Whether you are a researcher analyzing video content, a creator repurposing clips for social media, or a student archiving lectures, you will eventually need to download subtitles from youtube. Doing this manually by transcribing audio is incredibly time-consuming. GetTranscript simplifies this process by allowing you to extract accurate closed captions directly through an API or a clean web UI. Users can paste a URL on the homepage to try one video, or sign up for 50 free credits with no credit card required to process more videos.
What you need
You only need the standard web link to a public video that has closed captions available. No specialized video editing software or local transcription tools are required.
How to download subtitles from YouTube
- Copy the video URL: Find the video you want to extract captions from and copy its web address from your browser. Before you attempt to download youtube subtitles, check the video player to ensure a CC track actually exists.
- Paste the link: Open gettranscript.io and paste the copied URL into the main input field on the homepage.
- Select your format: Choose the file type that best fits your workflow. You can export a time-coded file for video editors or select a document format if you only want to read the transcript.
- Download the file: Click the download button to save the generated file directly to your local device.
Supported formats
GetTranscript supports a variety of output formats, allowing you to choose exactly how the transcript data is structured:
srt: The SubRip subtitle format is the most widely supported standard in the video production industry. Use this if you are importing captions into editors like Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, or Final Cut.vtt: WebVTT is the standard format for HTML5 web video players. It supports basic text styling and is ideal if you are embedding videos on your own website and want to ensure accessibility.plain text: This provides the raw dialogue with no timestamps, code, or metadata. It is the best choice when you want to read the transcript like an article or pass the text into an AI summarization tool.md: Markdown maintains a clean, readable structure while allowing for basic formatting. Use this if you are pasting transcripts directly into note-taking applications like Notion or Obsidian.json: This structured data format outputs the transcript as an array of text strings and precise timestamps. It is intended for developers who are using the API to feed transcript data into their own applications.txt_timestamped: This format provides a highly readable text document but includes periodic timestamps. Use it when you need to quickly scan a transcript and find the exact moment a quote appears in the video.
Common questions
Can I download auto-generated subtitles?
Yes. If the video creator has not uploaded a manual caption file, the system will automatically fall back to the auto-generated captions provided by the platform. These are typically highly accurate, though they may lack proper punctuation.
How do I get YouTube subtitles as text only?
Many users want to know how to download youtube subtitles as text for reading or studying. To do this, simply select the plain text option from the format dropdown before exporting. This strips out all timecodes and structural metadata, leaving you with a clean, continuous paragraph of dialogue.
Does it work on private or age-restricted videos?
No. The extraction tool can only process videos that are publicly accessible. If a video is set to private, unlisted (without the exact link), or requires an age-verification login, the system will not be able to connect to the video page to retrieve the caption track.
Extracting captions takes only a few seconds and saves hours of manual transcription work. The next time you need to download subtitles from youtube video content, simply head over to the GetTranscript homepage and paste your link to process your first video.