YouTube → text
YouTube to text from public captions
This page is the YouTube-to-text job: spoken words as a document you can search, quote, or paste into another tool. Captions come from YouTube’s public tracks. We do not re-transcribe audio on our servers. Paste a public link on this page to open the transcript.
How to get a YouTube transcript
Paste the link
Watch, Shorts, youtu.be, or an 11-character id. You land in the app with the transcript beside a privacy-friendly player.
Find the line
Search, skip intro/outro, or click two lines to keep a range. Click a cue to jump the video.
Copy or share
Copy plain text or Markdown with timestamp links. The result page keeps that video in the address and is not indexed.
What this transcript tool is for
Reading, not watching
Lectures, interviews, and long explainers are faster as text when you already know you need a quote or a definition.
One result page
After you paste, you stay on that video. This page explains the job; the result is the working document.
Edits stay on your device
Fix an auto-caption typo in Edit mode. Copies and downloads use the text you see.
No cookie wall
Public captions only. No account. We are not affiliated with YouTube or Google.
Typical transcript jobs
Interview quote
Search a guest’s name, copy three lines, paste into an article with a timestamp link.
Lecture notes
Skip the 45-second intro, copy the rest as Markdown into your notes.
Accessibility check
Read auto-captions before you rely on them; Edit if a term is wrong.
Limits
If YouTube never published captions (human or auto), there is nothing to extract. Age-restricted, private, and live-only videos often fail. We do not invent speech from the audio file on this page — use Audio if you need the soundtrack, or SRT if you need a subtitle file.
FAQ
Is YouTubeForge free?
Yes. No sign-up. Ads may appear around the page; the transcript itself is not paywalled.
Do you transcribe the audio with speech-to-text?
No. We load YouTube’s existing caption tracks. If the video has no captions, this tool cannot invent them.
Where does the transcript live after I generate it?
On the result page for that video. From there you can switch captions, translation, audio, a summary, or SRT. Those result URLs are not indexed.
Is there a length cap?
Captions: no extra cap. Video: about 4 hours at 360p, 3 hours at 480p, 90 min at 720p, 60 min at 1080p or 4K. Audio: about 3 hours.
Can I keep timestamps?
Yes. Copy with timestamps, Copy Markdown (YouTube time links), or download timed TXT.