01 / THE PANEL
Show transcript sits in the video description.
How to see the transcript on YouTube starts in the video description. YouTube's help page says you can see the full transcript of any video that has captions. You can read along, find a part, or tap a line of caption text to jump there.
In the video description, click Show transcript. While the video plays, the transcript scrolls to the current caption text. Click a line and the video moves to that part. The same page says you can use the transcript to find chapters when the video has chapters, and other information depending on the video, such as people and places mentioned in it and affiliate products.
That article gives no separate steps for the phone app.
Caption settings are a different control. On a computer, Closed captions sits at the bottom right of the player when captions are available, and a click turns them on or off. On Android, and on iPhone and iPad, tap the player once, then Closed captions. If that control is absent, those articles say captions are not available. Closed captions is the switch for captions on the picture. The caption-settings help pages do not mention Show transcript.
02 / NOT SHOWING
No captions means there is no transcript to open.
When the transcript is not showing, the help page names no second button, and it does not describe a panel that opens empty. The transcript is for a video that has captions. A video with no captions has nothing for Show transcript to open. That is the case this note treats as not available.
YouTube's help on automatic captioning, written for the person who uploaded the video, lists why those captions may be missing. They may not be ready yet, because processing depends on how complex the audio is. The language may be unsupported. The video may be too long. The sound may be poor, or the speech may not be recognized. A long silence at the start can block them, and so can overlapping speakers or more than one language at once. If none were published and the creator added none, the transcript page's condition is not met.
On that page, live automatic captions are described for English and are not on for every channel. After the live stream ends, YouTube generates new automatic captions the way it does for an on-demand video, and those captions may differ from the ones shown during the live stream. The pages read do not blame a missing transcript on a browser or a region.
03 / COPY OR SAVE
The panel is for reading. A saved file is separate.
On YouTube, the panel can be read, and a line can be clicked so the video jumps to that part. On a computer, you can try selecting the text in the panel and copying it. YouTube's transcript help does not mention a copy button, and it does not mention saving a file.
The help page's step is still the description: click Show transcript there. What to do with a link, and how a result is saved, is written out on how to get a transcript of a YouTube video and on the YouTube transcript downloader.
When this site has the captions, you can copy the text, or save TXT, SRT, or VTT. TXT is the words for reading. SRT and VTT need time information; without it, those two are not offered. One video at a time. When more than one caption language is present, they appear as a menu. The downloader is also linked from the YouTube page at the front of this site. If the clock on each line is the part you do not want, a transcript without timestamps explains which of the three files leaves the times out.
04 / THE LINK COMES BACK EMPTY
An empty result is not one kind of miss.
A pasted link can come back with no text. The page usually says what went wrong. The wording on the page can change, so it is not quoted here. Do not read every empty result as YouTube refusing the captions.
If the video has no captions, there is nothing to copy, on the panel or from the link, and the paste box stays off. If the video would not play, it may be private, removed, or a live replay, and the paste box stays off. This note does not explain how to open a private video. If the page offers a paste box and the video has a transcript, open the video on a computer, use Show transcript, and try pasting the lines into the box on the YouTube transcript downloader. If you already hold a file, upload it there.
The transcript help page does not give separate steps for the phone app. To copy the lines, a computer is the steadier place.
05 / NO CAPTIONS
Upload a file only when you already have it.
No captions means no panel, and no transcript from a pasted link. Speech recognition on this site runs from a file you already have, such as a video you recorded. Nothing here is a way to save the YouTube video or its audio, and no tool for doing that is named.
The mp4 to transcript page names the formats and the ceiling: MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, MOV and WebM, 20 minutes and 200 MB. The downloader's upload card names MP4, MOV, MP3, M4A and WAV, and a 20-minute ceiling. The walkthrough that sets the link route next to the file route is how to transcribe a video with no captions.
06 / QUESTIONS
Can I see the transcript in the YouTube app on a phone?
The transcript help page does not give separate steps for the app. It says to click Show transcript in the description. On Android, and on iPhone and iPad, Closed captions is the switch for captions on the picture. Those caption-settings pages do not mention Show transcript. To copy the lines, a computer is the steadier place.
Why is the YouTube transcript not showing on some videos?
The help page ties the transcript to a video that has captions, so no captions means it is not available. Automatic captions may still be processing, or may never be created, for a reason YouTube lists: language, length, sound, a long silence at the start, or overlapping speech.
Can I download the transcript as a file?
YouTube's transcript help does not describe a copy button or saving a file. When this site has the captions, the words can be copied, or saved as TXT, SRT or VTT. SRT and VTT need time information. The file is the transcript, not the video.
What if the transcript is not working when I paste the link here?
The answer depends on which miss the page names. With no captions, there is nothing to copy and the paste box stays off. If the video would not play, it may be private, removed, or similar, and the paste box stays off. If the page offers a paste box and the video has a transcript, try copying it from Show transcript on a computer and pasting it there. If you already have a file, upload it.
READY WHEN YOU ARE
Open the description, then the text.
Paste one YouTube link on the downloader, or copy the lines from Show transcript on a computer.
Open the YouTube transcript downloader ↗