Paste a link, get text
No file uploads and no audio processing to wait for. Paste a watch, youtu.be, Shorts or live link and the text appears beside the video.
Free · Online · No sign-up
YouTube Video to Text Converter
Convert a YouTube video to text by pasting its link. You get the full spoken text in seconds, ready to copy, edit or download as TXT, Word, PDF or subtitles.
- Works with any captioned video
- Copy or download as text
- Free, no account
Clean paragraphs or timed lines
Turn timestamps off for plain reading text, or keep them on to see exactly when each sentence was said.
Save it the way you need
Download a TXT file, a Word document, Markdown or a PDF, or grab SRT and VTT subtitle files with timings intact.
How to convert a YouTube video to text
Turning a YouTube video into text takes under a minute, on a computer or a phone:
- Open the video on YouTube and copy its link from the address bar or the Share button.
- Paste the link into the box above and press Convert to Text.
- Read the text next to the video. Hide timestamps if you want clean paragraphs.
- Copy everything in one click, or download it as TXT, Word (.doc), PDF or Markdown.
A free YouTube video to text converter online
This YouTube to text converter is free and runs entirely in your browser. There is nothing to install, no account to create and no trial that runs out after a few videos.
It works by retrieving the captions YouTube already publishes for the video: subtitles uploaded by the creator when they exist, or YouTube’s automatic speech-to-text captions otherwise. That is why a long video converts almost instantly, and why creator-written subtitles come back word for word.
Transcribe a YouTube video to text: what to expect
Because the text comes from YouTube’s captions, the quality matches what you see when you turn on CC in the player. Creator subtitles are usually accurate and punctuated. Auto-generated captions are good for clear speech but can miss names, technical terms and punctuation, so skim them before quoting.
If a video has no captions of any kind, there is no text to convert. We do not re-transcribe audio, so in that case no tool on this site can help, and the honest answer is that the video needs captions first.
Convert YouTube to text in other languages
Many videos ship with several caption tracks. Switch to the language you want, such as Hindi, Spanish or English, and the text updates instantly. Auto-generated tracks are labelled so you know which is which.
If your language is not among the tracks, translate the transcript into any of 100+ languages. Each line keeps its original timestamp, so clicking a line still jumps the video to that moment.
What people do with YouTube text
- Turn a lecture or tutorial into notes you can search and highlight.
- Pull quotes from an interview without replaying it over and over.
- Repurpose a video into a blog post, newsletter or social thread.
- Paste the text into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to summarise it or ask questions about it.
- Read a video when you cannot play sound, or skim it faster than you could watch it.
Is this a YouTube video to text converter with AI?
The conversion itself does not use an AI model: it reads the captions YouTube has already produced, many of which come from YouTube’s own speech recognition. Once you have the text, you can hand it to any AI assistant. Our prompt pages give you ready-made instructions for summaries, notes, quizzes and more.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a YouTube video to text?
Copy the video link, paste it into the box at the top of this page and press Convert to Text. The full text appears next to the video, ready to copy or download.
Is this YouTube video to text converter free?
Yes. It is free to use online with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit you have to pay to lift.
How do I transcribe a YouTube video to text for free?
Paste the link here. If the video has captions, creator-made or auto-generated, you get the complete transcript as text at no cost.
Can I convert a YouTube video to text in Word?
Yes. After the text loads, choose the Word download to get a .doc file you can open in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. You can also copy the text and paste it straight into a document.
Can it convert a YouTube video to text in Hindi?
If the video has a Hindi caption track, select it from the language menu. Otherwise, translate the transcript into Hindi with the built-in translation.
Which website converts YouTube video to text without installing anything?
This one. It works in any desktop or mobile browser, so there is no app or browser extension to install.
Why did a video not convert?
The video has no captions, or it is private, age-restricted or members-only. We only read captions YouTube makes publicly available.
Does it work with Shorts and live streams?
Yes. Shorts and past live streams work the same way as regular videos, as long as YouTube has captions for them.
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