Transcript tool

YouTube transcript extractor

A YouTube transcript extractor pulls the text out of any video and lays it out as clean, time-coded lines. Paste a link below and extract the full transcript in seconds — copy it, translate it, or export it. Free, no sign-in.

Works on any video with captions · or add the Chrome extension for one-click transcripts on every video.

What a transcript extractor does

Every YouTube video that has captions already stores the words spoken in it. An extractor reads that caption track and turns it into one readable block of text, with the timing of each line kept intact. Nothing is re-recorded and nothing is uploaded — it’s the captions YouTube already serves, extracted and laid out for reading.

The result is plain, searchable text you can do anything with: read it instead of watching, quote it, translate it, or export it to another tool. For the background on how a transcript is made, see the YouTube transcript overview.

Extract online, or with the extension

There are two ways to use it, and both are free.

• Online, no install. Paste the video URL into the box above and the transcript is extracted right away. Best when you just need one transcript now. The step-by-step guide walks through it.
• With the extension. Install it once, and the transcript opens next to the player on any video — one click, no copying links. Best if you extract transcripts often.

Either way you get the same clean text. The only difference is how you reach it.

Timestamps and search

An extracted transcript isn’t just a wall of text. Each line keeps its timestamp, so you can click a line and jump to that moment in the video. And you can search the whole transcript for a word or phrase and land on the exact line — far faster than scrubbing the timeline. More on this in YouTube transcript with timestamps.

Export formats

Once the text is extracted, take it wherever you work:

• TXT — plain text for notes or pasting anywhere.
• Markdown — for docs and note apps like Notion or Obsidian.
• SRT and VTT — the standard subtitle formats.

Each one can keep the timecodes or leave them out. Copy the whole thing to the clipboard, or download a file — your choice.

How accurate is it?

Accuracy comes down to the caption source, not the extractor. Creator captions — subtitles the uploader wrote — are punctuated and spelled correctly, so the extracted text is clean. Auto-generated captions are good for clear speech but stumble on names, jargon and strong accents, and they arrive without punctuation.

Extracting from long videos and podcasts

Long videos are where an extractor saves the most time. A two-hour podcast or a full lecture would take forever to scrub through, but the whole transcript is extracted at once — no length limit and no waiting. Search for the part you care about, jump to it by timestamp, and read just that section. For creators, a long upload becomes a ready-made article or set of show notes the moment it’s published.

What to do with the extracted text

Once the transcript is extracted, it’s yours to use. Read it instead of sitting through the whole video. Search it for the one line you need. Quote it, with the timestamp, in an article or a report. Paste it into an AI tool for a summary or a set of key points. Drop it into your notes app as Markdown. Creators pull the text from their own uploads and reshape it into blog posts, show notes or social captions — close to a week of writing from a single video.

Because it’s plain text, it fits wherever you already work — a doc, a notebook, a chat with an AI assistant. The extractor’s job is to get the words out cleanly; what you build from them is up to you.

Free, with no sign-in

Extracting the transcript — reading it, copying it, exporting it — is free, with no account and no daily limit. The text comes from captions YouTube already provides, so it costs almost nothing to produce, and there’s no honest reason to gate it. Plenty of tools say “free”, then ask you to sign up and cap you after a video or two. This one doesn’t. There’s no watermark, no trial, and no “upgrade to export” — copy and download every transcript in full, every time. Whether you extract one or fifty in a sitting, the price is the same: nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What is a YouTube transcript extractor?

A tool that pulls the text of a video out of its captions and lays it out as a clean, time-coded transcript you can read, copy and export.

Is the transcript extractor free?

Yes. Extracting, copying and exporting the transcript is free forever, with no account and no hidden limits.

Does it work without installing anything?

Yes. Paste a link into the tool above and the transcript is extracted in your browser. The extension is optional, for one-click access on the watch page.

Can it extract transcripts in other languages?

Yes. It extracts the captions in their original language, and can translate them into any available language in one click.