YouTube has over 800 million videos. Educators, journalists, students, and content creators all need to extract the spoken words from videos regularly. Whether you want to quote a speaker, repurpose content, create subtitles, or study a lecture, getting a YouTube transcript used to be painful. Today, it takes about 20 seconds.
Two Ways to Get a YouTube Transcript
Option 1, YouTube's built-in captions (limited)
YouTube offers auto-generated captions on some videos. You can access them by clicking the three dots below the video โ Open transcript. The problem: they're often inaccurate, not available for all videos, and can't be exported cleanly.
Option 2, AI transcription with Dokitscript (recommended)
Dokitscript uses advanced AI with human-level accuracy to transcribe YouTube videos with much higher accuracy, in 90+ languages, directly from the URL. No download, no extension needed.
Works on YouTube Shorts too. Dokitscript supports both regular YouTube videos and YouTube Shorts, same URL paste workflow.
How to Transcribe a YouTube Video, Step by Step
Copy the YouTube URL
Go to the YouTube video. Copy the URL from your browser's address bar, or tap Share โ Copy link on mobile.
Paste into Dokitscript
Go to dokitscript.com, paste the URL, and choose your language (or keep Auto-detect).
Read, copy or save your transcript
Click Transcribe. Your full transcript appears in 15โ45 seconds depending on video length. Copy it or find it later in your history.
YouTube Auto-Captions vs Dokitscript
| Feature | YouTube captions | Dokitscript |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | Medium | High (advanced AI with human-level accuracy) |
| Languages | ~20 auto | 90+ |
| Always available | No | Yes |
| Clean export | No | Yes |
| Works on Shorts | No | Yes |
| Free | Yes | Yes (5/mo) |
Common Use Cases
- Students, Transcribe lectures, interviews, or documentaries for notes.
- Journalists, Quote speakers accurately without replaying the video.
- Content creators, Repurpose your YouTube video into blog posts, newsletters, or social media content.
- Researchers, Analyze spoken content at scale across multiple videos.
- Language learners, Read along while listening to improve comprehension.
Plans & Limits
| Plan | Videos/month | Price |
|---|---|---|
| No account | 1 try | Free |
| Free account | 5/month | $0 |
| Starter | Unlimited | $4.99/mo |
| Pro | Unlimited | $14.99/mo |
Frequently Asked Questions
Transcribe YouTube Videos for Free
5 transcriptions per month, no credit card required.
Try It Now โAlso available: YouTube Shorts Transcription Tool ยท TikTok to Text ยท Instagram to Text ยท Audio to Text ยท How to Transcribe a Podcast