Free YouTube Transcript Generator
Paste a YouTube link to get the full transcript with timestamps, download as TXT or SRT. No captions on the video? Transcribe it with AI in 99 languages.
Paste a YouTube link above to get the full transcript with timestamps, then download it as TXT or SRT. The tool reads the video's existing captions first, so it usually returns a result in seconds and does not count against your quota.
If a video has no captions, or the auto-generated ones are too rough to use, you can transcribe it with AI instead. That path uses the same speech recognition engine Meco runs for meeting minutes, covering 99 languages with proper punctuation and speaker separation.
How to get a transcript
- 1Paste the video link
Any YouTube URL works: youtube.com/watch, youtu.be short links, links with a timestamp, and videos inside a playlist. Private and age-restricted videos will not work, because the tool visits YouTube as a signed-out viewer.
- 2Sign in to see the result
Results appear after you sign in. AI transcription costs real processing money, and an account also lets you reopen past transcripts instead of generating them again.
- 3Pick your format
TXT gives you clean running text for reading or pasting into a document. SRT keeps the timestamps, so it drops straight into VLC, Premiere, or back onto your own video as a subtitle track.
- 4Need better accuracy? Run AI transcription
This runs speech recognition on the video's actual audio. Slower than reading captions, but it gets punctuation, names and technical terms right, and it separates speakers on multi-voice videos.
What this tool does
Every segment carries its time marker, so you jump straight to the part you need instead of dragging the progress bar.
TXT for reading and quoting, SRT for subtitles. Both are UTF-8, so accented characters survive opening the file on Windows.
AI transcription handles English, Vietnamese and dozens of other languages, including speakers who mix two languages inside one sentence.
When captions already exist the tool only fetches and reformats them, which costs almost nothing to run, so this path does not touch your 5 free hours.
Where this tool falls short
YouTube auto-captions are unreliable for names, numbers and technical vocabulary, and they get noticeably worse outside English. If you need a transcript accurate enough to quote, use the AI path rather than trusting the existing captions.
Existing captions carry no speaker labels. On an interview or a panel you get one continuous block of text with no way to tell who said what. The AI path separates speakers.
Private videos, members-only videos and region-blocked videos cannot be fetched, because the tool accesses YouTube without signing in as you.
The AI path consumes processing quota. The free plan includes 5 hours for the lifetime of the account, so a two-hour video uses close to half of it.
FAQ
Is the YouTube transcript generator free?
Yes. Fetching existing captions is free and uses no quota. Only AI transcription counts against your processing quota, and the free plan already includes 5 hours for the lifetime of the account.
Why do I have to sign in to see the transcript?
Because AI transcription costs real processing money, and an account lets you reopen any past transcript instead of generating it again. Signing up takes about thirty seconds and needs no card.
Does the transcript include timestamps?
Yes. Every segment is timestamped, and the SRT download keeps those markers so the file works as a subtitle track.
Can I get a transcript in a language other than English?
Yes. If the video has captions in that language the tool fetches them directly. If not, AI transcription covers 99 languages and returns properly punctuated text.
Can it process an entire playlist?
Right now the tool handles one video at a time. For a playlist, paste each link, or use the import-from-link feature inside the main app when you need to process several recordings in sequence.
Will my transcript be public?
No. Every transcript stays inside your account and is private by default. Other people can only see it if you deliberately create a share link.
Same engine, pointed at your own meetings
The speech recognition behind this tool is what Meco uses to turn a meeting into minutes with a summary, a list of decisions and action items.
The difference is that Meco needs no bot in the room, so it captures in-person meetings, client conversations in a café and phone calls. The free plan includes 5 hours for the lifetime of your account, no card required.
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