Transcripts

How to Transcribe a YouTube Video

By YoutubeToTextUpdated

To transcribe a YouTube video, paste its link into an AI transcription tool. A few minutes later you have everything that is said as text, with punctuation and a label for each speaker. If you only want to read along while you watch, YouTube's own transcript panel is free and already there.

Can AI transcribe a YouTube video? Yes. YoutubeToText listens to the audio instead of reading YouTube's captions, so a video without captions gets a transcript too.

Three ways to transcribe a YouTube video

  1. YouTube's transcript panel. Free and instant, but only when the video has captions. You cannot download it, and automatic captions come without punctuation or speaker names. Our guide on getting the built-in transcript shows where to find it on desktop and on your phone.
  2. An AI transcription tool. Paste the link and get the full text in minutes, with punctuation, speaker labels and timestamps, ready to copy or download. It also works without captions and in other languages.
  3. Typing it yourself. Free, but slow: you pause, type and rewind for every sentence. Only worth it for a short clip.

Step by step with YoutubeToText

  1. Copy the link from the address bar or the Share button.
  2. Paste it into the box on our homepage.
  3. Sign in, or create an account. A new account gets its first 10 minutes free.
  4. Wait a few minutes. The text arrives with punctuation, a label for each speaker and a timestamp on every paragraph.
  5. Copy it in one go, or download it as TXT, DOCX, SRT or WebVTT. Leave the speaker names and timestamps out when you want plain text for a document.

From there you can rename a speaker once and see it change everywhere, keep every filler word or let AI remove them, get a summary, or translate it into 90+ languages. Videos up to 12 hours come back as one transcript (see how to transcribe a long video).

How accurate is it? Above 95% on our own benchmark. The accuracy page shows how we measure it and on which audio.

Which way should you use?

  • To read along or find a moment: YouTube's transcript panel.
  • For text you keep, quote or turn into notes, an article or subtitles: an AI transcription tool. The same goes for a video without captions, or one with several speakers.
  • For a short clip you need once: type it yourself.

FAQ

Questions.
Answered.

Can't find what you're looking for?
Contact us.

YouTube's transcript panel is free when the video has captions. With us, a new account gets its first 10 minutes free, once. After that, you choose a plan or a credit pack on the pricing page.
Not on YouTube itself: without captions there is no transcript panel. A tool that transcribes the audio does not need the captions, so it works here too.
Captions are short lines that appear on screen in time with the speech. A transcript is the whole text, to read on its own. They hold the same words, so one transcript gives you both: download it as TXT or DOCX to read, or as SRT or WebVTT for subtitles.
Yes. The transcript comes out in the language that is spoken. You can then translate it into 90+ languages.