YouTube transcription · paste a URL

Transcribe a YouTube video free — paste the URL, skip the download.

Drop any YouTube link and Whipscribe pulls the audio for you. Multilingual transcript with word-level timestamps in about a minute — long videos, age-restricted videos, lectures, podcasts. Your first transcript is free, at any length · instant preview with no signup · packs from $8 for 1,000 minutes, credits never expire.

No download step Long videos handled 90+ languages SRT/VTT for YouTube Studio

How it works

Paste, wait, copy — three steps, no install.

Forget the download-then-upload dance. The URL is the only thing we need.

1

Paste the YouTube URL

Any public, unlisted, or age-restricted video. We pull the audio server-side — no browser extension, no command-line tool, no MP3 saved to your Downloads folder.

2

Hosted Whisper Large v3

A 1-hour video typically transcribes in about a minute. Word-level timestamps, automatic language detection across 90+ languages, automatic speaker labels for multi-voice videos.

3

Read, search, export

Click any line to jump back to the moment in the video. Export as SRT / VTT for YouTube Studio, DOCX for an article draft, or JSON if you want to pipe it into your own tooling.

What you can do with the transcript

A transcript that already knows what to do next.

Every YouTube transcript opens with an AI sidebar — search, summarize, chat, export.

Skim a 2-hour lecture in 60 seconds

Ask “summarize the lecture in 10 bullets” or “what are the three core ideas?” The AI answers with quoted timestamps.

Translate as you read

Non-English video? Whipscribe auto-detects the source language and a one-click translate gives you the same transcript in English.

Cut shorts from the transcript

Search a hook, copy the timestamp, and you have the clip range. Pair with /tools/clipping for word-level burned-in captions.

Captions for your own uploads

SRT and VTT export on every pack — drop straight into YouTube Studio's subtitles editor.

Pricing

Your first transcript is free, at any length · instant preview with no signup · packs from $8 for 1,000 minutes, credits never expire.

Your first transcript is free, at any length. After that, a 1-hour talk costs 48¢ on the $8 pack and a 3-hour interview about $1.44. Prorated to the second; no monthly commitment; no credit card to start.

First transcript free 36¢/hr on the $12 pack No signup to try All formats included

FAQ

YouTube transcription, answered.

How do I transcribe a YouTube video for free?

Paste the URL above and Whipscribe pulls the audio server-side. Transcript with word-level timestamps comes back in about a minute. Preview with no signup; $0.99 opens your first transcript in full, at any length.

Do I need to download the video?

No. The URL is enough — there's nothing to install and no MP3 saved on your machine.

Does it handle 2-hour videos?

Yes. Long videos transcribe in a single pass. Word-level timestamps work across the full length so you can jump to any moment.

Will it transcribe non-English YouTube videos?

Yes. Whipscribe supports 90+ languages via Whisper. Source language is auto-detected and a one-click translate gives you the English version too.

Age-restricted or unlisted videos?

Public, unlisted, and age-restricted videos work via standard URL paste. Private videos that require a YouTube account to view cannot be fetched.

Can I get SRT or VTT for my own channel?

Yes. Both formats are included on every pack — drop the file straight into YouTube Studio's subtitles editor.

Is the audio sent to a third-party AI service?

No. We run open-source Whisper on private infrastructure. Audio is never sent to OpenAI, Google, or any third-party transcription service, and we never train models on your audio.

Paste a YouTube URL. Transcript in a minute.

Instant preview, no signup, no card. A free account keeps your transcripts in one library.