YouTube Subtitle Downloader
Get an SRT or VTT File From Any Video
Just want readable text? YouTube transcript generator →
How to Download YouTube Subtitles
Paste the video link
Any public YouTube URL, including youtu.be short links and /shorts/. No extension and no sign-in.
Pick your format
.srt for almost every editor and player, .vtt for the web and for re-uploading to YouTube. Plain .txt if you only wanted the words.
Drop it into your editor
The file downloads with real cue timings, so it lines up when you import it rather than needing to be re-synced by hand.
What You Get
Real .srt and .vtt files
Written to the actual cue-block format, not a .txt renamed. Players that reject a relabelled file open these.
Timings that stay in sync
Start and end cues come from the video itself, so the file lines up on import instead of needing a manual re-sync.
Auto-captions work too
It does not matter whether the creator uploaded a caption track or YouTube generated one. Both download the same way.
AI fallback when there are none
No caption track at all still returns a subtitle file, transcribed from the audio.
Opens where you edit
Premiere, DaVinci, CapCut, VLC, and YouTube's own subtitle uploader.
No sign-up, no extension
Paste a link and download. Nothing to install and no account to create.
Why a subtitle file is not just a transcript
A transcript is the words. A subtitle file is the words plus a start and end time for every line, numbered in order. That timing is the entire difference: drop a transcript into an editor and you get one block of text sitting at zero seconds, which then has to be split and synced by hand.
It is also why renaming a .txt to .srt does not work, which is a common suggestion and produces a file most players refuse to open. The cue block has a required shape, and the files here are written to it rather than relabelled.
One honest limit. When a video publishes captions, the timings come from YouTube and are exact. When it does not, the subtitles are generated from the audio, and those cues are close rather than frame-accurate. Fine for reading along or drafting, worth a pass before you burn them into something you publish.
Frequently asked questions
How do I download subtitles from a YouTube video?
Paste the video URL above and choose .srt or .vtt when the result appears. The file downloads straight from your browser, with no extension and no account.
What is the difference between SRT and VTT?
SRT is the older, near-universal format that every editor and player reads. VTT is its web successor, and it is what YouTube expects if you are uploading a subtitle file back to a video. When in doubt, take the .srt.
Can I download subtitles from a video that only has auto-captions?
Yes. Auto-generated captions download the same way as uploaded ones. The timings come from YouTube either way, so the file stays in sync.
What if the video has no captions at all?
The audio is transcribed automatically and you still get a subtitle file. Those timings are generated from the speech rather than read from YouTube, so they are close but worth a check before you publish them.
Will the subtitles line up in my editor?
Yes. The file carries real start and end cues per line, which is the difference between a subtitle file and a transcript saved with the wrong extension. Import it into Premiere, DaVinci, CapCut or VLC and it should sit where it belongs.
Can I download subtitles in another language?
You get the caption track the video actually publishes. If a creator has uploaded several language tracks, the one returned is the default; if the video has none, the AI transcript is in whatever language is spoken.
Is this legal?
Downloading subtitles for personal use, accessibility, quoting, or translation is ordinary use. Re-uploading someone else's video or passing their content off as yours is not, and that part is on you rather than on the tool.
I just want the words, not a subtitle file
Then you want the transcript generator instead. It gives you clean copyable text without the cue timings and the numbering that make a subtitle file awkward to read.
Just want readable text? YouTube transcript generator →