GuideDownload Transcript

Download a YouTube transcript — text now, subtitles if you need them

"Download" means different things depending on what happens to the file next. Pasting it into a document just needs text. Loading it into a video editor needs real timestamps — a subtitle file, not a paragraph. Both routes are free to start; only the second one needs more than copy-paste.

Get the text free →

Downloading as plain text — free, right now

Copy the video's link.
Paste it at https://rankfabrik.com/youtube-transcript and submit — no account.
Select the text and copy it into a note, a doc, or a script. That's the whole download: a flat block of text, flagged as auto-generated or human-written.

YouTube's built-in transcript panel offers the same select-and-copy route from inside the player — same result, no flag on whether the captions were auto-generated.

Downloading as SRT or VTT — for subtitles, not just reading

Plain text has no timestamps a video player can use. SRT and WebVTT do — each line of dialog carries the second it starts and ends. Neither the free web tool nor YouTube's own panel exports either format; that's what the Captions API adds. One request, formats=srt,vtt, and both come back built from the same timestamped segments the API already returns.

GET /transcrire?video=dQw4w9WgXcQ&langues=en&formats=srt,vtt

{
  "language": "en",
  "auto": false,
  "availableLanguages": ["en", "es", "fr"],
  "totalWords": 1240,
  "characters": 6820,
  "text": "We're no strangers to love…",
  "srt": "1\n00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,200\nWe're no strangers to love\n\n…",
  "vtt": "WEBVTT\n\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200\nWe're no strangers to love\n…"
}

srt and vtt only appear when you ask for them — leave formats out and the response stays lean, just the text and its metadata.

Pricing, in plain units

One event is one transcript returned — subtitle formats included at no extra charge, since they're built from data the API already fetched. Nothing is billed for a video with no captions to download.

$2.00/1k

transcript-auto — auto captions

$4.00/1k

transcript-human — human captions

Pay per transcript returned — you are charged only for events the actor actually returns, never for an empty run. Metered and billed by Apify; no separate RankFabrik account to open.

Run it on Apify → See Captions API pricing →

Questions

How can I download a YouTube transcript for free?

Paste the video's link into the free generator at https://rankfabrik.com/youtube-transcript and copy the text out — that costs nothing and needs no account. What you get is plain text with no timestamps baked in. YouTube's own transcript panel offers the same select-and-copy route, one video at a time, with no download button of its own.

How do I download it as an SRT or VTT subtitle file, not just text?

That's a step up from copy-paste: SRT and VTT are timestamped subtitle formats, built from the transcript's segments, and neither the free web tool nor YouTube's panel produces them directly. RankFabrik's Captions API does — add formats=srt,vtt to a request and the response carries both, ready to drop into a video editor or a player.

Does downloading a transcript cost anything?

Reading one transcript by hand, free tool or YouTube's own panel, costs nothing either way. Automating downloads — SRT/VTT export, batches of videos, timestamped chapters — runs on the Captions API, billed per transcript actually returned ($2.00–$4.00 per 1,000); a video with no captions to give is never billed.