How to transcribe a 3-hour YouTube livestream from the replay link, in about 6 minutes.
Paste the replay link of a 3-hour YouTube livestream into the box and it comes back as a timestamped transcript in about 6 minutes, with no download and nothing to upload. The first 20 minutes are free, and the full 180 minutes fit the $6 pack of 500 minutes with 320 left for the next broadcast; a single recording can run up to 10 hours or 5 GB, and uploads before a first pack stop at 2 GB.
From replay to text
The broadcast is over. The replay is all you need.
Wait for the replay, then copy it
When the broadcast ends, YouTube processes the archive and the stream's page becomes an ordinary watch page. Copy that address from the browser bar or from the Share button under the video. A stream that is still running cannot be transcribed; this works on the saved replay, and nothing joins the live chat or the broadcast. If the replay is private, download it in YouTube Studio and upload the file instead.
Six minutes for three hours
Processing runs at about 2 minutes per hour of audio, so three hours take about 6 minutes from paste to transcript. The longest public run, 9.31 hours in 1,033 seconds, is listed at /proof/long-files. A countdown screen, a music break or game sound produces no text: only speech is transcribed, so the transcript starts where somebody starts talking.
What a stream gives you back
Chapters with timestamps at every change of topic, which you can adapt into the chapter list in the video description; SRT and VTT for captions; a brief with the thesis and takeaways; and the questions the stream answered, handy when viewers asked the same thing in chat. Guests and co-hosts are identified and named in the summary, key quotes and chapters.
The arithmetic for a channel
One 3-hour stream is 180 minutes. A weekly show runs about 720 to 900 minutes a month, which the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes covers for two months or more. Five streams a week, about twenty a month, come to 3,600 minutes, inside the $24 pack of 5,000 minutes. Credits never expire, so a month off the air costs nothing.
Auto-captions or a transcript
Captions play along with the video. They were never meant to be read.
✗ YouTube auto-captions on a long replay
Fine on screen, awkward as text.
- A scroll of fragments with no paragraphs
- Hard to copy out of a three-hour replay
- No brief, no chapters
- No guest names anywhere
- Nothing to search across past streams
- Captions that may not be ready on a fresh replay
✓ A transcript of the replay
Text you can read, quote and reuse.
- Paste the replay link, nothing to download
- About 6 minutes for 3 hours
- Chapters with timestamps
- SRT and VTT to add as captions
- Speakers named in the summary, quotes and chapters
- A whole stream inside one $6 pack
Sample
The middle of a three-hour stream, on the replay's own clock.
Illustrative sample written for this page, not a real stream. Times are measured from the start of the replay, so each one opens the same moment on YouTube.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $6 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$6/500 min
8 hours of audio — $0.72 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 500 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$12/2,000 min
33 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 2,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Transcribing a 3-hour livestream, answered.
How long does it take to transcribe a 3-hour YouTube livestream?
About 6 minutes once the replay is fetched, at roughly 2 minutes per audio hour. A 1-hour stream takes about 2 minutes and a 6-hour one about 12.
How much does a 3-hour livestream cost to transcribe?
It is 180 minutes. The first 20 minutes are free for a first-time visitor, and the $6 pack of 500 minutes covers this stream, the next one and most of a third. Packs are one-time purchases, with no subscription.
My stream ran 7 hours. Does anything change?
Stream recordings over 6 hours start once a pack is on the account. Seven hours is 420 minutes, still inside the $6 pack of 500 minutes, and takes about 14 minutes. Past 10 hours, download the replay and upload it as two files.
Can I put the SRT on my YouTube video?
Yes. Download the SRT and add it as a subtitle file for that video in YouTube Studio. The cue times match the replay because the transcript runs on the replay's own clock; nothing is posted to your channel automatically.
Does it work for streams that are not in English?
99 languages are detected automatically, and English terms inside another language's speech are handled. A stream that switches language is detected on its main language.
Is the stream's audio kept private?
Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training. You can delete a recording and its transcript at any time.
Related
Related streams and replays
Three hours of stream, six minutes of waiting. The first 20 minutes are free.
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