Transcribe your own YouTube videos
Creators: download your own video from YouTube Studio and get a free transcript plus SRT captions to upload back. Runs in your browser.
Drop your video or audio file here
or click to browse. It’s free, no signup.
MP4 · MOV · WebM · MKV · AVI · MP3 · WAV · M4A and more
🔒 100% private: transcription runs in your browser. Your file is never uploaded.
YouTube’s automatic captions are a start, but they often miss names, slang, and punctuation, and you can’t easily reuse them as a script or blog post. If you made the video, FreeTranscribe gives you an accurate transcript and a clean SRT file you control.
This works with your own uploads: YouTube Studio lets creators download their videos. Downloading other people’s videos is against YouTube’s terms, so this page doesn’t help with that.
From YouTube Studio to captions in three steps
- In YouTube Studio, open Content, find your video, and choose Download from the options menu. You’ll get an MP4.
- Drop the MP4 above and transcribe it. Fix any names or terms in the text box.
- Download the SRT, then in YouTube Studio open Subtitles, add a language, and upload the file with timing.
More ways to use the transcript
- Turn the text into a blog post or newsletter that matches the video.
- Paste it into the video description for search engines and viewers.
- Translate a non-English video into English subtitles with the “Translate to English” option.
How it works
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Drop your file
Nothing is uploaded. The file stays on your device the whole time.
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AI transcribes locally
OpenAI’s Whisper model runs in your browser, so no server ever sees your file.
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Copy or download
Plain text, or timestamped SRT and VTT subtitles ready to use anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Can I paste a YouTube link instead?
No. The tool works on files on your device, which keeps it private and within YouTube’s rules. Creators can download their own videos from YouTube Studio.
Are my captions better than YouTube’s automatic ones?
Usually, especially with the “Accurate” setting, and you can correct anything before uploading. Your uploaded captions replace the automatic ones for viewers who choose them.
Which caption style should I pick?
Standard (up to two lines) suits regular videos. For Shorts, the Short style keeps captions to a few words at a time.