Despite all the advantages of videos, textual content is still beneficial. It allows you to fit more useful information into one second of time, is easier to process, and can be used in various mediums, such as websites, books, digital documents, mobile apps, etc. That’s why users often need to download video transcriptions after receiving a text script of their own or someone else’s videos. It’s quite easy to do, although the methods are not always straightforward and obvious. So, we’ll tell you how to pull transcript from YouTube to your favorite text editing software.
Why You Need to Get a Transcript of YouTube Videos?
Improving the viewing experience is among the key reasons for an average user. Some videos can be quite difficult to understand, especially when you’re learning about a topic you’re unfamiliar with, particularly in a foreign language. Downloading a transcript will help you better absorb the information and highlight the essential points for future reference.
Professionals can extract transcripts for YouTube SEO and other forms of business promotion online. Downloading a text script of a video is the easiest way to generate titles, descriptions, and supporting materials. This is the best method of generating high-quality texts for posting on external platforms — you just need to organically integrate keywords and links into them to get organic traffic and increase the number of video views.
YT Transcripts will also be useful for the following purposes:
- To improve accessibility. Full transcriptions are indispensable for people with hearing impairments. Surprisingly, they can also be used by visually impaired users. The transcription can be downloaded into a convenient and familiar speech generator to perceive information at a comfortable pace.
- For translation and localization. Uploading text content enables you to automatically generate subtitles in different languages. And from there, it’s just one step to changing the voice acting because today’s artificial intelligence can naturally read text in different voices, adding emotions and even dramatic pauses.
- To create timestamps. You can use the script to improve navigation. After generating a summary based on it, you can place this text in the video description and add appropriate timestamps.
- For analytics. AI systems for visual analysis are only taking their first steps, while large language models are already adept at working with any textual content. By uploading scripts, you can track current trends and improve your next videos, getting better performance.
- For citation. It is not convenient to link to videos in scientific articles or other official documents. But you can turn them into text using simple tools, which will make it easier to present the material and increase the level of trust in the source.
- For archiving. A text document takes up hundreds of times less memory than a video. If you need to store information from thousands or even hundreds of thousands of files, it is better to do it in text format.
How to Get Transcript of a YouTube Video in 2024/2025
The function of viewing transcript captions in text format has long been available on the multimedia platform. But the way it is activated has changed over time. So, we should review all the options available today.
Your Own Videos
To manage your content, the YouTube Studio web application is used, which allows you to edit and publish videos, define access rights to them, control monetization, and solve various problems. Here’s how you can quickly download scripts of your videos.
Desktop
1. Open YouTube in your browser, click your account icon in the upper right, and select YouTube Studio.
2. In the menu on the left, select the Subtitles section.
a. Select the subtitle language and click the Duplicate and Edit button.
3. Click the Options button next to the script and select Download Subtitles. The file will be downloaded in SBV format. To edit and convert it, you will need specialized applications, such as Aegisub or Jubler. You can also use Notepad++, although it may not have the features you need, such as automatic timestamping.
Mobile
- To download subtitles from your video on iPhone or Android, you will need to open YouTube Studio in your browser. Unfortunately, this feature doesn’t work in a separate mobile app installed from the Apple App Store or Google Play Market.
2. After logging in to the web service, refuse the offer to install the application and open the service in your browser. In the settings, enable the desktop version of a site to get access to all its functions.
3. The following steps will be similar to those in the desktop version. First, go to the Subtitles section.
4. Select the video you want and tap on it. In the list of subtitles, select the language version you want, tap on it, and click the Edit button.
5. Click the Options button and select Download Subtitles. You’re done!
Other Authors’ Videos
If you want to transcribe a YouTube video on any channel, you won’t be able to download a ready-made subtitle file. However, you still have a way to get textual information without using third-party apps and web services.
Desktop
1. Open the video you want to subtitle on YouTube. Scroll down to the description.
2. Click the More button.
3. Scroll to Transcript.
4. Tap the Show Transcript button.
5. A window with the video transcription will appear to the right of the player.
Note that you can choose any language version uploaded by the author. If the original video does not contain subtitles, YouTube will automatically generate a script by recognizing speech using artificial intelligence. However, the quality of such captions will be dubious — they often contain serious errors and require careful proofreading and editing.
Mobile
1. Open the video in the YouTube mobile app. Find the description section — it’s located right below the player.
2. Click the More button.
3. Scroll to the Transcript section.
4. Tap the Show Transcript button.
5. The subtitles will appear in a new window. If they are generated automatically, you will have to wait a few seconds.
Viewing transcriptions in the app is the best way to convert YouTube music videos to lyrics. Most third-party services don’t recognize this kind of content well, so this is the most obvious and accurate way.
How to Get Captions with Free AI YouTube Video Transcript Generator
The official method of downloading transcripts from YouTube is fine but not efficient. Even if the author has added subtitles to the original video, you’ll have to copy them manually, paste them into a word processor, and edit them, wasting a lot of time. When it comes to dozens of videos, you’ll have to add a task for several hours to your schedule. If you don’t have subtitles, you’ll face an additional problem: the poor quality of auto-generated captions, which can disrupt normal workflows and increase time costs substantially.
So, you should find another method of subtitle extraction. You can use NOIZ to get an AI transcript of any YouTube video. This free service does not require registration or subscription. All you need to do is add a link and start working with text content. NOIZ is available on computer and mobile devices. By installing the Chrome extension, you will receive transcriptions directly on YouTube without even opening other tabs in your browser.
Here’s how it works:
1. Open NOIZ in your browser and paste the link to the YouTube video into the address bar.
2. Select Transcript from the menu. Closed captions are generated from the video transcript that is available.
3. Use the corresponding buttons in the menu to copy or download the transcript.
4. Please note that you can copy the subtitles as text or a link, as well as export them to a separate document or instantly transfer them to another service like Notion.
5. Using other functions from the NOIZ menu, you can get key insights from the video and a timestamped summary, as well as see the top comments.
NOIZ allows you to convert to text most YouTube videos. The only exceptions are music videos and videos with a strong accent. But the authors are constantly working to improve their service, so its capabilities are constantly expanding. NOIZ is suitable for personal and professional use. It can be a powerful tool in the hands of creators, SEO specialists, website administrators, media producers, etc.
How to Download Transcripts with Free YouTube to Text Converters
If you need to download the author’s subtitles without recognition, processing, and summary generation, the task is somewhat simplified. You don’t need AI to do this — you can use regular downloaders. Let us consider three popular services available in different formats:
1. DownSub. It is a web converter that opens in a browser. It works with YouTube and other multimedia platforms, such as Vimeo and TED. Using it is easy — just specify the URL to the transcript, click the Download button, and choose the desired file format. The downside is ads on the site.
2. YouTube Caption. It is a Chrome extension available in the official Google marketplace. It is activated automatically after installation. The tool adds a new window to the interface of the multimedia platform that allows you to view, translate, and download subtitles.
3. 4K Video Downloader. It is a program installed on a PC. It helps automate the download of entire videos or their elements, such as subtitles or audio tracks. The software has a simple editor for editing videos and creating clips.
How to Get a Transcript of Any YouTube Video You Want
Using YT to transcribe videos is not the best solution for processing multiple videos. Although this feature is provided by the site’s interface, it forces you to do a lot of manual work, wasting extra time. Therefore, it is much better to use third-party services. Unlike its competitors, NOIZ allows you to generate and upload subtitles even if the author hasn’t added them to their video. The service also makes it possible to create a summary and highlight key points of the plot in one click.
FAQ
How to get a transcript of a YouTube video on a computer?
Open the full description, scroll down, and click Show Transcript.
How to turn a YouTube video into a transcript?
You can copy the subtitles added by the author or automatically generated ones to paste them into a text editor.
How to get a short transcript from YouTube?
The best way is to use NOIZ. All you need to do is paste the URL and select the appropriate option from the menu.
Can I download a YouTube transcript as text?
You can download a subtitle file for your video using YouTube Studio, and for other videos — using third-party services.
How to download YouTube transcripts for free?
You can use web services, browser extensions, and apps installed on your device.
Can I copy text from YouTube?
Yes, you can select any text fragments from the transcription and transfer them to other programs in seconds.
What AI tool can get the transcript of a YouTube video?
NOIZ automatically recognizes speech. It generates accurate transcriptions, short summaries, and key insights from any YouTube video.
How to copy a YouTube transcript to Word?
Expand the video description and click the Show Transcript button. In the window to the right of the player, select the desired fragment. Right-click and select Copy. Open MS Word, click on the document, right-click, and select Paste.
Can ChatGPT transcribe YouTube videos?
ChatGPT does not have a feature to recognize speech from videos and voice messages.
Does every YouTube video have a transcript?
88% of YouTube videos have a transcript. If it was not added by the author, it is generated automatically. The only exceptions are very old videos, for which transcriptions cannot be generated.
How to extract a transcript from a video?
Choose a service with this feature. Paste the URL of the video into its address bar. Open the menu and select Download. Specify the desired format and wait for the download.
