YouTube Caption Downloader: Save Closed Captions as SRT or TXT
A YouTube caption downloader saves a video's subtitle track as a file you can keep: a timestamped SRT for players and editors, or plain text for comfortable reading. Closed captions were built for accessibility, and downloading them makes that text usable anywhere — offline, in translation tools, or next to your study notes.
Our free YouTube script extractor downloads both kinds of caption track: subtitles the creator uploaded manually and YouTube's auto-generated captions, in every language the video offers. Paste the link above and the caption file is one click away.
Free, no sign-up — paste a YouTube link and get the script in seconds.
Open the extractorHow to download captions from a YouTube video
Copy the video's URL from the address bar or the Share button and paste it into the extractor on the homepage. When the transcript appears, pick a format: Copy puts the text on your clipboard, TXT downloads a clean reading copy, and SRT downloads the timed subtitle file with each line's start and end time.
SRT is the universal subtitle format — media players, video editors, and captioning tools all open it. Choose TXT when you only want the words, without timestamps.
Captions for accessibility, beyond the video player
For deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, captions are the video. Downloading them extends that access beyond YouTube's player: the text works with screen readers and braille displays, can be enlarged or recolored freely, and stays available where streaming is impractical — a quiet office, a train with poor signal, an offline archive.
A downloaded caption file also outlives the upload: if the video is later removed or made private, your copy of the text remains.
Reading along: captions for language learners
Reading text while hearing it spoken is a widely recommended way to build listening comprehension. Download the captions of a video in your target language, keep the text open beside the video, and pause to look up words without losing your place.
Because the extractor supports captions in every language the video carries, videos in your target language work too: when there is no English track, the tool falls back to the first available one.
Translation workflows with downloaded captions
A caption file drops straight into translation tools and CAT software — far easier than working from YouTube's transcript panel. The plain text suits a quick machine-translation pass, while the SRT keeps the timestamps, so a translated file can be synced back to the video as a new subtitle track.
Manual vs auto-generated captions: accuracy caveats
Manual captions are typed or reviewed by a person, so they are usually accurate, punctuated, and split sensibly between speakers. Auto-generated captions come from YouTube's speech recognition: solid for clear speech, but they mishear names, numbers, and jargon, and often drop punctuation entirely.
Both kinds download the same way through the extractor — just treat auto-captions as a first draft. Fine for reading along and searching, but verify the wording before quoting it or publishing a translation.