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How-To
How to Download YouTube Captions & Subtitles (Complete Guide)
YouTube videos often contain valuable captions and subtitles — whether manually added by creators or auto-generated by YouTube. This guide shows you how to download them for offline use, translation, content creation, or accessibility.
Online Transcript Tool
RecommendedPaste the YouTube URL and download captions in seconds.
YouTube Studio
For your own videos — download captions directly from Creator Studio.
Browser Dev Tools
Advanced method — extract caption files from the network tab.
Method 1: TranscribeYouTube (Fastest & Easiest)
- Copy any YouTube video URL.
- Go to TranscribeYouTube.com.
- Paste the URL and click Generate Transcript.
- Click the Download button.
- Choose your format: TXT, SRT, VTT, JSON, or Markdown.
Method 2: YouTube Studio (For Your Own Videos)
- Go to YouTube Studio.
- Select your video → Click Subtitles.
- Click the caption track you want to download.
- Click the 3 dots → Download.
- File downloads as .srt or .vtt.
Format Breakdown
SRT
Universal subtitle format. Works with VLC, Premiere Pro, and most players.
VTT
Web standard. Best for HTML5 video players and websites.
TXT
Plain text. Perfect for reading, notes, or documents.
JSON
Structured data with timestamps. Great for developers.
Why Download Captions?
- Translate captions into other languages
- Create blog posts or articles from video content
- Study educational videos with searchable text
- Add subtitles to republished videos
- Archive important video content as text