How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?
Copy the video's link, paste it into the box above and press Get Transcript. The text appears below the video thumbnail, and you can copy it or download it as a .txt file.
Paste a YouTube link and get the video's transcript as plain text, next to its thumbnail. Copy it, turn timestamps on, or download it as a .txt file. It's free and there's no sign-up.
Normal watch links, youtu.be short links and YouTube Shorts links all work. You can also paste the 11-character video ID on its own.
Most people want to skim a long video without watching all of it, pull out a quote, or keep notes from a lecture or tutorial. Creators use transcripts to write blog posts and show notes from their own videos, and to check captions for mistakes. Researchers and students search the text for the moment a topic comes up.
A transcript only exists when the video has captions. If the creator switched them off, or YouTube hasn't generated automatic ones yet (this often happens right after an upload), you'll see an error instead of text. Private, deleted and region-locked videos don't work either.
The thumbnail shown with each transcript is a preview. For the full-size file in HD, SD, HQ and other sizes, paste the same link into the YouTube Thumbnail Downloader.
Copy the video's link, paste it into the box above and press Get Transcript. The text appears below the video thumbnail, and you can copy it or download it as a .txt file.
No. The transcript comes from the captions YouTube already has for the video, either uploaded by the creator or generated automatically. If a video has no captions, there's nothing to show, and this tool doesn't turn audio into text on its own.
Yes. Switch Timestamps to ON and every line gets the time it starts. The Copy and Download buttons follow whichever mode is active.
The usual reasons are that captions are turned off, the video is private, deleted or restricted in some regions, or YouTube is limiting requests for a few minutes. Try again later or test another video.
It starts in the video's own caption language, which is usually the language it was spoken in. A Language list above the text lets you switch to another language.
Yes. Pick a language from the list after the transcript loads. If the creator uploaded captions in that language you get those. Otherwise the text is translated automatically, so the wording can be rough, especially when the original captions were auto-generated. Very long videos may be too long to translate.
A transcript is the creator's words, so it stays their copyright. It's fine for reading, notes, research and accessibility. Ask for permission before you republish it or sell it.