Can you download transcripts from any YouTube video?

Most public videos with auto-generated or manual captions can have their transcript downloaded. Private videos and videos where the uploader has disabled transcripts cannot be exported. If the transcript panel does not appear on a video, no transcript is available for that video.

How do I download a YouTube video transcript with timestamps?

Open the YouTube video and click Show transcript from the three-dot menu below the title. By default, timestamps are shown alongside each line. Leave the timestamp toggle on, then select and copy the entire transcript. For a cleaner export with timestamps in a structured format, use a browser extension or the youtube-transcript-api library.

How do I download the transcript of a YouTube video without copy-pasting?

Use a browser extension (such as YouTube AI Notes or Glasp) or an online tool (such as DownSub). These automate the download and let you export the transcript as TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown in a single click, with no manual selection or paste required.

Why does my YouTube transcript not have punctuation?

Auto-generated YouTube transcripts are produced by speech recognition and do not include punctuation or paragraph breaks. Manually uploaded transcripts may include punctuation if the uploader added it. To get a punctuated, readable version, run the raw transcript through an AI tool or a language model that can add punctuation automatically.

Is downloading YouTube transcripts legal?

Downloading a transcript for personal study and research is generally considered fair use in most jurisdictions. Republishing, reselling, or distributing transcripts without permission from the copyright holder may infringe on their rights. Always check the video's license and YouTube's Terms of Service before using transcript content commercially. This is not legal advice. [REQUIRES VERIFICATION]

How to Download Transcript from YouTube

Published April 28, 2026 · IncreoScale Editorial

Can you download a transcript from YouTube? Yes — and there are at least five ways to do it, each with different trade-offs. Whether you want a one-click export for a single lecture or a script that batch-downloads transcripts for hundreds of videos, this guide covers all the options.

Before diving in, it helps to understand the key axes: speed (how fast you get the text), accuracy and punctuation (auto-generated captions versus manually uploaded transcripts), batch processing (one video at a time versus hundreds), whether the method is free , and ease of use (no setup versus Python required). Can you download a transcript from YouTube on mobile? We cover that in the FAQ below.

Method 1: YouTube's Built-in Transcript Feature

The simplest way to get a transcript from YouTube is the one already built into the player. No extensions, no accounts, no installs — just the YouTube website on a desktop browser.

Step 1 — Open the video and find the menu

Go to the YouTube video page on a desktop browser. Below the video title, click the three-dot menu (⋯) next to the Share and Save buttons.

Step 2 — Show transcript

Select Show transcript from the dropdown. A panel opens on the right side of the page (or below the video on some layouts) showing every line of the transcript with its timestamp.

Step 3 — Toggle timestamps and copy

If you want plain text without timestamps, click the three-dot icon inside the transcript panel and select Toggle timestamps . Then select all the text in the panel (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A), copy it, and paste it into your document.

Pros:

No install required
Always free
Works on any YouTube video that has a transcript

Cons:

Manual copy-paste — slow for multiple videos
No export to file (TXT, SRT, etc.) without additional steps
Not available on the YouTube mobile app in all regions

Method 2: Copy-Paste the YouTube Transcript

The YouTube transcript copy paste approach is a small variation on Method 1, optimised for getting usable text into a document as quickly as possible.

Step 1 — Open the transcript panel

Follow the same steps as Method 1 to open the transcript panel.

Step 2 — Select and copy

Click anywhere inside the transcript panel. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac) to select all the text, then Ctrl+C / Cmd+C to copy. Paste directly into Google Docs, Notion, or any text editor.

Step 3 — Clean up timestamps

If you left timestamps on, use Find & Replace with a regex like \d+:\d+\s* to strip them, or simply delete them manually for short videos.

Note: auto-generated transcripts have no punctuation. Each line ends at a breath or pause, not a sentence boundary. If you need a readable, punctuated transcript, run it through an AI tool or see Method 3 for extensions that clean it up automatically.

Method 3: Browser Extensions

Several Chrome extensions automate transcript extraction in one click and add features like Markdown export, AI summarisation, and flashcard generation on top of the raw text.

Glasp (free)

Glasp is a social highlighting and knowledge-capture tool with a built-in YouTube transcript feature. Open a YouTube video with Glasp installed, click the Glasp icon, and choose Copy Transcript or Export . You can paste the transcript into Glasp's personal library or share highlights with others. Glasp is free for personal use with a daily highlight limit on the free tier.

YouTube AI Notes (free)

YouTube AI Notes is a Chrome extension focused on turning YouTube videos into study materials. It downloads the transcript in one click and can export it as Markdown, Notion pages, or Anki flashcard decks. If you want more than just the raw text — for example, a structured outline or a set of flashcards — it also lets you turn the video into structured notes automatically. The free plan covers transcript export and basic AI notes; paid plans unlock unlimited flashcard decks and Anki/Notion export.

Add to Chrome — Free

Other extensions to consider

Tactiq captures live transcripts during Google Meet and YouTube sessions and exports them to Notion or Google Docs. NoteGPT generates AI summaries alongside the transcript and supports multiple export formats. Eightify focuses on short AI summaries rather than full transcripts but includes a transcript-view option. All three have free tiers with usage limits.

Method 4: Online (Web-Based) Tools

If you prefer not to install a browser extension, several web-based tools let you paste a YouTube URL and download the transcript as a file.

How they work

Paste the YouTube video URL into the tool's input field, select the language (if multiple captions exist), and download the transcript in your preferred format — TXT, SRT (with timestamps), or VTT.

Popular options

DownSub is a well-known free tool that supports most YouTube videos and multiple subtitle formats. The Tactiq web app and NoteGPT.io offer similar functionality with an AI-summarisation layer on top.

Privacy note

When you paste a YouTube URL into a third-party tool, that URL (and sometimes metadata about the video) is sent to the tool's server. For sensitive or private videos, use a local method (Method 1, 2, or 5) instead.

Pros:

No install required
Works from any device with a browser
Some tools support batch downloads

Cons:

URL is sent to a third-party server
Rate limits or ads on free tiers
Dependent on the tool remaining available

Method 5: Programmatic / API (youtube-transcript-api)

For bulk research, data pipelines, or CI workflows, the youtube-transcript-api Python library is the most flexible option. It fetches transcripts directly from YouTube's caption endpoint without requiring an API key.

Installation

pip install youtube-transcript-api

Basic usage

from youtube_transcript_api import YouTubeTranscriptApi

video_id = "dQw4w9WgXcQ"  # replace with your video ID
transcript = YouTubeTranscriptApi.get_transcript(video_id)

for entry in transcript:
    print(f"{entry['start']:.1f}s  {entry['text']}")

Each entry in the list has a text field (the caption line), a start field (seconds from the beginning), and a duration field. You can join all text values to get a plain transcript string.

When to use this method

Use the API approach when you need to process more than a handful of videos, when you want to integrate transcripts into a larger data pipeline, or when you need precise control over timestamp handling. It is also the only method that works reliably in a headless or server environment.

Terms of Service note: Automated bulk scraping of YouTube data may conflict with YouTube's Terms of Service. For commercial or large-scale use, consider the official YouTube Data API v3 captions endpoint, which requires OAuth and a Google Cloud project.

	YouTube UI	Copy-Paste	Browser Extension	Online Tool	API
Speed	Fast	Slow (manual)	Fastest (1 click)	Fast	Fast (after setup)
Accuracy & punctuation	Auto-caption quality, no punctuation	Same as above	Same; some extensions add AI cleanup	Same as above	Same as above
Batch processing	No	No	Limited	Some tools	Yes
Free	Yes	Yes	Free tier available	Free tier available	Yes
Ease of use	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy	Requires Python

Which Method Should You Use?

The right method depends on what you need to do with the transcript after you download it.

For a one-off transcript — use Method 1 (YouTube's built-in UI). It is always available, free, and requires nothing beyond the YouTube website.

For notes, flashcards, or Notion/Anki export — use Method 3 with YouTube AI Notes . The transcript download is just the starting point; the extension also structures the content into headings, key points, and study-ready flashcards.

For bulk research or data pipelines — use Method 5 (the youtube-transcript-api library). It scales to hundreds of videos and integrates cleanly with Python workflows.

For a quick one-off without installing anything — use Method 4 (an online tool like DownSub). Paste the URL and download in seconds.