MediaScribeStep-by-step
How to get the transcript of a YouTube video
Here’s how to get the transcript of a YouTube video in seconds: paste the link below, read the full text with timestamps, then copy, translate or export it. Free, no sign-in.
Works on any video with captions · or add the Chrome extension for one-click transcripts on every video.
On this page
The fastest way: paste the link
The quickest route needs no install. Copy the video’s URL from the address bar (or the Share button), paste it into the box above, and the full transcript loads in seconds — every line time-coded and ready to read. There’s no account to create and no cap on how many videos you run.
This is the whole flow:
- Paste the YouTube link into the tool.
- Get the transcript — the text appears with clickable timestamps.
- Copy or export it, or translate it first.
That’s it. For the bigger picture on what a transcript is and how it’s made, see the YouTube transcript overview.
Get it inside YouTube with the extension
If you read transcripts often, copying links gets old fast. The Chrome extension opens it right next to the player on the watch page — one click on any video, no leaving YouTube. It’s the same free text, in context while you watch. For more on the in-page approach, see the YouTube transcript extractor.
YouTube’s own transcript button
YouTube has a built-in transcript too. Open a video, click the “…more” button under the title, and choose Show transcript. A panel opens on the right with the time-coded lines.
It’s handy for a quick look, but it’s built for watching, not for keeping: you can’t export it, copying more than a line or two is fiddly, and there’s no search or one-click translation. For anything you want to save, edit or reuse, the tool above is far easier.
Read it with timestamps
Every line carries the moment it was spoken. Click a timestamp and the video jumps straight there — useful for checking a quote or skipping to the part you need. You can also search the full text and land on the exact line, instead of dragging the timeline. More on this in YouTube transcript with timestamps.
Click any line and the video jumps to that exact moment.
Translate the transcript
Need it in another language? Pick a language and the whole transcript is translated in one click. Read a foreign-language video in your own language, or translate your captions so more people can follow. It runs on the captions, so translation stays free.
Copy and export
Once the text is on screen, take it with you. Copy the whole thing to the clipboard, or export it as a file:
- TXT — plain text for notes or pasting anywhere.
- Markdown — for docs and note apps like Notion or Obsidian.
- SRT and VTT — subtitle files, if you want to reuse the captions.
Each format can keep the timecodes or drop them — a clean read, or a working subtitle file. From there, the text is a great starting point for study notes or a quick AI summary.
What if there’s no transcript?
A transcript is built from captions, so a video needs a caption track to produce one. Most spoken-word videos have at least auto-generated captions, but a few come up empty:
From transcript to notes or a summary
Getting the text is often just the start. Once it’s on screen, you can paste it into an AI assistant for a summary, an outline or the key points — the model works from the exact words, because it’s text and not audio. Students turn a lecture into revision notes; creators turn a talk into a first draft. Export to Markdown and the whole thing drops into Notion, Obsidian or a doc, headings and all. It costs nothing, and it saves the slow work of typing out what you heard.
You can do all of this on a phone or tablet, too — the tool runs in any browser, so you paste a link and the text is right there, with no app to install.
Does the video’s length matter?
Not really. There’s no length limit and no queue to wait in — a three-minute clip and a three-hour podcast both load at once. Long videos are where this saves the most time: instead of scrubbing through two hours to find one point, you search the text, click the line, and you’re there. The whole thing is on the page, so you can skim the start, read the part you need, and skip the rest. For a full lecture or a long interview, that turns half an hour of hunting into a few seconds.
Want it without the timestamps?
Sometimes you just want clean prose. Toggle the timecodes off, or export to TXT or Markdown without them, and you get the words on their own — easy to paste into a document or hand to an AI tool. Switching is instant, so you can read with the times on the page, then grab a tidy, time-free copy for your notes in the same sitting. The times are there when you need them, and out of the way when you don’t.
Pull the text from your own videos
If you upload to YouTube, your own videos are a ready source of writing. Get the text from something you published and reuse it as show notes, a blog post, a description, or a batch of social posts — all from words you already recorded. Captions you wrote come back clean; even auto-captions give you a fast first draft to tidy. It’s the simplest way to turn one upload into a week of content, and it works the moment the video is live.
Getting it in the right language
By default you get the video’s original language — whatever the speaker is actually saying. A French talk gives you French text; an English lecture gives you English. If you’d rather read it in your own language, pick one from the translate menu and the whole thing switches in a click. When a video offers both a creator track and auto-captions, the original-language track is used, which is usually the cleaner of the two. If the words look off, it’s almost always because the video only has auto-captions and the audio was unclear — in that case, try a video that has proper creator subtitles, or tidy the rough lines after you export.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video for free?
Paste the link into the tool above, or install the extension. Both are free, with no sign-in and no limit on how many videos you run.
What if the video has no captions?
A transcript is built from captions. If a video has neither creator captions nor auto-generated ones, there is nothing to turn into text.
Can I get the transcript on my phone?
Yes. The tool works in any browser, so you can paste a link and read the transcript on a phone or tablet.
Does it cost anything?
No. Getting, copying and exporting the transcript is free forever, with no account required.