QuickTube

Convert a YouTube Video to Text

Paste a YouTube link and get everything said in the video as text. QuickTube turns the video’s captions into a transcript you can copy into notes, search, or save as a .txt file. Free, with no account.

How it works

  1. 1

    Copy the video link

    From the address bar or the Share button. youtube.com/watch, youtu.be and Shorts links all work.

  2. 2

    Paste it into QuickTube

    QuickTube fetches the captions for the video, in English when an English track exists and otherwise in the language the video has.

  3. 3

    Copy or download the text

    Read it in the Transcript tab, search for a word, or download the whole thing as a .txt file.

What you get

Plain text, ready to paste

The download is the spoken words as text, so it drops straight into a document, a notes app or an AI chat.

Timestamps when you need them

In the Transcript tab every line keeps its timestamp, so you can find where a sentence was said.

Search the text

Filter the transcript to every line that mentions a word or name instead of reading it top to bottom.

Turn the text into something shorter

One click gives you an AI summary, the best moments, or a quiz built from the same text.

Where the text comes from

QuickTube does not listen to the audio. It reads the captions YouTube already has for the video: captions the creator uploaded, or the ones YouTube generates automatically. That makes it fast, but it also means the text is only as good as those captions. Auto-generated captions often have patchy punctuation and can misspell names and technical terms.

If a video has captions turned off, there is no text to convert. Most public videos in widely spoken languages do have automatic captions.

Need subtitles instead of plain text?

Plain text drops the timing. If you want to load the captions into a video player or editor, use the subtitle downloader to save them as .srt or .vtt with every line’s start and end time.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert a YouTube video to text?

Paste the video link into QuickTube. It fetches the video's captions and shows them as text in the Transcript tab, where you can copy the text or download it as a .txt or Markdown file. It is free in the web app and needs no account.

Is QuickTube free?

Fetching and downloading YouTube transcripts in the QuickTube web app is free and needs no account. AI features such as summaries, highlights, quizzes and chat use credits. Visitors without an account get 30 free AI generations, and new accounts receive 400 free credits after verifying their email. More credits are available as one-time packs, with no subscription.

What if a video has no captions?

QuickTube reads the captions YouTube already has, either uploaded by the creator or generated automatically. It does not transcribe audio itself, so a video with captions turned off can't be transcribed or analyzed.

Does it work with videos in other languages?

Yes. QuickTube uses the captions in whatever language the video has them, preferring English when an English track exists. It does not translate them. Quizzes are written in the language of the transcript. Through the API you can ask for specific languages in order of preference.

Which YouTube videos work?

Any public YouTube video that has captions, whether uploaded by the creator or auto-generated by YouTube. Private videos and videos with captions turned off cannot be transcribed.

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