Free YouTube Transcript Downloader
Paste any YouTube URL to get the full transcript. Copy the text or download it as a .txt file. Limited to 10 transcripts per hour without an account.
How to use this tool
Copy a YouTube video URL from your browser address bar.
Paste it into the box below and click Get Transcript.
The full transcript appears below; copy it or download it.
When you'd use this
- Studying lectures or interviews you want to read instead of re-watch
- Pulling quotes from a long video for a paper or article
- Translating a video by copying the transcript into a translator
- Skimming a tutorial to find a specific step
Why this tool exists
YouTube hosts an enormous library of educational content (lectures, tutorials, conference talks, interviews) and a written transcript turns any of it into a much more useful resource. You can search the transcript for the exact moment a concept is introduced, copy a quote into a paper, or translate the whole thing in seconds. Re-watching a 90-minute video to find a 30-second answer is a waste; reading the transcript with Find-in-Page takes one minute.
This tool pulls the captions YouTube already has available, either uploaded by the creator or auto-generated. Auto-generated captions are surprisingly accurate for clear English speech and good enough for skimming and quoting. Creator-uploaded captions are typically perfect since a human has reviewed them.
We return clean text without timestamps because that's what most students and writers want. If you need timestamped exports for video editing or accessibility work, those are part of the paid plan.