Transcribe YouTube to Text
The world's largest video platform with billions of hours of content.
Works with publicly available audio & video. DRM-protected content is not supported.
How to Transcribe YouTube
1
Copy the YouTube video URL from your browser or the share button.
2
Paste the URL into STT.ai and select your preferred AI model and language.
3
Click Transcribe and download your transcript as TXT, SRT, VTT, or DOCX.
Why Use STT.ai for YouTube?
Just Paste a URL
No downloads or extensions needed
10+ AI Models
Whisper, Canary, and more
100+ Languages
Auto-detection or manual
Export TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX
Subtitles, notes, documents
What to do with your YouTube transcript
Embed-ready SRT/VTT subtitles
Drop the file straight into YouTube or any player — timings preserved.
Multi-language captions
Generate translated subtitle tracks for global reach (100+ languages).
Searchable video archive
Publish the transcript so search engines index every word.
Frequently Asked Questions
Paste any public YouTube video URL into STT.ai. We fetch the video, extract its audio track, run it through your chosen AI model, and return the transcript with SRT/VTT subtitles — no download step required. Example YouTube link format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
No — STT.ai reads publicly-available YouTube content directly from the URL. Private or age/region-gated YouTube content has to be downloaded manually with the original account first, then uploaded as a file.
Yes. STT.ai includes 600 free minutes/month — usable for YouTube URLs exactly like uploaded files. Paid plans starting at $5/month extend per-item length limits.
Free users can transcribe YouTube content up to 1 hour per item; paid plans extend that to 8+ hours per item, enough for the longest YouTube video you're likely to hit.
For pre-recorded YouTube content, paste the URL and we do the rest. For a live YouTube stream, switch to STT.ai's live-transcription tool — point it at the stream and watch captions appear in real time.
DRM-protected YouTube content cannot be transcribed — we don't bypass DRM. For those, capture the audio through your OS (system audio recorder, OBS) and upload the resulting file directly.
Yes. 100+ languages, auto-detected by default. For mixed-language YouTube content, our models handle language switches mid-clip.
Yes. Speaker diarization runs on every YouTube transcription — Speaker 1, Speaker 2, … labels you rename in the editor. Works for YouTube interviews, debates, and panels.
Yes. Every YouTube transcript exports as SRT or VTT, ready to upload back to YouTube or any video platform — and our burn-subtitles tool can hardcode them onto the clip for reposting.
YouTube URL transcription accuracy tracks the source audio quality — clean studio audio reaches 93-95% with our best models; low-bitrate streams or noisy field recordings land lower.
YouTube transcripts are private to your account by default. Pro plans add client-side encryption — even STT.ai can't read them without your key. Source audio is deleted after transcription.
Yes. Submit multiple YouTube URLs through the REST API or the in-app batch upload — each is queued and you're emailed when it finishes. Useful for bulk-processing a set of YouTube links in one go.
Beyond YouTube, STT.ai supports 1,300+ platforms — including YouTube, Vimeo, and other video hosts. The /transcribe/ directory lists every supported source.