Uploaded or automatic captions

Download YouTube captions

Get the caption text of any YouTube video that has captions, in the language it was written in. One video, a list of links, a playlist or a whole channel — and videos with no captions never cost you anything.

Download captions free → See pricing

10 videos free every day without an account · 25 free credits with a free account · credits never expire

Try it on a video now

Paste a YouTube link and read the transcript right here. No account, nothing to install.

10 free videos today · no account needed

How it works

01
Paste the video link

Copy the address from your browser bar or the Share button and paste it in. A link with a playlist or a start time in it works too: we read the video ID out of it and ask what you meant.
02
Pick the caption track

We list the caption tracks the video actually carries — the creator's own uploaded captions first, then YouTube's automatic ones, in every language available. Leave it on English or pick another.
03
Download the text

Read it in the browser, or download it as TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV, Excel or JSON. Turn on Timestamps to put a time against every line.

Why use Free YT Bulk Transcripts

Uploaded and automatic captions

A creator's own captions are punctuated and usually accurate. YouTube's automatic ones are neither, but they exist on far more videos. We show you which a video has, so you can choose rather than guess.

A miss costs nothing

Videos with captions switched off, private videos and deleted videos are listed in your result and never use a credit. You only ever pay for captions you actually received.

Every language the video carries

Captions come back in their original language and script — Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Spanish, Arabic and the rest — with no translation applied and nothing transliterated.

One video or a whole channel

Paste a single link, a list of them, a playlist or a channel address. Large runs come back as separate files or as one spreadsheet, whichever is easier to work with.

Good to know

"Captions" and "subtitles" come from the same track here. Captions usually means the text of what is said; subtitles usually means a timed file such as SRT or VTT that a player or editor loads next to the video. You can download either from one result.
YouTube's automatic captions carry no punctuation and will misread names, places and technical words. When a video has the creator's own captions, those are the better source — and we tell you which you are looking at.
We can only read captions a video already has. Nothing here listens to the audio, so a video whose captions are switched off cannot be read this way at all, by us or by any tool that works the same way.
Your first 10 videos each day are free with no account and no email. A free account adds the download formats and lets you paste many links at once.

Frequently asked questions

Can I download the captions of a video that has them turned off?

No. We read the caption tracks YouTube serves for a video, so if the creator switched captions off and YouTube has not generated automatic ones, there is nothing to fetch. The video still appears in your result, marked as having no captions, and it never uses a credit.

What is the difference between captions and subtitles?

In everyday use, captions are the text of what is said in a video, and subtitles are a timed file — usually SRT or VTT — that a video player or editor loads alongside the video. Both come from the same caption track, so you can download either format from the same result.

Are YouTube's automatic captions accurate enough?

For searching and summarising, usually. For quoting someone, no: automatic captions have no punctuation and regularly misread names, places and technical terms. If the video has the creator's own uploaded captions, pick those instead — we list them first for that reason.

Can I download captions from many videos at once?

Yes. Paste a list of links, a playlist address or a channel address and every video's captions come back in one run, as separate files or a single spreadsheet with one row per video.

Does it cost anything?

Ten videos a day are free with no account at all. A free account adds 25 credits and the download formats, and only videos that actually return captions ever use one.

More guides

Subtitles for video editorsYouTube subtitle downloader Free · no sign-up neededFree YouTube transcript generator Whole channels, newest firstDownload transcripts from an entire YouTube channel A time on every lineYouTube transcripts with timestamps Hindi, Telugu, Tamil & moreDownload transcripts of Hindi YouTube videos Spreadsheet-ready transcriptsExport YouTube transcripts to Excel and CSV The appBulk YouTube transcripts for videos, lists, playlists and channels