Get any video's transcript free, in your browser. YouTube no longer hands captions to third-party servers, which is why URL-paste transcript sites fail or charge. Your own browser still gets them, so the free Keywords Everywhere extension reads the transcript right on the watch page.
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Install the extension (free; the transcript feature uses no credits) and open any YouTube video.
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Find the Keywords Everywhere widget on the right of the watch page and open its video panel.
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Open the transcript. The widget reads it in your browser; the same panel can summarize the video for you.
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Copy it and paste it below to clean it up, download it as TXT, SRT, or VTT, or send it to a summarizer.
No extension? YouTube's own route works too: expand the video description, press "Show transcript", then select and copy the panel's text. The formatter below understands that copy, timestamps and all.
Transcript formatter
Paste a transcript in any shape (times on their own lines, inline, or none) and get clean paragraphs, stats, downloads, and hand-offs.
No timestamps were found in the paste, so the SRT and VTT exports are disabled; the text formatting still works.
How it works
Getting the transcript: YouTube serves captions to real browser sessions, not to third-party servers, so the reliable free route runs in your browser. The Keywords Everywhere extension adds a widget to every watch page that reads the video's transcript on the spot and can summarize it. YouTube's own "Show transcript" panel under the description is the manual alternative. Both give you text you can copy.
Formatting: the parser reads your paste line by line. It recognises timestamps whether they sit on their own line, which is how YouTube's panel copies them, or at the start of a text line. It then rebuilds the transcript as readable paragraphs, starting a new one about every 40 seconds of video. "Keep timestamps" puts each paragraph's [M:SS] start time in front of it. The word count and reading time update with the output. TXT saves the clean text. SRT and VTT rebuild proper caption cues from the recognised times, with each cue running until the next one starts.
Hand-offs: Summarize and Rewrite carry the full text into the AI Summarizer and the Paraphrasing Tool through your browser's local storage, because a transcript is far too long for a link. It lands already pasted and running. Make chapters opens the chapters formatter, which turns topic-change times into a valid chapter list. Everything on this page runs in your browser.
What you will see
- Install buttons
- The Chrome, Firefox, and Edge listings of the Keywords Everywhere extension. The transcript feature is free.
- Keep timestamps
- On: each paragraph starts with its [M:SS] time. Off: plain prose.
- Stats line
- Word count and estimated reading time of the formatted text.
- TXT / SRT / VTT
- Plain text, SubRip captions (HH:MM:SS,mmm cues), and WebVTT captions. The caption formats need recognised timestamps.
- Send it on
- One-click hand-offs that open the Summarizer or Paraphrasing Tool with the transcript already in place, or the chapters formatter for a chapter list.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?
There are two free ways. The fastest is the Keywords Everywhere browser extension. Open the video and use the widget it adds on the right of the watch page. It reads the transcript in your own browser, and you can copy it or have it summarized. The built-in way is to expand the video's description and press "Show transcript". You can select and copy the panel that opens. Either copy pastes straight into the formatter on this page.
Why do "paste a URL" transcript sites keep failing?
Because YouTube stopped serving captions to third-party servers. The caption endpoint sends those servers an empty response unless the request comes from a real browser session, and routing through proxies changes nothing. Sites that still work pay for large-scale scraping. This page works differently. Your own browser is where YouTube still serves the transcript, so a browser extension, or YouTube's own transcript panel, gets it for free.
Is the Keywords Everywhere transcript feature free?
Yes. The widget on YouTube watch pages, including the transcript and the "Summarize This Video" view, is one of the extension's free features and uses no paid credits. The extension installs on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge from the buttons above.
What transcript formats can this page produce?
Clean paragraph text, with timestamps kept as [1:23] markers or removed. A plain TXT download. And the two caption formats: SRT (numbered cues with comma milliseconds) and VTT (the web-native WEBVTT shape). The caption exports need timestamps in the pasted text. A transcript pasted without times still formats into paragraphs, and the export buttons tell you when cues are not possible.
How do I turn a transcript into an article or summary?
Format it here, then use the hand-off buttons. Summarize opens the AI Summarizer with the transcript already pasted in. Rewrite opens the Paraphrasing Tool the same way. The text moves inside your browser, because it is far too long for a link, so this page uploads nothing.
Can I make YouTube chapters from a transcript?
Yes. Keep the timestamps on, skim the formatted paragraphs, and copy the times where topics change into a chapter list. The YouTube Timestamp Link Generator checks the result against YouTube's chapter rules (0:00 first, at least three chapters, 10 seconds each) before you paste it into the description.
Are transcripts accurate?
Auto-generated ones are decent for clear speech by one speaker. They are weaker with accents, crosstalk, music, and jargon. Captions uploaded by the creator are as good as the creator made them. Auto-captions also arrive without punctuation, which is why the paragraph formatting here helps so much. Before publishing, skim for misheard names and product terms. The Proofreader catches the rest.
Is anything uploaded when I use the formatter?
No. The formatter, the stats, and the downloads all run in your browser. The transcript never leaves your device, and this page makes no network requests with it. The hand-off buttons pass the text to the destination tool through your browser's local storage, not through a server.