Free Web Tool

YouTube Transcript Generator

Paste a YouTube link and read the whole video as text — clean paragraphs with clickable timestamps. Search it, copy it, or download it. Free, no sign-up.

Fetching transcript…

How to use

1
Copy the link of a YouTube video, Short or live replay.
2
Paste it above and click Get Transcript.
3
Read the transcript, pick another language if there is one, and use the search box to find a word.
4
Copy the text, or download it as TXT (with or without timestamps) or SRT.

Read a YouTube video instead of watching it

A transcript turns an hour of video into something you can skim in minutes. This tool fetches the video’s captions — the ones the creator uploaded, or YouTube’s auto-generated ones — and joins them into readable paragraphs, each with the time it starts.

Click any timestamp to open the video at that moment, search for the part you need, or copy the whole text into your notes, a document or an AI chat. It works with regular videos, Shorts and live-stream replays, in every language the video has captions for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the YouTube transcript generator free?
Yes. There is no account, no payment and no limit on how many videos you open.
Where does the transcript come from?
From the video’s own captions on YouTube — subtitles the creator uploaded, or YouTube’s automatic captions. The tool does not listen to the audio itself, so a video without any captions has no transcript.
Can I get the transcript without timestamps?
Yes. Turn off Timestamps and the copied or downloaded text is plain paragraphs. Leave it on to keep a time in front of each paragraph.
Does it work in other languages?
Yes. If the video has captions in several languages, they are all listed — pick one and the transcript reloads. Auto-generated captions are marked.
Can I use the transcript with ChatGPT or another AI?
Yes. Copy the transcript and paste it into any AI chat to ask for a summary, notes or questions. Or let the GistAI app summarise the video for you on your phone.
Is anything stored?
No. Captions are fetched for your browser when you ask for them; we don’t keep the video, the transcript or what you search for.
Also try
🎬
YouTube Caption & Thumbnail Downloader
Save captions as SRT files and the thumbnail in full resolution.
→
🌐
Subtitle Translator
Translate SRT or VTT subtitle files into 100+ languages.
→
🔊
Text to Speech
Turn a transcript into natural-sounding audio with 400+ voices.
→
Built in the quiet hours, between everything else. Bookmark it for next time — and if it helped — ☕ Fund site upkeep
GistAI

A transcript is long.
The gist is short.

Paste a YouTube link into GistAI and get the key points in seconds — no scrolling through a transcript. The AI runs on your phone, so what you read stays with you.

Get it on Google Play