YouTranscripts
Free YouTube transcript generator with AI summaries
About YouTranscripts
YouTranscripts is a free web tool that turns a YouTube video into readable text. You paste a video link and it returns the transcript with timestamps, which you can search, copy, translate into 17 supported languages, summarize with AI or download as TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT or CSV. It is built for people who want to read, quote or revisit what was said in a video without replaying it, such as students working through lectures, researchers reviewing interviews and creators reusing their own material. The service is independent and says it is not affiliated with YouTube or Google.
The transcript is prepared from the spoken content that is available for a video, so it works for supported videos whose captions the service can reach, and its accuracy follows those captions, the audio quality, the language and the speakers. The AI part is the summary step: once a transcript is ready, a signed-in user can ask for a Quick, Detailed or Very Detailed summary of the main ideas and key takeaways. The privacy policy says summaries may be routed through OpenRouter to a model provider chosen by configuration, and that passwords, login tokens and payment details are not sent to a model provider. The whole service is free. Summaries need a free account but no credit card, there is no pricing page and no paid plan, and the terms describe a founding offer under which accounts created while it runs keep free summaries for the life of the account. The site reports more than 250,000 users and over 5 million transcripts created.
You copy the address of a YouTube video, paste it into the generator on the home page and select Generate Transcript. The service looks up the spoken content available for that video and prepares it as readable text with timestamps, which you can read as paragraphs and search inside.
To go further you sign in or create a free account. From there you can request an AI summary in one of three lengths, Quick, Detailed or Very Detailed, which pulls out the main ideas and takeaways of the video. You can also translate the transcript into one of 17 supported languages and read or download the translated text.
When you are done you copy the text or download it in the format you need: TXT or DOCX for notes and documents, PDF for sharing, SRT for a subtitle track in a video editor, or CSV for working with the lines in a spreadsheet. If a transcript cannot be produced, for example because the video is private, members-only, live, deleted or has no accessible captions, the service says so and points to a next step. A Chrome extension that shows transcripts and AI summaries directly on YouTube pages is listed as coming soon.
- •YouTube to Transcript - Paste a supported YouTube link and get a timestamped transcript of the spoken content, with paragraph reading, in-transcript search and copy. Private, members-only, restricted and live videos may not work, because the captions must be reachable by the service.
- •AI Summaries in Three Lengths - Signed-in users can create Quick, Detailed or Very Detailed summaries of the main ideas and key takeaways. There is no published monthly credit quota for normal personal use, though the Fair Usage Policy lets the service slow, queue or pause automated or unusually heavy traffic.
- •Translation into 17 Languages - A generated transcript can be translated into 17 supported languages and the translated text read or downloaded, which helps language learners and anyone researching sources in another language.
- •Five Download Formats - Transcripts download as TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT or CSV, so the same text can go into notes, documents, a subtitle track or a spreadsheet.
- •Multilingual Interface - The site itself is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Russian, Japanese, Indonesian, Arabic, Korean, Turkish and Traditional Chinese.
- •Free with No Card - Transcripts, summaries, translation and downloads are offered at no charge with a free account and no payment method. The terms say any future paid products would need their own pricing and terms before any charge.
YouTranscripts suits students who want notes from lectures and tutorials, and researchers who need to find and quote the key parts of interviews, talks and presentations without replaying them. The three summary lengths help both groups decide quickly whether a long video is worth watching in full, and the timestamps make it easy to jump back to the moment a point was made.
Creators can use it to turn their own videos or source material into a starting point for scripts, articles or show notes, and the SRT download gives them a subtitle file to bring into a video editor. Language learners can compare a transcript with its translation in one of the 17 supported languages, and people who simply prefer reading get the content of a video as searchable text.
Because it is free and asks for no card, it fits occasional users who would not pay for a transcription subscription. It is less suited to automated or bulk processing, which the Fair Usage Policy rules out, or to videos without accessible captions, where no transcript can be produced. Anyone republishing a transcript still needs the rights to the original video, which the service does not grant.
