YouTube to text

Transcribe YouTube videos to text

Paste a YouTube link and DramaSub reads the audio into a timed subtitle file. You get an SRT you can load into any video player, drop into a subtitle editor, or use as plain text.

Works on anime, K-dramas, J-dramas, movies, interviews, and lectures. No software to install.

Transcribe a YouTube video

How it works

1

Paste your YouTube link

Drop in any standard URL: youtube.com/watch, youtu.be, or a Shorts link. No downloader, no video file to deal with.

2

AI transcribes the audio

DramaSub pulls the audio track and runs it through a speech recognition model. You watch a progress bar while it works.

3

Download your SRT file

Every line of speech is timed to the second. Load it as subtitles, open it in an editor, or copy the text out into a document.

Once processing finishes we email you the SRT file, and it also shows up on your profile page. Open the transcriber to try it.

When you actually need this

Plenty of YouTube videos already have captions you can grab. A lot do not. Fan-uploaded anime, region-locked dramas, old interviews, and content in languages YouTube's auto-captioning handles badly tend to come with nothing. For those, the audio is the only source, and that is what this tool reads.

Because the transcript is timestamped rather than a wall of text, you can sync it back to the video, retime it, or translate it later. See our subtitle translator if you want to take it into another language.

What you can transcribe

Anime with no subtitles

Fan-uploaded or region-locked episodes that never got official captions. If you can hear it, the transcript can read it.

K-dramas and J-dramas

Full episodes where the auto-caption track is missing or covers the wrong language. Get a clean timed transcript instead.

Interviews, podcasts, and lectures

Long-form talking content uploaded to YouTube. Turn hours of speech into searchable, timestamped text.

Old or regional footage

Archive clips, foreign-language news, and home-recorded talks where captions were never added.

Questions people ask

Do I need to download the YouTube video myself?

No. Paste the YouTube link and DramaSub pulls the audio on its own. You never touch a downloader or a video file.

What format is the transcript?

SRT. Every line of speech is timestamped to the second, so you can load it as subtitles or copy the text into a document.

Which languages can it transcribe?

Around 90 languages, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, and Spanish. The model auto-detects the spoken language, so you usually do not have to pick.

How long does transcription take?

Roughly a few minutes for a 20-minute episode. Longer videos take longer. You get an email when the SRT file is ready.

Is the YouTube transcriber free?

Yes. There is no paywall and no per-minute charge. DramaSub is free to use.

Turn a YouTube link into subtitles

Paste the URL and let the AI write the transcript for you.

Start transcribing