How to Get the Transcript of a YouTube Video [Fast & Easy]

Trying to get a transcript of a YouTube video? It’s worth the effort and the SEO benefits of transcripts and captions has helped VEED’s YouTube channel generate over 40,000 new visitors to our site and go from 0 to 27K+ subscribers.

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In this article, we’ll teach you how to grab the YouTube video URL, load it into VEED, automatically generate captions, and then how to get the transcript of your YouTube video from the captions onto your computer!

Other methods like a paid transcriber that charges per minute of video footage can be expensive. And doing it manually by typing it out takes ages. 

With VEED, you can automatically generate your own transcript with a click of a button and even download an already-existing transcript from a YouTube video too!

Here’s how you can get a YouTube video transcript in less than 5 minutes. 

‍How to create and download a transcription for your YouTube video with VEED 

In a nutshell, VEED is an online video editor that lets you automatically generate captions for your videos. Here’s how you can create and download a transcript for your YouTube video.
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1. Let’s start by opening up the VEED video editor on your browser.

The video editor lets you upload a file directly from your computer or through a Dropbox link. If you have the video downloaded or ready on your computer, you can click on Upload a File and upload it through there.

2. Once your video is uploaded, click on the Subtitles tab at the left-side panel of your screen.

3. When you’re there, look for and select Auto Transcribe.

4. You’ll be asked to choose which language is being used in the video.

5. If you’re happy with everything, click on Start so that VEED can begin transcribing.

Again, this process can take several minutes, so either keep a quick YouTube video ready in the meantime or read this short list of benefits from using VEED. 

While you wait for the transcription to complete, here are some of VEED’s other useful features:

• Translate videos to and from other languages
• Trim and edit clips together
• Filters, video effects, drawings, texts, and other elements
• Resizing videos for difference social media platforms and exporting them at their ideal format specifications
  

6. Now that your transcription is done, you can go through it one by one in the timeline below or in the Subtitles panel.

You can edit the captions to correct and make sure the transcription is 100 percent accurate. 

7. When you’re done double-checking the subtitles and want to download your transcript, just go to the Options panel at the top-right corner of the Subtitles tab. Look for the Download option and select from .SRT, .VVT, .TXT formats to download the transcription.

Voila! You’ve successfully just transcribed and downloaded a copy of the transcription of your video. Congratulations on automatically generating your own subtitles with VEED. 

How to View Your YouTube Video Transcript on iPad

VEED’s interface has been optimized to look and function on the iPad just like it would on a laptop. 

When it comes to viewing your YouTube video transcriptions on an iPad, you just have to keep note of where it was saved. You can view saved and downloaded files on your iPad by launching Files and clicking on Browse. 

Go through the iCloud Drive at the side panel and then navigate to the Downloads folder. By default, this is where your downloaded transcriptions should be saved to.

How to download an uploaded transcript for one of your transcribed YouTube videos (or someone else's)

If you already have a YouTube video with captions but need to download that transcript instead, you can do so through YouTube using a neat little trick. You can also download and transcribe a YouTube video that’s not yours BUT do make sure you have permission from the owner of the content.
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1. Open the YouTube video with the subtitles you want to download. We’ll be using this old video from our very own studio for this example.
2. After that, scroll down and look for the Like and Dislike buttons. At the right side of that, there’s Share, Save, and a 3-dot icon. Click the 3 dots and select Open Transcript. That will open the entire transcript of the whole video. You can choose the languages at the bottom-left corner of the window. 
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Pro tip: If you need to find a specific part of a video and remember what the people in the video were saying, you can search for it in the transcript. Clicking on the caption or subtitle that you’re looking for will bring the YouTube video to that timestamp!

3. At the top-right corner of the window, click on the 3-dot icon and select Toggle timestamps to remove the timestamps. 
4. Finally, all you have to do is copy and paste the entire transcription from the window. Paste the transcription into a Notepad or some document and save it there.
   

Although it isn’t the most elegant method, it’s neat for YouTube to have this feature for everyone to use. 

How to download an uploaded transcript for one of your transcribed YouTube videos (or someone else's) on iPhone or iPad

Can you do this method if you’re on an iPhone or iPad? Yes and no.

The mobile YouTube app doesn’t allow you to look at and open the transcription of a YouTube video the same way it does on the browser. Unfortunately, the app just doesn’t support that functionality yet. 

That being said, you can open YouTube.com on Safari and then request for the desktop version of the website. From there, all the steps are the same with the method above. ‍

Here’s how you can ask for the desktop version of a website through Safari.

1. Open Safari and search for youtube.com.
2. When you’re there, tap on the aA icon at the top-left corner of your screen.
3. Look for and select Request Desktop Website. This will load YouTube the same way it would on the browser of your computer, so you’ll have all the functionalities from the previous method.

Once Safari loads in the desktop version, just follow the steps from the previous method to access the video transcription.

What else can you do with a YouTube video transcription?

How does making your life easier by making more content from existing content sound?

A video transcription is a great way to turn a video into a blog, so you can also gain viewers and traffic that way. Of course, you’ll have to change and format the transcription to suit the style of a blog, but having all your subtitles ready is easily half the work done.

Transcribing and adding in subtitles is also a great way to attract attention to your videos. If you’re trying to post a video on social media, subtitles add a ton of value. You’ll also be interested in knowing the proper video specifications for Instagram and Twitter, so you can upload videos without losing any quality.