How to Get a YouTube Video Transcript (Free)
A video transcript turns hours of watching into seconds of scanning — for notes, blog posts, research and repurposing. The YouTube Transcript Generator pulls the full, time-stamped transcript from any YouTube video that has captions. Paste a link and you're done.
Why you'd want a transcript
Transcripts let you skim a long video, quote it accurately, study or revise from it, and repurpose talks into articles, newsletters and social posts. Search engines also love text, so publishing a cleaned-up transcript can bring in extra traffic.
How to get a YouTube transcript
- Copy the YouTube video URL. 2. Open the YouTube Transcript Generator and paste it in. 3. Click to fetch the time-coded transcript. 4. Copy the text or export it as TXT, SRT or VTT.
When a video has no captions
The tool reads captions published with the video. If captions are disabled, or the video is private or age-restricted, no transcript can be pulled — in that case, download the audio and use the Audio to Text Transcription tool, or the Video Caption Generator to transcribe from the file directly.
Try the tool from this guide
YouTube Transcript Generator
Get the transcript of any YouTube video.
Open YouTube Transcript GeneratorFrequently asked questions
How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?
Paste the video URL into the YouTube Transcript Generator and click fetch — you'll get the full transcript with timestamps to copy or export.
Why does it say no transcript is available?
The video may have captions disabled, or be private or age-restricted. Try transcribing the file directly with the Video Caption Generator instead.
Can I download subtitles, not just text?
Yes. You can export a plain-text transcript or time-synced SRT and VTT subtitle files.
Is it free?
Yes — it's free with no login required.
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