How to Get a Transcript of a YouTube Video (2026 Guide)
Getting the transcript of a YouTube video used to mean squinting at the caption panel and copying text one line at a time. In 2026 there are faster ways. Here are the three that actually work, from slowest to fastest.
Option 1: YouTube's built-in transcript panel
YouTube can show a transcript for most videos that have captions.
- Open the video.
- Click the ...more button under the title.
- Select Show transcript.
- A panel opens on the right with the timestamped text.
This is free and built in, but it has real limits. The text is often unpunctuated, you cannot get it for videos without captions, and copying a clean version out of the panel is fiddly. There is no summary and no easy export.
Option 2: Copy the captions manually
You can select the text in the transcript panel and copy it into a document, then clean it up by hand. This works in a pinch, but for a long video it is slow and you still end up with raw, unstructured text that needs formatting before it is useful.
Option 3: Use an AI transcript tool (fastest)
The fastest way is a dedicated tool that pulls the transcript, cleans it up, and formats it for you. With Brevyd's YouTube transcript generator you paste the link and get a clean, punctuated, timestamped transcript in seconds, even for videos that have no captions, because it transcribes the audio directly.
From there you can:
- Copy the full text or convert the video to plain text without timestamps.
- Summarize the video in one click to get the key points instead of the whole thing.
- Export subtitles as a base for an SRT file.
It works in 40+ languages and can return an English transcript from a foreign-language video.
Which method should you use?
If you only need a quick look and the video already has captions, YouTube's panel is fine. If you need clean, readable text you can actually work with, or the video has no captions, or you want a summary on top, an AI tool will save you a lot of time.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a transcript of a video without captions? Yes, with a tool that transcribes the audio directly rather than relying on existing captions.
Is it free? Brevyd's transcript generator is free and unlimited, with no signup required to try it.
Can I get the transcript in another language? Yes. Videos in 40+ languages are supported, and you can get an English transcript from a foreign-language video.
Ready to try it? Paste a link and get your transcript.