Any Video to Text

How to get the transcriptof a YouTube video.

The fastest way: paste the video's link in the box below and press Get transcript. Or use YouTube's own transcript panel, explained step by step underneath.

Have the file?

Free 5 a day · up to 30 minNo sign-upCaptions or AI speech-to-textTXT · SRT · VTT

What you get back

A real result: 18:15 of speech, read from the video's captions.

President Kennedy's Speech at Rice University

NASA Video

From captions18:15EN
But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal?
And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain?
Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?
Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but because they are hard,
because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills,
because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept,
one we are unwilling to postpone,
and one we intend to win, and the others, too.
Timestamps onCopy textTXTSRTVTT

President Kennedy's Speech at Rice University, 1962. Public domain, from NASA's YouTube upload.

How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?

On a computer, open the video, click …more under the title, then Show transcript: the text opens beside the video. To copy or download it in one go, paste the video's link into the box on this page instead. You get clean text with timestamps, as TXT, SRT or VTT, free and without sign-up.

PriceFree: 5 a day, no sign-up. Credits (no subscription): $5 for 200, $15 for 1,000, $39 for 5,000.
Works withYouTube video links (also TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X)
LengthUp to 30 minutes free for videos without captions, up to 2 hours with credits
HowThe video's own captions when it has them, otherwise Whisper speech-to-text
LanguagesAbout 100, detected automatically
ExportCopy, TXT, SRT or VTT, with or without timestamps
Sign-upNot needed. Google sign-in only to buy credits

How it works

  1. Copy the video's link

    From the address bar, the Share button, or a youtu.be or Shorts link.

  2. Paste it above

    We read the video's captions, or transcribe the audio with AI when it has none.

  3. Copy or download

    Clean paragraphs to copy, with or without timestamps, or TXT, SRT and VTT files.

President Kennedy speaking at a podium at Rice University stadium, 196218:15
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZyRbnpGyzQCopied
The link is all we need. Nothing is downloaded to your device.
rice-speech.vttSubtitles
WEBVTT

00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:06.000
We choose to go to the moon.

00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:18.000
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things,

00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:22.000
not because they are easy, but because they are hard,
The same transcript as a VTT subtitle file (SRT too), ready for a video editor or YouTube.

1. On a computer: YouTube's Show transcript

  1. Open the video on youtube.com.
  2. Under the title, click …more to open the description.
  3. Scroll to the end of the description and click Show transcript. The transcript opens next to the video.
  4. To hide the times, click the three dots at the top of the transcript panel and choose Toggle timestamps. Then select the text and copy it.

The button only appears when the video has captions, and the copied text comes out as many short lines.

2. On a phone: the YouTube app

Tap the video's description, scroll down and tap Show transcript. You can read along and tap a line to jump to it, but the app doesn't let you copy or download the transcript.

3. Any video, copied in one click: paste the link here

Paste the link into the box at the top of this page. You get the whole transcript as clean paragraphs, ready to copy into notes, a document or ChatGPT, and you can download it as TXT, or as SRT and VTT subtitles. It also works when YouTube shows no transcript: the audio is transcribed by AI instead. More on the YouTube to transcript page.

4. A whole channel or playlist of videos

To get the transcripts of many videos, use the bulk tool: paste up to 50 links or a channel link, and download every transcript as TXT, CSV or JSON.

Why is there no Show transcript button?

YouTube only shows it when the video has captions, either added by the creator or made automatically. Very new videos, music-only videos and some languages often have none. Pasting the link here still works, because we transcribe the audio when there are no captions.

Summary

President Kennedy speaks at Rice University to justify the U.S. space program, framing space exploration as the next frontier in human progress. He announces the goal of reaching the moon before the decade ends, not because it is easy but because it is hard.

Key points

  • He condenses 50,000 years of human history into a half-century to show how fast progress has accelerated.
  • Space exploration will go ahead whether America joins or not, and no leading nation can stay behind.
  • We choose to go to the moon in this decade not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
  • Houston will become the heart of a large scientific community; he defends the space budget.
Summarize turns the same 18 minutes into this, with timestamps.

Questions

Still stuck? Email us.

Can I download a YouTube transcript?

Not from YouTube itself. Paste the video's link on this page and download the transcript as TXT, or as SRT and VTT subtitle files.

How do I get a YouTube transcript without timestamps?

On YouTube, choose Toggle timestamps in the transcript panel's menu. Here, switch Timestamps off above the transcript before you copy or download it.

Can I get the transcript of a YouTube Short?

Yes. Paste the Shorts link here as it is. See also the YouTube Shorts transcript page.

Is it really free?

Yes. You get 5 free transcripts a day with no account and no watermark. If you need more, credits start at $5 for 200 transcripts, with no daily limit, videos up to 2 hours and a bulk tool for lists and whole channels. No subscription.

How accurate is the transcript?

When the video has captions we use them as they are, which is the most accurate option. When it doesn't, the audio is transcribed by AI speech recognition (Whisper), which handles accents, fast talk and background music well. Names and slang can still need a quick check.

Which languages work?

Speech-to-text works in about 100 languages and detects the language for you. Captions come in whatever language the creator or platform added.

Can I get timestamps or subtitles?

Yes. Turn on Timestamps to see the time of each line, or download the transcript as an SRT or VTT subtitle file for video editors and YouTube.

Do you store my videos?

No. We never download or keep the video. We keep the text transcript of public videos for 30 days so the next person who asks for the same video gets it instantly. Files you upload never leave your device: only their audio track is sent for transcription, and neither the audio nor the transcript is kept.

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