Skip to content

YouTube to Text Converter

To convert a YouTube video to text, paste its link below and press Get transcript. Audexum pulls the video's captions and gives you every spoken word as clean text, with or without timestamps, ready to copy or download. Your first video is free with no signup; a free account gets 25 a day.

First one free, no account. A free account gets 25 a day.

How to convert a YouTube video to text

  1. 01

    Copy the video link

    Use the Share button or copy the address bar. youtube.com, youtu.be, Shorts and Live links all work.

  2. 02

    Paste it and press Get transcript

    The text appears in a few seconds. Pick the caption language if the video has more than one.

  3. 03

    Copy or download the text

    Copy the plain text, switch to timestamps, or download TXT, SRT or VTT.

At a glance

Price
Free: 1 video with no signup, 25 a day with a free account
Works on
Public videos, Shorts and live replays that have captions
Languages
160+ caption languages, manual or auto-generated
Output
Plain text or timestamps; download TXT, SRT or VTT
No captions?
Upload the audio on Transcribe a file instead
Summary
One-click AI summary with a free account
Install
Nothing: runs in your browser

What people turn YouTube videos into text for

  • Study notes from lectures and tutorials, without rewinding every two minutes.
  • Quotes for an article, a thesis or a social post, copied word for word.
  • A blog post or newsletter written from your own video.
  • Pasting a whole video into ChatGPT or Claude to ask questions about it.
  • Finding the one moment in a two-hour video with Ctrl+F.

YouTube to text vs YouTube transcript

A transcript keeps the timing of every line; "YouTube to text" usually means just the words. This page gives you both: the plain view is text only, and the timestamped view and SRT or VTT downloads keep the timing for subtitles.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert a YouTube video to text?

Paste the video link on this page and press Get transcript. You get the full text in seconds, as clean paragraphs to copy or as a .txt file.

Can I get the text without timestamps?

Yes. The plain view shows only the words, ready to paste into a document, an email or ChatGPT. Switch to the timestamped view or download .srt or .vtt when you need the timing.

Is it free?

Yes. Your first video needs no signup. A free account gets 25 videos a day, no card required.

Can I get a transcript of any YouTube video?

Any public video with manual or auto-generated captions. Private, members-only, age-restricted and region-locked videos can't be read.

What if the video has no captions?

The tool reads the captions YouTube already has, so a video without any cannot be transcribed here. If you have the recording yourself, upload it on the Transcribe a file page.

Does it work on YouTube Shorts?

Yes. Paste the Shorts link like any other video.

Can I summarize a YouTube video?

Yes. The YouTube Summary tool gives you the key points and a one-line takeaway, one video a day free with no signup. With a free account, press Summarize under the text on this page.

Which languages are supported?

Every language YouTube has captions for, 160+ in total. If a video has several caption tracks, you choose which one to use.

Updated by the Audexum team.

Explore more tools

More free voice, transcription and audio tools

See all