YouTube to SRT for video editors

To get an SRT file from a YouTube video, paste the link below, wait for the transcript, then select Download with SRT already chosen. The file has numbered cues with start and end times, ready to import into a video editor. Captions are used first; videos without captions fall back to AI transcription.

How to download a YouTube video as SRT in 3 steps

Paste the YouTube link above and choose Get transcript.
When the transcript appears, keep SRT — subtitles selected and choose Download.
Import the .srt file into your editor and check the timing against the video.

Example output

The first chunk of a real transcript from the public library: Moravec's Paradox - Why are machines so smart, yet so dumb? (Up and Atom). The text is shown exactly as stored, including recognition errors.

1
00:00:00,030 --> 00:00:29,780
this episode was made possible by Robo race the world's first driverless racing series hi everyone jto have you ever wondered why it's so easy for machines to do things we find really hard hey Siri what's the square root of five thousand six hundred and ninety seven this square root of five thousand six hundred and ninety seven is approximately seventy five point four seven eight five but so hard to do

Import the SRT into Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or CapCut

Menu names below are from current versions and can differ in yours.

Premiere Pro: choose File → Import, select the .srt file, then drag it from the Project panel onto the timeline. It becomes a captions track you can restyle.
DaVinci Resolve: choose File → Import → Subtitle, select the .srt file, then drag it from the Media Pool onto the timeline.
CapCut (desktop): look for the option to import a captions or subtitle file in the captions/text area. Availability depends on the app version.

Long cues. Each SRT cue is one transcript chunk, which is often 20–30 seconds of speech (the example above is 29.75 s). For on-screen reading, split long cues in your editor before export.

Timing is off after trimming. The times match the original YouTube video. If your edit removes the first seconds, select all caption clips and move them together by the same amount.

Need VTT or a format overview? See the YouTube subtitle downloader.

Limits you should know

Cues follow transcript chunks, not reading-speed rules, so they are usually longer than broadcast subtitles.
There is no caption-language selector and no translation; the SRT is in the language of the captions or audio.
Empty and zero-length cues are left out rather than given invented timing.
Without an account you get 10 transcripts per 24 hours (up to 5 of them AI-transcribed); a free account gets 24. Pro raises this to 1,000 a day under fair use.
Private, removed and region-restricted videos cannot be processed. Audio transcription is not available for live streams in progress, or for videos longer than 30 minutes on the free plan and 2 hours on Pro.

FAQ

Is the SRT download free?

Yes. Guests get 10 transcripts per 24 hours and a free account gets 24. Free transcripts are published publicly; Pro keeps them private.

Why are the subtitle cues so long?

Each cue is one transcript chunk, often 20–30 seconds. Split them in your editor, which can also enforce line length and reading speed.

Can I choose the subtitle language?

No. The web tool uses the available captions, or the spoken language when the audio is transcribed. It does not translate.

Can I get VTT instead?

Yes. Choose VTT in the format menu, use the YouTube to VTT page, or convert the file with SRT to VTT.

How is this different from the subtitle downloader?

The file is the same. The subtitle downloader compares all formats; this page covers using SRT in video editors.

By Kenji Saito · Updated 2026-10-13