload captions they wrote themselves, and YouTube generates automatic captions for many videos in common languages. This tool fetches that existing track and lays it out as a single block of text, so you can read, search or quote a video without scrubbing through it.
Instant, because nothing is transcribed
Getting a transcript this way takes seconds whatever the video length: there is no audio to process and no file to upload. That is also why it does not count against your monthly transcription minutes. The trade-off is that the transcript is only as good as the captions on YouTube. Creator-written captions are usually clean; automatic ones are marked as auto-generated and often lack punctuation.
With or without timestamps
Tick "Timestamps in TXT" to prefix each line with its start time, which is handy for citing a moment or building chapter markers. Untick it for flowing text you can paste into notes or a document. SRT and VTT downloads always keep the original caption timing.
When a video has no captions
If captions are turned off or were never created, you'll see a clear notice instead of an empty result, plus a button to upload the file. Uploads are transcribed from the audio with Deepgram nova-3 and use your free minutes. For converting whole videos or recordings to documents and subtitles in general, see YouTube video to text or the video to text converter.
How to get a YouTube transcript
Copy the video link
In YouTube, click Share and copy the link (watch, youtu.be or Shorts links all work).
Paste and get the transcript
Paste it into the box above and click Get transcript. The captions YouTube already has for the video are shown as text.
Copy or export
Edit if needed, then copy the text or download TXT, SRT or VTT.
FAQ
How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?
Paste the video link into the box above and click Get transcript. If the video has captions, the transcript appears in a few seconds and you can copy it or download TXT, SRT or VTT.
Does getting a YouTube transcript use my free minutes?
No. Reading a video's existing captions is not counted against your transcription minutes. Minutes are only used when you upload a file for AI transcription.
Why is there no transcript for some videos?
We only read captions that are already published on YouTube; we do not download videos. If a video has no captions, upload the video file (if you have the rights to it) and we'll transcribe the audio with AI.
Can I get the transcript in another language?
Choose a language in the dropdown before clicking Get transcript. If the video has a caption track in that language it is used; otherwise the available track is returned.
Is this different from YouTube's own Show transcript button?
It reads the same captions, but gives you the whole transcript as one editable block you can copy, with optional timestamps, plus SRT and VTT subtitle downloads.
Which export formats are available?
You can copy the text or download it as TXT, SRT (SubRip subtitles) or VTT (WebVTT subtitles).
How much does it cost?
Free without sign-up: up to 30 minutes a day and 60 a month, files up to 30 minutes (signed in with Google: 60 free minutes a month). A one-time 300-minute pack costs $5, and Pro costs $9/month for 800 minutes; paid files can be up to 3 hours.
What speech recognition do you use?
Uploaded audio is transcribed with Deepgram's nova-3 speech-to-text model.
Related tools & guides
YouTube video to text converterConvert a YouTube video to text: paste a link to turn its existing captions into a TXT document or SRT/VTT subtitles, or upload a video file to transcribe the audio with AI.
Spanish Video & Audio to TextConvert Spanish video and audio to text: upload MP4, MOV, MP3 or WAV and get an accurate Spanish transcript for Spain and Latin American accents, then export TXT, SRT or VTT.
French Video to Text + SRTConvert French video to text and SRT subtitles: upload a video or audio file and get a timestamped French transcript with accents kept, then export TXT, SRT or VTT.
German Video to Text + SRTConvert German video to text and SRT subtitles: upload a video or audio file and get a timestamped German transcript with umlauts and ß intact, ready to export as TXT, SRT or VTT.
Transcribe Japanese Video to Text FreeTranscribe Japanese video to text free: upload an MP4, MOV or audio file and get Japanese text in kanji and kana with timestamps, then download SRT or VTT subtitles.