Convert a YouTube video to text
To convert a YouTube video to text, paste its link below and choose Get transcript. TubeTranscript reads the captions, or transcribes the audio when there are none, and shows clean text without timestamps. Select Copy text to paste it anywhere, or download TXT. Guests get 10 free transcripts per 24 hours.
How to convert YouTube to text in 3 steps
- Copy the video link from the address bar or the Share button. Watch, youtu.be, Shorts and live links all work.
- Paste it into the box above and choose Get transcript.
- Select Copy text, or choose TXT and Download.
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.
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
Text, transcript and subtitles: what is the difference?
These words are often used interchangeably, but they describe different outputs:
| Output | What it contains | Get it with |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Only the words, in paragraphs | Copy text or TXT |
| Transcript | The words plus when each part was said | JSON (start and duration), or a public transcript page with timestamps |
| Subtitles | Timed cues formatted for a video player | SRT or VTT |
Use text for reading, notes, quotes and pasting into documents or AI assistants. Keep a timed format when you may need to jump back to the exact moment in the video.
Limits you should know
- 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.
- Free and guest transcripts are published to the public library. Pro transcripts stay private to your team.
- Captions and speech recognition contain mistakes, especially in names, numbers and noisy audio. Auto-generated captions often have no punctuation (see the example above).
- 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 converting YouTube to text free?
Yes. Guests get 10 transcripts per 24 hours and a free account gets 24. Free transcripts are published publicly.
Does it work if the video has no captions?
Often, yes. When there are no captions, TubeTranscript transcribes the audio with Whisper (see how to transcribe a video with no captions). This takes longer and can fail; guests can use it for up to 5 videos per 24 hours.
Why is there no punctuation in my text?
The text follows the video's captions. Auto-generated YouTube captions are usually unpunctuated, and TubeTranscript does not rewrite them.
Can I convert a whole playlist or channel?
No. The web tool handles one video per request. Developers with Pro can call the transcript API for each video.
Does the copied text include timestamps?
No. Copy text and TXT never include timestamps. Choose JSON, SRT or VTT if you need timing.
By Kenji Saito · Updated