How do you get subtitles from a YouTube video?
Many YouTube videos have no subtitles, and YouTube’s automatic captions usually come without punctuation, with misspelled names and only inside the platform. With this tool you paste the video link and the AI writes its subtitles from scratch, with punctuation, well-split lines and exact timings, in a file you can download and use anywhere.
It works with regular videos, Shorts and finished live streams, as long as they are public or unlisted. Our server fetches only the audio track, and Whisper, OpenAI’s speech model, transcribes it in your browser. You then see every line with its timing, fix whatever needs fixing and download the SRT to upload to your channel, your editor or the subtitle translator if you need another language.
If the video is yours, uploading a reviewed SRT improves accessibility and helps YouTube understand what it is about, which also counts for search. If you only want the captions the video already has, the subtitle translator downloads them instantly from its “From YouTube” tab.
How to generate subtitles for a YouTube video
- Copy the link of the YouTube video (“Share” → “Copy link”).
- Paste it into the link field and press “Use link”: we fetch only the audio.
- Pick the language (or leave it on automatic) and the accuracy, then press “Generate subtitles”.
- Check the text and fix any word by clicking on it.
- Download the SRT or VTT file and upload it to your editor or social network.
What are YouTube subtitles good for?
- Subtitle your own YouTube videos and upload the SRT to your channel.
- Get the transcript of a lecture, talk or interview on YouTube to study or quote it.
- Prepare subtitles to turn a long video into clips, Reels or TikToks.
- Get a starting SRT to translate a video into other languages.
- Make a video accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.
What you get
- SRT subtitles (YouTube, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, CapCut) and WebVTT (VTT) for the web, or plain text.
- Almost 100 languages with automatic detection, plus direct translation into English.
- 42-character lines for landscape video or 32 for vertical video, as the platforms recommend.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from YouTube’s automatic captions?
YouTube’s captions only live inside the platform and usually come without punctuation and with randomly cut lines. Here Whisper writes the text with punctuation, splits it into readable subtitles and lets you correct and download it as SRT or VTT to use anywhere.
Does it work with any YouTube video?
With public videos, yes. Private videos, private accounts and videos that require signing in can’t be read from a link: in that case, download the video and upload it as a file.
How accurate are the subtitles?
We use Whisper, OpenAI’s open-source speech recognition model. With clear speech it gets the vast majority of words right; names or very specific terms may need a fix, which is why you can edit every subtitle before downloading.
What happens to the video?
To read the link, our server downloads only the video’s audio track and deletes it shortly after; we don’t keep the link or the title. The AI transcription runs in your own browser. If you’d rather nothing goes through a server, download the video and upload it as a file.
Is it free?
You get one free try: one video. If something fails, it isn’t used up. With ToolStudio Pro you get unlimited use of every tool, can subtitle many videos at once and see no ads. You can cancel anytime.
