Free YouTube transcript generator

Get a YouTube transcript in seconds

Paste a YouTube link and download a clean transcript as CSV, TXT, SRT, or VTT. No signup, no install, just caption-based transcript files for notes, research, clips, and content ideas.

No signup Free to use CSV, TXT, SRT, VTT Works in browser
1. Paste link 2. Get transcript 3. Download files

Paste a YouTube link

We’ll extract available captions and build downloadable transcript files.

Free

No signup. Works best with public videos that have captions.

No video link ready? Click the example to see exactly what you’ll get.
Example output CSV, TXT, SRT, VTT
00:00:02

Turn captions into clean transcript files for notes, research, and content ideas.

00:00:07

Preview rows, copy text, or download a timestamped CSV.

Copy text Open in Sheets Create subtitles
Already have transcript text?

Paste any transcript below to turn it into a simple CSV. This fallback works even if a video has no captions or YouTube temporarily limits extraction.

Built for practical transcript work

YouTubeTranscriptOnline is operated by Paurhi Digital Services. The tool focuses on public videos with available captions, keeps the workflow free to start, and gives you structured exports you can inspect before downloading.

How the free YouTube transcript generator works

YouTubeTranscriptOnline reads available YouTube captions, converts each caption cue into transcript text, and builds CSV, TXT, SRT, and VTT exports that are easy to search, edit, and import into other tools.

1. Paste a video link

Use a standard YouTube, youtu.be, Shorts, or embed URL for a public video.

2. Extract captions

The server looks for English captions or auto-generated subtitles and normalizes the transcript text.

3. Download transcript files

Export row number, start time, end time, duration, and transcript text as CSV, TXT, SRT, or VTT.

Popular YouTube transcript tools

These pages target the main ways people search for transcript help: generator, downloader, extractor, YouTube to text, and CSV export.

Built for creators, students, marketers, and analysts

A timestamped YouTube transcript is useful when plain text is not enough. CSV format makes long videos searchable, sortable, and ready for downstream workflows.

Content repurposing

Turn video transcripts into blog outlines, social captions, newsletters, and quote libraries.

Research notes

Capture lecture, podcast, tutorial, and interview transcripts with precise timestamps.

SEO workflows

Analyze recurring topics, keywords, questions, and entities from videos in a spreadsheet.

What is inside the CSV?

Every export includes structured fields designed for spreadsheets, databases, and automation tools.

  • row: the transcript row number.
  • start_ms and end_ms: machine-readable timing in milliseconds.
  • start_time and end_time: readable HH:MM:SS.mmm timestamps.
  • duration_ms: caption cue duration.
  • text: transcript text for that cue.

FAQ

Is this YouTube transcript converter free?

Yes. The plan is to keep the tool free and support it with privacy-conscious display ads after AdSense approval.

Why did a video fail?

The most common reason is that the video has no available captions, is private, is region-restricted, or YouTube temporarily blocks extraction.

Does this download the video?

No. The app requests caption data and converts available transcript cues into CSV rows.

Can I use the CSV in Google Sheets or Excel?

Yes. The downloaded file is standard UTF-8 CSV and can be opened in Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers, Airtable, or a database.