Question 1

How do I get a transcript from a YouTube video?

Accepted Answer

Paste the full YouTube video URL into the input above and click "Extract Transcript". The tool fetches the video, pulls the captions, and returns a plain-text transcript in seconds. No account or API key is needed for single lookups.

Question 2

Is this YouTube transcript extractor free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. This tool is completely free for individual use. You can extract transcripts one at a time without signing up or providing a credit card. For bulk or programmatic access, use the CreatorCrawl API with 250 free credits on signup.

Question 3

Can I extract YouTube transcripts in bulk?

Accepted Answer

This page handles one video at a time. For bulk processing, use the CreatorCrawl API. One API call per video, structured JSON response with both timestamped segments and a plain-text field, and you can process thousands of videos programmatically.

Question 4

Does it work with YouTube Shorts?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The extractor works with standard YouTube videos and Shorts as long as the video has captions available. Most uploaded videos include auto-generated captions, so coverage is high across the platform.

Question 5

What format are YouTube transcripts returned in?

Accepted Answer

On this page you get plain text, which you can copy straight to your clipboard. Through the API, each response includes both a full plain-text transcript and a timestamped segment array with start and end times in milliseconds, making it easy to pipe into LLM summarisation, RAG pipelines, or subtitle workflows.

Question 6

Does the YouTube Data API support transcripts?

Accepted Answer

No. The official YouTube Data API v3 does not return video captions at all. You need to use the internal timed-text endpoint, which is unofficial and changes without warning, or a dedicated transcript API like CreatorCrawl.

Question 7

Can I use YouTube transcripts for AI workflows?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The plain-text output feeds straight into LLM summarisation, sentiment analysis, topic modelling, RAG retrieval, fine-tuning, and semantic search pipelines. Always ensure your downstream use complies with YouTube Terms of Service and applicable copyright laws.

YouTube Transcript Extractor

How It Works

Paste the URL

Extract transcript

Copy and use

What You Can Do With YouTube Transcripts

Content Repurposing

LLM Summarisation and RAG

SEO and Keyword Research

Frequently Asked Questions

Need Bulk YouTube Transcripts?

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