Free YouTube Transcribe

Copy a YouTube Transcript

One click.
Whole transcript.

Copy the full transcript of any YouTube video to your clipboard in one click. With timestamps or as clean paragraphs. Free, no sign-up.

Works with youtube.com links, youtu.be short links, and Shorts. No account, no quotas, no catch.

The copy button YouTube forgot to build

To copy a YouTube transcript, paste the video link into the box at the top of this page and press the copy button. The entire transcript lands on your clipboard in one click, no dragging through a scrolling panel, no timestamps to strip out by hand.

YouTube does show transcripts, but copying from its panel means selecting hundreds of lines by hand and inheriting a timestamp on every one of them. For anything longer than a clip, that turns a simple copy into ten minutes of cleanup. Here the cleanup is already done.

With timestamps or without

The timestamped view copies each line with its moment in the video, which is right for citing quotes or building show notes. The plain text view merges everything into readable paragraphs first, which is right for documents, emails, and drafts. The copy button always exports the view you are looking at.

Copy for AI, prompt included

The "Copy for AI" option wraps the transcript in a ready made prompt before it hits your clipboard. Paste that into ChatGPT, Claude, or any assistant and it already knows to summarize the video, pull key points, or draft from it. One paste replaces the whole setup. See the transcript for ChatGPT page for the full workflow and a few prompts worth trying afterward.

Long videos are fine

Lectures, podcasts, and multi hour streams copy just as fast as clips. There is no length cap and no per day limit, because the text comes from the caption track YouTube already publishes for the video.

Prefer a file instead of the clipboard? Download the transcript as TXT, SRT, or VTT with the subtitle downloader, or read about the plain text workflow on the YouTube to text page.

Copying transcripts: common questions

How do I copy a transcript from a YouTube video?

Paste the video link into the box above, wait a few seconds for the transcript to load, and press the copy button. The whole transcript lands on your clipboard in one click, with timestamps or as clean paragraphs, whichever view you have selected.

Why not copy from YouTube’s own transcript panel?

YouTube’s "Show transcript" panel only lets you select text by dragging through a long scrolling list, and every line comes with its timestamp glued on. Here one click copies the whole thing, and the plain text view gives you readable paragraphs with no timestamps to strip out.

Can I copy the transcript without timestamps?

Yes. Switch to the plain text view and the lines merge into clean paragraphs with no timestamps. Copy from that view and you get text ready to paste into a document, a note, or an email without any cleanup.

What is the "Copy for AI" button?

It copies the transcript wrapped in a ready made prompt, so you can paste it straight into ChatGPT, Claude, or any assistant and ask for a summary, key points, or a draft based on the video. It saves you writing the instructions yourself.

What actually lands on your clipboard

The copy button is simple to press and easy to get wrong once. Here is exactly what each view puts on your clipboard, how a pasted line reads once it lands, and how to get precisely the text you want out of it rather than the whole transcript when you only needed a line.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Pick a view before you press copy

    The copy button always exports whichever view is on screen. Choose the timestamped view for citations, or plain text for anything you plan to paste straight into a document.

  2. 2

    Copy the whole transcript in one click

    There is no drag to select and no long list to highlight by hand. One press of the copy button puts the entire transcript, in the view you chose, onto your clipboard, whether it runs to ten lines or ten thousand.

  3. 3

    See what a pasted timestamped line looks like

    Paste into a document or a notes app and each line arrives as its timestamp followed by the spoken text, ready to reformat as a quote or a citation.

  4. 4

    Use Copy for AI when you want a summary next

    Instead of the raw transcript, this option copies the text wrapped in a ready made prompt, so pasting into an assistant produces a summary rather than a wall of text you still have to read yourself.

  5. 5

    Narrow down to one stretch first

    The copy button always exports the full transcript. If you only need one part of a longer conversation, search for the phrase in the timestamped view, then select and copy that stretch by hand instead.

  6. 6

    Switch language before you copy, not after

    If a video has more than one caption track, pick the language you want in the picker first. The copy button exports whichever language is showing, so copying then switching languages just means copying again.

Good to know

  • The plain text view strips timestamps before you copy, so you never have to delete them by hand afterward.
  • Copy for AI attaches the prompt only to what is on the clipboard. The transcript shown on the page does not change.
  • A short confirmation appears once the copy has worked, so you do not need to open your clipboard manager to check.
  • There is no limit on transcript length. A two hour interview copies in the same single press as a two minute clip.
  • Copying does not consume anything or use up an allowance, so copying the same transcript five times in a row works exactly like copying it once.

Worked examples

Quoting an interview

Stay on the timestamped view, copy the transcript, and paste the exact line you need into your article along with its timestamp, so a reader or an editor can check the source rather than trusting your memory of what was said.

Drafting show notes for a podcast

Copy the plain text version into your notes app, then lift out the topics discussed and their rough order, since the paragraphs already read cleanly with no timestamps in the way.

Getting a second opinion from an AI assistant

Press Copy for AI instead of the plain copy button, paste into your assistant, and ask a follow up question about a specific claim once the summary comes back. The pasted text already carries the video title and a request for key points, so there is no setup typing to do first.

What actually lands on your clipboard: frequently asked

What exactly gets copied when I press the button?

Whatever is on screen when you press it, the full transcript in either the timestamped or plain text view. Switching views before you copy changes what lands on your clipboard.

What does a pasted line look like in a document?

In the timestamped view, each line pastes as its timestamp followed by the spoken text. In plain text view, the timestamps are gone and the lines read as ordinary paragraphs.

Can I copy just one section of a long video?

The copy button always exports the entire transcript. To grab one part, search for it in the timestamped view, then select and copy that stretch by hand.

Does copying work the same way on a phone?

Yes. The page and the copy button work in any modern mobile browser, and the transcript pastes the same way it does on desktop.

Will pasting a copied transcript into an AI assistant work without Copy for AI?

Yes, a plain copy pastes fine into any assistant. You would just need to type your own request for a summary or key points, which is exactly what Copy for AI adds automatically.

Does the copy button work before the transcript finishes loading?

No, it copies whatever text is currently loaded, so wait for the transcript to finish appearing on the page before you press it.

If I copy the transcript twice in a row, does the second copy overwrite the first?

Yes, copying replaces whatever was previously on your clipboard, the same as copying anything else does. Paste the first copy somewhere before you copy again if you need to keep both.