How to get a transcript of a YouTube video
Whether you want to quote a video, study from it or turn your own video into a blog post, there is a free way to get its text.
Any video: use YouTube's own transcript
On a computer, open the video, expand the description with ...more, and choose Show transcript. In the YouTube app, open the description and tap Show transcript. You can select and copy the text. Not every video has one, and automatic transcripts can contain mistakes.
Your own videos: download them first
In YouTube Studio open Content, choose the three dots next to a video and Download. You get the original video file.
Make an accurate transcript
Open the video to text tool, choose the file and set the spoken language. Fix any names, then copy the text or download it. Download SRT if you want timestamps or subtitles.
Why not paste a YouTube link?
YouTube does not allow other sites to take videos from it, and tools that rip videos break YouTube's terms. For your own videos, downloading from YouTube Studio is the reliable way.
Turn it into subtitles
The same file makes subtitles: see how to add subtitles to a YouTube video.