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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 6 tries per hour without an account, and a video that fails counts as a try.

How to use this tool

  1. 1

    Copy a YouTube video URL from your browser address bar.

  2. 2

    Paste it into the box below and click Get Transcript.

  3. 3

    The full transcript appears below; copy it or download it.

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.

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

Frequently asked

Does this work on every YouTube video?
It works on most videos with captions, uploaded by the creator or auto-generated by YouTube. Videos with captions turned off won't work, and neither will some that our caption service can't reach, such as videos blocked in its country.
What languages are supported?
English first, from captions uploaded by the creator or auto-generated by YouTube. When a video has no English captions but has them in another language, you get the transcript in that language instead, labelled with its name. Fetching it takes a second try.
Why is there a 6-per-hour limit?
Each try is a paid call to a caption service, even when the video turns out to have no captions, so we limit it to keep the tool free for everyone. Sign up for unlimited transcripts.
Will the transcript include timestamps?
We return clean text without timestamps for easier copying. Sign up to access timestamped exports.
Is the video stored anywhere?
No. We fetch the captions on demand and return them. Nothing is stored on our servers.

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