YouTube Transcript Generator
Paste a YouTube link and get everything that was said as text, with a timestamp on each line. Copy it, or download TXT, SRT or VTT.
- 1
Copy the video link
On a computer, copy the address bar. In the app, tap Share, then Copy link. Shorts links work too.
- 2
Paste it here
Paste the link into the box on this page and start. No YouTube login is needed.
- 3
Get the transcript
The text comes back with a timestamp on each line, in the language the video was spoken in.
- 4
Copy or download
Copy everything in one click, or save TXT to read, SRT or VTT to load into a video editor.
| Feature | YouTube's transcript panel | ReelToScript |
|---|---|---|
| Copy the whole text at once | No | Yes |
| SRT / VTT caption file | No | Yes |
| Works on phone | No | Yes |
| Timestamps on each line | Yes | Yes |
YouTube to text in a few seconds
YouTube is the biggest library of spoken knowledge there is, and almost none of it is searchable as text. This YouTube transcript generator takes a video link and gives you its words as text, with a timestamp on every line, so you can read, search, quote or reuse what was said.
Transcript with timestamps
On the page, each line shows the time it was spoken, and the SRT and VTT files keep those times. That makes a transcript useful as an index: search for a word, find the line, and go straight to that moment in the video. When you quote a video in an article, the timestamp lets readers check the quote in context.
YouTube transcript to SRT or VTT
Pick the format that fits what you're doing next:
| Format | What it is | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| TXT | Plain text in paragraphs, no times | Reading, notes, pasting into a doc |
| SRT | Numbered lines with start and end times | Subtitles in Premiere, Final Cut, CapCut |
| VTT | The web version of SRT | Web players, course platforms |
Why not use YouTube's own transcript?
YouTube shows a transcript panel on many videos on desktop, under "Show transcript" in the description. It's fine for reading along. It's awkward for anything else: you have to select the text by hand, the timestamps come out on their own lines, there's no file to download, and the phone app doesn't have the panel at all. Here you paste the link and get a clean transcript and a file.
Long videos and how credits work
Your first transcript is free with no account. After that you need credits: a video up to 5 minutes uses one, plus one for each started 5 minutes after that. A 12-minute tutorial uses 3 credits and a one-hour lecture uses 12. Packs start at $5 for 30 and never expire, or Pro is $9 a month for 300. If a transcript fails, no credit is used.
Shorts and other platforms
For YouTube Shorts there is a dedicated YouTube Shorts transcript page, and the same box takes links from TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook and X.
ReelToScript is an independent tool and has no affiliation with YouTube or Google.
Use cases
Frequently asked questions
Copy the video's link, paste it into the box on this page and start. The transcript appears in a few seconds with timestamps, ready to copy or download.
Yes. Every transcript can be downloaded as TXT, SRT or VTT. SRT and VTT keep the start and end time of each line, so they work as subtitle files.
Your first transcript is free, without an account. After that, packs start at $5 for 30 credits and never expire, or Pro is $9 a month for 300. A video up to 5 minutes uses one credit, plus one per started 5 minutes, so a 20-minute video uses 4.
On a computer, many videos have a "Show transcript" button under the description. It shows the text in a side panel, but there is no button to copy all of it or save it as a file, and the phone app doesn't have it.
Yes. Shorts, regular videos and long lectures all work, as long as the video has captions; most do, because YouTube adds automatic ones. For Shorts there is also a dedicated YouTube Shorts transcript page.
The transcript comes back in the language the video was spoken in. It isn't translated.
The video may be private, age-restricted or removed, or it may have no captions at all (YouTube skips automatic captions on some videos). A failed transcript doesn't use a credit.