SRT with numbered cues
Each cue gets a number and a start and end time in HH:MM:SS,mmm, the format most video editors import.
Free · SRT · VTT · No sign-up
YouTube Shorts Subtitle Downloader: Download Captions From Any Short
Paste a YouTube Shorts link and download its subtitles as an SRT or VTT file with exact timings, or as plain text. Only the caption text is saved, never the video.
- SRT and VTT with timings
- Works with /shorts/ links
- Translate into 106 languages
This YouTube Shorts subtitle downloader saves the captions of a Short as a file you can open, edit or upload again. Paste a youtube.com/shorts/ link, press the button, and every caption line appears with its start time. From there you can download subtitles from YouTube Shorts as SRT or VTT with the original timings, or as TXT, Markdown, Word or PDF.
People look for how to download captions from YouTube Shorts for different reasons: a creator who lost the original caption file, an editor who wants to restyle captions, a teacher who needs the words of a clip, or a viewer who wants a translation. The tool reads the captions YouTube already publishes, so it works on phones and computers without an account or extension. It downloads caption files only, never the video or the audio.
VTT for web players
WebVTT files start with the WEBVTT header and use HH:MM:SS.mmm times, ready for HTML5 video and YouTube Studio.
Pick the caption track
If a Short has several caption tracks, switch between them. Auto-generated tracks are labelled so you know their source.
Fix lines before saving
Edit a misheard word in place or remove a line, and the downloaded subtitle file follows your changes.
Translated subtitles
Translate the subtitles into 106 languages line by line, keeping each line's timing, then download the translated SRT or VTT.
Captions only
Only text files are created, in your browser. The tool never downloads the video picture or the audio of a Short.
How does a YouTube Shorts subtitle downloader work?
Every Short is a YouTube video, so its subtitles live in the same caption tracks as a long video. They come either from the creator, who uploaded or typed them, or from YouTube automatic captions made with speech recognition. The downloader asks YouTube which caption tracks the Short has, fetches the one you choose, and turns its lines into a subtitle file in your browser.
Each caption line has a start time and a duration in milliseconds. The SRT and VTT files use those numbers directly, so the downloaded subtitles stay in sync with the Short.
A worked example (illustrative)
Imagine an example Short of 45 seconds where someone talks to camera. Its auto-generated track might contain about 20 caption lines and about 120 words. A line that starts at 12,400 ms is shown as 0:12 in the transcript view. In the SRT file it becomes cue number N with the time 00:00:12,400, and in the VTT file it is written 00:00:12.400 under the WEBVTT header. These figures illustrate how timings convert; they are not a measured result, and every Short has its own counts.
How to download subtitles from YouTube Shorts
The steps are the same on desktop, iPhone and Android, and take under a minute.
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1. Copy the Short link
In the YouTube app, tap Share on the Short and choose Copy link. On a computer, copy the youtube.com/shorts/ address from the browser bar.
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2. Paste it and load the captions
Paste the link into the box at the top of this page and press Get Shorts Subtitles. The caption lines load next to the embedded Short.
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3. Choose the caption track and check the lines
Pick the language track you want. Click a line to hear that moment, and edit or remove lines if anything needs fixing.
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4. Download SRT or VTT
Press SRT for most video editors or VTT for web players. The file is built in your browser and saved to your device right away.
How to download captions from YouTube Shorts on a phone
On iPhone or Android, copy the Short link from the Share menu, open this page in your browser, paste and tap the button. Tap SRT or VTT and the browser saves the file, usually to Downloads on Android or the Files app on iPhone. If you only want to read or reuse the words, Copy transcript is faster than downloading a file.
SRT or VTT: which subtitle file to download
Both formats carry the same words and timings. The difference is the header and how the time is written, which matters for the program you will open the file in.
| Format | Time format | Header | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SRT | HH:MM:SS,mmm (comma) | None, cues are numbered | Video editors, re-uploading captions |
| VTT | HH:MM:SS.mmm (dot) | WEBVTT on the first line | HTML5 video, web players, YouTube Studio |
| TXT | None, or m:ss per line when timestamps are on | None | Reading, quoting, AI prompts |
| Markdown | Clickable timestamp links when timestamps are on | Title and source link | Notion, Obsidian, blogs |
How to add captions to your own YouTube Short
Captions and on-screen text are two different things, and it helps to know which one you want before you start.
Add real captions in YouTube Studio
Open YouTube Studio, choose Subtitles, select your Short and add a language. You can type captions in the subtitles editor, let YouTube auto-sync a typed script, or upload a subtitle file such as SRT or VTT. Real captions can be turned on and off by viewers and are read by this tool.
Add on-screen text with the Shorts camera
The text tool in the Shorts camera places words on top of the picture. That text becomes part of the video itself. Viewers cannot turn it off, and it is not stored as a caption track, so it cannot be downloaded as subtitles.
Reuse a downloaded file
A common workflow is to download the auto-generated SRT of your own Short here, fix the mistakes in a text editor, and upload the corrected file in YouTube Studio. YouTube lists SRT and VTT among its supported subtitle files.
How to add text to YouTube Shorts after upload
After a Short is published you can still add or edit captions in YouTube Studio under Subtitles, because captions are stored separately from the video. On-screen text is different: it is part of the picture, so changing it usually means editing the clip and uploading it again. If your goal is accessibility or searchable words, captions added in Studio are the better choice.
How to watch YouTube Shorts without text
If the words on screen are captions, you can usually hide them with the captions (CC) control in the player menu. If the words are burned into the video picture, such as text stickers, they cannot be hidden by the viewer or removed by any caption setting, because they are part of the image.
YouTube Shorts text to speech feature: how to use it
In the YouTube app, the Shorts editor usually offers a text to speech option for text you add on screen: add text, select it, and choose text to speech so a synthetic voice reads it aloud. Menus change between app versions, so the exact taps may differ. Keep in mind that this creates a voice and on-screen text, not a caption file. If YouTube later produces automatic captions from that voice, those captions are what this downloader would read.
How accurate are downloaded Shorts subtitles?
A downloaded file contains exactly what YouTube publishes. Creator subtitles are usually accurate. Automatic captions struggle with background music, fast speech, slang and overlapping voices, which are common in Shorts, and YouTube says automatic captions can misrepresent spoken content. Check the lines before you rely on them, and use the in-place editor to fix words before downloading.
A Short with only music, or with captions turned off, has no subtitles to download. Private, age-restricted and members-only Shorts fail because they need a signed-in session that we do not bypass. Translated subtitles are machine translations from Google Translate, with MyMemory as a fallback, so jokes and slang may not survive.
Why this Shorts subtitle downloader is different
It accepts the /shorts/ link the app shares, works in a phone browser, and lets you fix the subtitles before you save them. Every point below can be checked on this page.
| Feature | This tool | Typical extension or app |
|---|---|---|
| SRT and VTT with exact timings | Yes | Often one format |
| Edit lines before download | Yes | Rarely |
| Translated subtitle file with timings kept | 106 languages | Varies |
| Works on iPhone and Android | Yes, in the browser | Often desktop only |
| Install or sign-up | None | Extension install or account |
| Downloads video or audio | No, captions only | Varies |
What we measure and what we do not
We read the caption track YouTube serves for the Short and keep each line's words, start time and duration, plus the track language and whether it is auto-generated. SRT and VTT files are generated in your browser from the visible lines. We do not transcribe audio, do not read text burned into the picture, do not rewrite captions with AI and do not download the video or audio. There is no account and no saved history. Transcripts are cached on our server for up to 12 hours, and each IP address can load 30 transcripts per hour.
Sources
Caption formats and how subtitles work for Shorts:
Frequently asked questions
How do I download subtitles from YouTube Shorts?
Copy the Short link, paste it into the box at the top of this page and press Get Shorts Subtitles. When the lines load, press SRT or VTT to save the subtitle file.
How do I download captions from YouTube Shorts on my phone?
Copy the link from the Share menu in the YouTube app, paste it on this page in your phone browser and tap SRT or VTT. The file is saved by your browser.
Does this download the Short video too?
No. It creates caption files only, from the text YouTube publishes. The video picture and the audio are never downloaded.
Can I download on-screen text from a Short?
No. Text stickers added in the Shorts camera are part of the picture, not captions, so they are not in any subtitle track.
How do I add text to YouTube Shorts?
For captions viewers can turn on and off, use the Subtitles section in YouTube Studio or upload an SRT or VTT file. For text drawn on the video, use the text tool in the Shorts camera before publishing.
How do I use the YouTube Shorts text to speech feature?
In the Shorts editor, add text on screen, select it and choose text to speech. The option names can change between app versions.
Can I download translated Shorts subtitles?
Yes. Translate the subtitles into one of 106 languages, then download SRT or VTT. Each line keeps its original timing.
Why are there no subtitles to download?
The Short has no captions: it may be music only, the creator may have turned captions off, or YouTube has not generated them. Private and age-restricted Shorts also fail.