Transcript Downloader
Extraction • Quick Access
How to download a YouTube transcript
- 1
Paste the video link
Any YouTube URL works — a full youtube.com/watch link, a short youtu.be link, an /embed/ link, or just the 11-character video ID on its own.
- 2
Press Open
The transcript loads in a couple of seconds, split into timestamped segments you can scroll and read on the page — no download needed if you only want to skim it.
- 3
Copy or save it
Copy sends the text to your clipboard; Save writes a .txt file. Both offer the transcript with timestamps or as clean running prose.
No account, no email, no extension. The transcript is pulled from YouTube’s own caption track, so it is the same text the video’s CC button shows.
Two output formats
| Format | Looks like | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Plain text | One continuous paragraph of speech | Feeding into ChatGPT or Claude, summarising, translating, repurposing into a blog post or newsletter |
| With timestamps | [04:12] and that’s the part people miss… | Quoting a specific moment, writing chapter markers, clipping for Shorts, subtitling, citing sources |
Which videos have a transcript?
Most of them, but not all. YouTube generates automatic captions for the majority of uploads in supported languages, and many creators upload their own subtitle files on top. Either kind works here.
You will get “no transcript available” when the creator disabled captions, when the video is too new for automatic captioning to have finished, when the audio is music-only or has no clear speech, or when the video is private, age-restricted or region-blocked. If a video is only minutes old, wait and try again — captions usually appear within the hour.
What people use transcripts for
Research and competitor teardowns. Read a 40-minute video in two minutes. Pull the exact hooks, structure and phrasing a competitor uses without sitting through the whole upload.
Repurposing your own videos. A transcript is the fastest first draft of a blog post, newsletter or thread. Grab the text, tidy the filler words, publish.
Feeding AI tools. Paste the plain-text version into any assistant to summarise, extract action items, translate, or turn a tutorial into written step-by-step instructions.
Clipping and subtitling. The timestamped version tells you exactly where the good line lands, so you can cut a Short without scrubbing the timeline.
Accessibility and study notes. Readable text for anyone who would rather read than watch, or wants searchable notes from a lecture.
Frequently asked questions
Is the YouTube transcript downloader free?
Yes — single videos are free, unlimited and need no account. Batch-extracting transcripts for up to 100 videos from a whole channel at once is the one Pro feature.
Do I need to install an extension?
No. This runs entirely in your browser on this page. TubeGrade does have a Chrome extension for on-YouTube analytics, but the transcript tool does not require it.
Can I download a transcript with timestamps?
Yes. Both Copy and Save offer a with-timestamps option, which prefixes every line with the minute and second so you can jump back to the exact moment in the video.
Does it work on private or unlisted videos?
Unlisted videos work if you have the link. Private videos do not — the caption track is not publicly accessible, so there is nothing to fetch.
What languages are supported?
Whatever caption tracks the video has. If the creator published subtitles in several languages, or YouTube auto-generated them, the transcript comes back in the video’s primary caption language.
Why does it say no transcript is available?
Captions are switched off for that video, the upload is too recent for automatic captioning to have finished, or the audio has no recognisable speech. If the video is only minutes old, try again in an hour.
Can I download transcripts for an entire channel?
Yes, with Pro. Switch to Channel mode and pull transcripts for up to 100 of a channel’s videos in one run instead of pasting links one at a time.
Is it legal to download a YouTube transcript?
Reading and saving publicly available captions for research, accessibility, note-taking or quotation is normal use. The words still belong to the creator — do not republish someone’s transcript as your own content, and credit the source when you quote it.
How accurate are the transcripts?
Creator-uploaded subtitles are near-perfect. Automatic captions are usually strong on clear speech but stumble on names, jargon, heavy accents and crosstalk, so read them through before quoting.