YouTube Transcript Extraction

Extract subtitles and transcripts from YouTube videos.

Methods

Method Tool When to Use

CLI yt-dlp Fast, reliable, preferred

Browser Chrome automation Fallback when CLI fails

API youtube-transcript-api Python programmatic access

yt-dlp Method (Preferred)

Basic Command

yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --write-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" "VIDEO_URL"

Key Flags

Flag Purpose

--write-sub

Download manual subtitles

--write-auto-sub

Download auto-generated subtitles

--sub-lang LANG

Specify language (en, zh-Hans, etc.)

--skip-download

Don't download video

--cookies-from-browser chrome

Use browser cookies for restricted videos

Common Issues

Issue Solution

Sign-in required Add --cookies-from-browser chrome

No subtitles found Video has no captions available

Age-restricted Use cookies from logged-in browser

Browser Automation Fallback

When CLI fails, use browser automation:

• Open video page - Navigate to YouTube URL

• Expand description - Click "...more" button

• Open transcript - Click "Show transcript" button

• Extract text - Query DOM for transcript segments

DOM Selectors

Element Selector

Transcript segments ytd-transcript-segment-renderer

Timestamp .segment-timestamp

Text .segment-text

Output Formats

Format Extension Use Case

VTT .vtt Web standard, includes timing

SRT .srt Video editing, media players

TXT .txt Plain text, no timing

Convert VTT to Plain Text

Strip timing and formatting

sed '/^[0-9]/d; /^$/d; /WEBVTT/d; /-->/d' video.vtt > video.txt

Language Codes

Language Code

English en

Chinese (Simplified) zh-Hans

Chinese (Traditional) zh-Hant

Spanish es

Multiple en,es,zh-Hans

Best Practices

Practice Why

Try manual subs first Higher quality than auto-generated

Use cookies for restricted Avoids sign-in errors

Check multiple languages Some videos have better subs in other languages

Verify transcript exists Not all videos have captions