YouTube Transcript Downloader
Get the full transcript of any YouTube video and copy or save it as text — free, with timestamps, no account needed.
Free · No sign-up · Works on any public YouTube video
Get the transcript out of YouTube and into your notes
YouTube's own transcript panel is read-only in practice: you can select text, but you lose the formatting, the timestamps run together, and there is no export. This tool gives you the whole transcript as clean text ready to copy into a document, a notes app, or an AI chat.
It works on any public YouTube video that has captions — either the creator's own or YouTube's auto-generated ones. A small number of videos publish neither, and those have no transcript to extract.
Copy the whole thing at once
One action takes the entire transcript, not the visible portion of a scrolling panel.
Timestamps preserved
Timecodes stay attached to their lines, so the saved text is still navigable later.
Plain text, no lock-in
Output is ordinary text. Paste it anywhere — Docs, Notion, Obsidian, ChatGPT, a script file.
How to download a YouTube transcript
- 1
Paste the video link
Copy the YouTube URL and paste it into the field above.
- 2
Generate the transcript
The full timestamped transcript loads in seconds.
- 3
Copy and save
Copy the text and paste it into whatever document or tool you want to keep it in.
Who needs a saved transcript
Note-takers
Keep the source text alongside your own notes so you can quote it accurately months later.
Researchers
Pull the actual argument out of a conference talk or interview, with timestamps you can cite, without watching the whole recording.
Creators
Mine podcasts and interviews for quotes, scripts, and references, or repurpose your own videos into blog posts and show notes.
Anyone using AI tools
Paste a full transcript into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to summarize or interrogate it yourself.
Transcript download FAQ
How do I download a YouTube transcript?
Paste the video link above, wait a few seconds for the transcript to generate, then copy the text and save it wherever you like.
Does it include timestamps?
Yes. Every line keeps its timecode so the saved transcript remains navigable.
Is there a limit on how many transcripts I can get?
The tool is free to use and rate-limited only to prevent abuse. Normal use will not hit the limit.
Do I need an account or an extension?
No. Transcripts here are free with no sign-up. The free JumpWatch Chrome extension adds AI summaries and chat directly on the YouTube page if you want them.
Get AI summaries and chat on every video
The transcript is free here. Add the free JumpWatch extension to summarize and chat with any video without leaving YouTube.
Add to Chrome — FreeOr browse recent transcripts.