Get the transcript of a YouTube video even when it has no captions.
If the video has captions, YouTube's own Show transcript, at the end of the description, is free and instant. When it has none, the captions are in a language YouTube handles badly, or you need a file, paste the link below: we transcribe the audio itself and give you timestamped text plus TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX and JSON. The opening minutes are a free preview, and packs start at $4 for 300 minutes.
The quick answer
YouTube's Show transcript or WhipScribe: which one you need.
Use the free one when it is enough. Use this page when it is not.
| Your situation | YouTube's Show transcript | WhipScribe |
|---|---|---|
| The video has captions in your language and you only want to read or copy them | Enough. Free and instant: open the description, scroll to the end and press Show transcript. | Not needed for this. |
| No Show transcript button, because the video has no captions | Nothing to show. | Transcribes the audio itself, so captions are not needed. |
| Automatic captions in a language YouTube handles badly, or not at all | Missing or rough. Automatic captions cover a fixed list of languages. | About 99 languages, detected on their own. See the language pages below. |
| A long video: a lecture, a sermon, a two-hour podcast | YouTube says captions may not be made when a video is too long or starts with a long silence. | Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per video. |
| You need a file: subtitles, a Word document, data | Copy and paste from the panel; no download. | TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX and JSON from one job. |
| A live stream that is still running | Live automatic captions are English only and are removed when the stream ends. | Refused until the stream ends; paste the replay link afterwards. See live stream transcripts. |
YouTube's limits are from its own help page on automatic captions, support.google.com/youtube/answer/6373554, read on 2026-10-26.
Before you paste
What happens to your link, honestly.
Where you are and what YouTube allows decide how a link starts.
In 31 countries a link starts free
When both your clock and your connection are in one of these countries, a pasted YouTube link starts with the free preview of its opening minutes: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia.
Everywhere else, a pack comes first
Outside those countries a YouTube link starts once a pack is on the account, from $4 for 300 minutes. The pack covers this video and your next ones, and the credits never expire. Uploading the video or audio file instead still takes the free preview in most regions.
When YouTube asks to sign in
YouTube sometimes answers an automated request with "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot". We try that link again on our own five times over the next day, and the recording updates when it goes through. To have it sooner, download the audio and upload it.
Private, members-only or removed
These cannot be fetched from a link. If the video is yours, download it from YouTube Studio and upload the file; it transcribes like any other recording.
What you get
What you get back from a YouTube link.
Works without captions
The transcript is made from the audio, so a video with no captions, or with captions in the wrong language, still comes back as text.
Punctuated paragraphs
The transcript comes back as readable, punctuated paragraphs, not the choppy fragments of auto-captions, so you can quote it, search it or paste it into notes.
Word-level timestamps
Every word carries a start time. Click any word in the viewer to seek the original video. Required when you're cutting Shorts or fact-checking a quote.
Five export formats
TXT for blogging. SRT and VTT for captions. DOCX for show notes. JSON if you're indexing or feeding an LLM. One transcription, all five exports — no re-runs.
Measured, not promised
What happened to the last 399 YouTube links.
Every YouTube link pasted on WhipScribe in the 30 days to 2026-10-26.
| What happened | Links |
|---|---|
| Finished with a transcript | 325 of 399 (81%) |
| YouTube asked us to sign in | 26 |
| Video unavailable, private or removed | 25 |
| Stream still live when pasted | 14 |
| Rate-limited, unreadable or other | 9 |
The median video was 38 minutes long; 131 ran over an hour and 38 over three hours. A one-to-two-hour recording took a median of 3 minutes to process and a two-to-four-hour one about 5 minutes, measured on every recording in the same 30 days (turnaround figures). Every failed link can still be uploaded as a file.
Other free tools
Free YouTube transcript tools, side by side.
Most free tools read the captions a video already has. That is fine until there are none.
| Tool | What its own page says |
|---|---|
| youtubetranscript.com | Loads the video's existing captions with jump-to-position timestamps and a copy-all button; no download formats named on the page. |
| Tactiq YouTube transcript | Free, no email; view, copy or download the transcript as a .txt file. The page does not say what happens when a video has no captions. |
| NoteGPT YouTube transcript generator | Free with no login; copies or downloads TXT with or without timestamps; says videos without transcripts can be generated with its AI. |
| WhipScribe | Transcribes the audio, so it works with or without captions. Timestamped text in about 99 languages, five export formats, up to 10 hours per video. Free preview of the opening minutes, then packs from $4 for 300 minutes. |
Read on each tool's own page on 2026-10-26. WhipScribe is not affiliated with YouTube or any tool named here. If a video already has good captions, any of the free caption readers is the quicker choice.
By language
YouTube transcripts in your language.
Pages with the language's own notes: scripts, dialects, mixed-language videos.
Bengali · Tamil · Marathi · Malayalam · Telugu · Urdu · Punjabi · Burmese · Nepali · Sinhala · Cantonese · Chinese · Japanese · Korean · Cebuano · Spanish · Portuguese
Need English subtitles for a video in another language: Spanish to English · Portuguese to English · Hindi to English · Korean to English, or every language on the subtitles hub.
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 $4 (300 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
$4/300 min
5 hours of audio — $0.80 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 300 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$18/3,000 min
50 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 3,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$32/6,000 min
100 hours of audio — $0.32 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 6,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
YouTube transcript questions, answered.
How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?
Open the video, expand the description and press Show transcript at the end of it; that is free when the video has captions. If there is no such button, or you need a file, paste the video's link into the box at the top of this page and the audio is transcribed for you, with timestamps.
Is there a free YouTube transcript generator?
Yes, when the video has captions: YouTube's Show transcript and free tools such as youtubetranscript.com, Tactiq's and NoteGPT's read those captions. WhipScribe transcribes the audio itself, so it also works without captions. Every recording starts with a free preview of its opening minutes; a pack from $4 (300 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export.
Can I convert a YouTube video to text with timestamps?
Yes. Every word carries a start time, the transcript view jumps to that moment when you click a line, and the TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON exports keep the timing.
Why does my YouTube link ask for a pack first?
A YouTube link starts with the free preview only when your clock and your connection are both in one of 31 countries (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, most of Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israel and the Gulf states). Elsewhere the link starts once a pack is on the account, from $4 for 300 minutes. Uploading the file instead takes the free preview in most regions.
YouTube says "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot". What now?
That is YouTube refusing automated downloads of that video for a while. We try the link again on our own five times over the next day, and the recording updates when it goes through. To have it sooner, download the audio and upload it here.
Does it work for videos without captions?
Yes. The transcript is made from the audio, not from YouTube's caption track, so it exists whether or not the video has captions.
Do I need to download the video first?
No. Paste the link and the audio is fetched for you. Private, members-only and removed videos cannot be fetched; for those, upload the file instead (over 500 MB continues on the upload page).
Can it transcribe a YouTube live stream while it is live?
No. A stream that is still live is refused until it ends. Once the replay is up, paste its link.
How long does a one-hour video take?
About two minutes of processing per hour of audio at the median, measured over 30 days, plus the time to fetch the audio from YouTube. You can follow progress on the page.
Is there a YouTube transcript API?
WhipScribe has an API that takes a link or a file; it comes with the 6,000-minute pack ($32) or Workspace ($19 a month), not with the smaller packs.
How much does it cost?
Every recording starts with a free preview of its opening minutes. One-time packs: $4 for 300 minutes, $18 for 3,000 and $32 for 6,000. Credits never expire.
How long can the video be?
Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per video.
Is my transcript 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 tools and pages.
Drop a YouTube link. Get a real transcript.
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Related
- The video's thumbnail too: YouTube thumbnail extractor, free.
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