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Free YouTube tool

YouTube Documentary Transcript

Paste a documentary's YouTube link to get all the narration and interviews as text with timestamps. Search it, take notes, or cite it in your work. Free, no sign-up.

How to get a documentary transcript

  1. 1

    Copy the documentary link

    Full-length documentaries, series episodes, and short docs all work.

  2. 2

    Paste it above

    Narration and interviews load as text with timestamps, even for two-hour films.

  3. 3

    Study or cite it

    Search for a name or event, open Notes for an outline, or download the text as PDF.

Research from documentaries

Students and writers use the transcript to find facts, names, and dates quickly, then click a line to check it in the film.

Watch with the text

Read along with the narration, look up unfamiliar terms, and jump back to any part with a click.

Need more?

Need transcripts at scale? Use the API

The same transcripts are available through the YouTube Transcript API: timestamped JSON, text, SRT, VTT, CSV, or Markdown, 150+ languages, and AI transcription for videos without captions. Or connect the YouTube MCP server to Claude, Cursor, or Codex and just paste links in chat.

curl "https://transcript-yt.com/v1/transcript?url=5f3Pn-N6yLc&format=text" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ts_live_..."
Get a free API key See the API

Common questions

Can I cite a documentary using the transcript?

Yes. Quote the exact words and include the timestamp so readers can find the moment in the video.

Can I get notes from a documentary for school?

Yes. Open the Notes tab for an outline with timestamps, or the Summary tab for the main points.

Can I translate a documentary?

Yes. Translate the transcript into 150+ languages and read it with the original above each line.

Does it work with long documentaries?

Yes. Feature-length films load like any other video, as long as they have captions.

What if the video has no captions?

The free tool reads the captions YouTube already has, creator-uploaded or auto-generated, and most videos with speech have them. For a video with no captions at all, click Transcribe the audio with AI: it's on paid plans and credit packs, at 1 credit per minute.