Free YouTube transcript tool
YouTube Transcript Generator
Get the transcript
Start from a video link, or bring captions you already have.
Watch links, youtu.be links, and Shorts all work.
Output
Your transcript appears here
Choose a format below — plain paragraphs for reading, timestamped lines for reference, SRT or VTT for a video editor.
Paste a YouTube link on the left, or bring your own caption file, and the cleaned-up transcript lands here ready to copy or download.
Turn a YouTube video’s captions into a clean, readable transcript. Paste a link or bring your own caption file, then export it as plain text, timestamped lines, SRT, or WebVTT.
Captions are broken text. Transcripts are readable
Raw YouTube captions break every three or four words, carry no punctuation you can rely on, and are painful to read as a document. This tool joins those fragments back into paragraphs, keeps the timings where you want them, and hands you the result in the format you actually need.
That matters for repurposing: a transcript is the fastest route from a video to a blog post, show notes, a summary, subtitles for another platform, or the quotes you need for social. It is also how you make video content readable by search engines and by people who cannot use audio.
Four output formats
04 items
Plain text
01
Caption fragments merged into readable paragraphs — ready for an article.
Timestamped
02
One line per cue with a clickable-style timecode for referencing moments.
SRT
03
Standard subtitle file for video editors and every major platform.
WebVTT
04
The web standard for HTML5 <track> subtitles.
From video to usable text
Two routes in, one formatter — whichever way the captions arrive, the output is the same.
Paste the video link
Watch links, youtu.be links, and Shorts all resolve. The tool finds every caption language the video carries.
Or bring your own captions
Upload an .srt or .vtt, or paste the text straight out of YouTube’s transcript panel.
Choose a format and export
Paragraphs, timestamps, SRT, or VTT — copy it or download the file.
A transcript tool that handles the messy parts
Caption text is rarely clean. These are the parts that usually cost you an hour.
01
Paragraph rebuilding
Merges three-word caption fragments into paragraphs that break on sentence ends.
02
Every caption language
Lists all tracks the video carries, manual and auto-generated, and switches between them.
03
Timestamps kept
Keep the timecodes for reference, or drop them entirely for prose.
04
SRT and VTT export
Correct cue numbering and stamp formats, so the file loads in an editor without fixing.
05
Copy or download
Straight to the clipboard, or saved as a file named after the video.
06
Word count and read time
Know how long the piece runs before you start editing it.
Transcript questions
How the captions are sourced, and what to do when YouTube will not release them.
Why does it sometimes ask me to paste the captions myself?
YouTube releases the list of caption tracks freely, but it gates the actual caption text behind a per-session token that automated requests do not carry. When that happens the tool says so, and you can open the video, click the three dots under it, choose "Show transcript", copy the panel, and paste it in. The formatting, timestamps, and downloads all work exactly the same on pasted text.
How do I get a transcript from YouTube directly?
On a desktop browser, open the video, click the "..." button below it (or expand the description), and choose "Show transcript". A panel opens on the right with the full timed transcript. Select it, copy it, and paste it into the panel here to clean it up and export it.
Can I get a transcript for a video with no captions?
No. This tool works from the captions a video already has — either YouTube’s own auto-generated track or one the creator uploaded. If a video has neither, there is no text to fetch, and you would need speech-to-text software running against the audio instead.
What is the difference between SRT and VTT?
Both are subtitle files. SRT is the older, simpler format, numbers each cue, and uses a comma before the milliseconds. WebVTT is the web standard used by HTML5 video, starts with a WEBVTT header, uses a period before the milliseconds, and supports styling and positioning. Most editors accept both.
Are auto-generated captions accurate enough to publish?
Not without editing. Auto captions typically run 90–95% accurate on clear speech and considerably worse with accents, jargon, names, or background noise, and they carry little punctuation. Always read the transcript through before publishing it as an article or as subtitles.
Is anything I paste stored?
No. Pasted and uploaded captions are parsed in your browser and never sent to a server. Video links are passed to a server route only so it can ask YouTube for that video’s caption list.
Still have questions? Contact support
Ready to go further?
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