youtube to text, free
paste a youtube link and get the full transcript instantly. copy or download as txt, srt, or vtt.
no sign-in required · works when captions are available
3/day · 10 lifetime without sign-in. sign in free for 5/day · 25 lifetime. pro plans give you 50/day with no lifetime cap.
// how it works
paste the link
Any YouTube URL — youtube.com/watch, youtu.be, Shorts, or a raw 11-character video ID.
captions extracted
We fetch existing captions — auto-generated or manually uploaded by the creator. No audio is downloaded.
copy or download
Get plain text, or download as SRT/VTT for use in video editors and players.
// one thing to know
This tool works when a video has captions. Most popular English videos — lectures, interviews, podcasts, news — have auto-generated captions. Music videos and older content often don't.
No captions? Download the audio and use our AI transcription tool →
// who uses this
students
Transcribe lectures and tutorials for notes and revision.
content creators
Repurpose video content into blog posts or social captions.
journalists
Extract quotes from press conferences and interviews.
language learners
Read along with videos to improve comprehension and vocabulary.
// faq
Is this free?
3 extractions per day (10 lifetime) without an account. Sign in free for 5/day and 25 lifetime. Pro plans give 50/day with no lifetime cap.
Does it work on all YouTube videos?
It works on videos that have captions — either auto-generated or manually uploaded. Most popular English videos do. If a video has no captions, we show a clear message and point you to the file upload tool.
Is this against YouTube's terms of service?
No. We only fetch existing captions that YouTube already makes publicly available. We do not download audio or scrape private data.
What export formats are available?
Plain text (TXT), SubRip subtitles (SRT with timestamps), and WebVTT (VTT with timestamps). SRT and VTT work with most video editors and players.
What if the video is in another language?
We return captions in whatever language is available on the video and show all available language options in the result.