How to Extract a Transcript from a YouTube Video
What Extracting a Transcript Means
Most YouTube videos carry captions, either written by the creator or generated by YouTube. The captions are stored as a separate track, one short line at a time, with the time each line appears. Extracting a transcript means reading that track and joining the lines into one block of text. The video itself is not downloaded.
YouTube's own player only shows captions as they play, and only on the regular watch page, under the description, under Show transcript. The Shorts player has no such button at all. Extracting here gives you the whole text in one place, whichever kind of video you start from.
When Extraction Gives You Nothing
A video with no speech has no captions to read. Music videos, sound-effect clips and videos made of on-screen text fall into this group. For songs, see how to get the lyrics from a YouTube video. About one in eight videos has no caption track, and music is the most common reason.
If someone is talking but there are still no captions, the workspace offers to transcribe the audio with AI. That is a Pro feature with a free trial. See how to get a transcript of a video without captions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I extract a transcript from a YouTube video?
Copy the video's link, paste it into the box above, and the transcript appears in a few seconds. Copy the full text with one tap, or download it as a file.
Do I need a YouTube account or an extension?
No. The page works in any browser on a computer or a phone, with no sign-up and no extension to install.
Why does a video show no transcript?
A transcript comes from the video's caption track. Music videos, sound-effect clips and videos with only on-screen text often have no captions, because there is no speech to caption. If someone is talking but there are still no captions, AI transcription can create one from the audio. That part is a Pro feature with a free trial.
Can I extract a transcript and translate it?
Yes. Pick a target language and read the transcript translated, or both languages side by side.
Can I extract transcripts from a whole playlist or channel at once?
This page handles one video at a time. For a batch, use the transcript API, or connect Claude or ChatGPT through MCP and ask it for several videos in one message.
Is it free?
Yes. Extracting and copying a transcript is free, with no account. Asking AI about it takes a free Google sign-in, with a few questions free every day. Only AI transcription of videos without captions needs Pro.
User Reviews
Honestly didn't expect a free tool to be this clean. Pasted a 40-min video link, got the full transcript with timestamps in seconds, copied it straight into ChatGPT for a summary. No signup, no paywall popup, no garbage ads. This is what the web used to feel like.
Used to get content for Instagram. Directly uploaded the transcription to AI tools and got the carousel copy. Which with the video would never have been possible.
I have used many transcription books on Google, all of them are websites that take money from us and provide data, but this site seems to be a convenient way to copy the original transcript in a second after pasting our URL. This is very helpful for studying and increasing our knowledge. Congratulations for providing such a service. Heartfelt thanks.
Thank you so much. What i am gonna do is my mom doesn't know English but i found so good video where every supplements are explained so i gonna translate it into russian and send her
This is one of the best tools I found online super helpful and I also may extract the text and read the videos instead of having to watch the whole thing I love it.
Simple, easy to use, extremely accurate, highly recommended. Great product.