Where transcripts come from
Every transcript here is read from the video's own caption track. YouTube stores two kinds: captions uploaded by the creator, which are usually punctuated and accurate, and automatic captions produced by speech recognition, which are good but occasionally misspell names and technical terms. If a video has both, the uploaded track is the one worth reading, and you can switch between all available tracks after generating.
What you can do with the text
- • Skim a long interview or lecture in a fraction of the time.
- • Search for the exact sentence you remember and jump to that second.
- • Quote a source accurately in an article, essay or research note.
- • Translate, summarise, or feed the text into your own notes.
- • Reuse the timings as .srt subtitles for your own edit.
When a transcript is not available
Some videos genuinely have no captions — music videos, silent footage, private or age-restricted uploads, and livestreams that have not been processed yet. In those cases no tool can produce a transcript from the caption track, because there is nothing to read.
Questions
What is a YouTube transcript?
A YouTube transcript is the written version of everything spoken in a video, taken from its caption track. Each line is tied to the moment it is said in the video.
Does every YouTube video have a transcript?
Only videos with captions do. Most videos in widely supported languages get automatic captions from YouTube, and many creators upload their own.
Is reading a transcript faster than watching?
Usually far faster. A 40-minute talk is typically 5,000 to 7,000 words, which most people can skim in a few minutes.
Related: transcripts with timestamps, downloading a transcript.