Free YouTube Transcript Generator (2026) | PasteQuill

What

PasteQuill’s Free YouTube Transcript Generator converts public YouTube video captions into readable, copyable text and downloadable TXT or SRT files. The page positions it for people who need video words without manually selecting YouTube’s transcript panel, such as researchers, students, creators, editors, and accessibility users. It solves the copy-and-export friction of YouTube captions and adds a confirmed AI transcription fallback for videos without captions, with free and paid usage limits.

Features

• Caption-first extraction for public videos: Returns the video’s own caption track when available, so users can read, copy, or download text without using YouTube’s transcript panel manually.
• Multiple output forms from one video: Provides a timestamped Transcript, a paragraph-style Script, TXT download, SRT subtitle download, and a Copy for ChatGPT option that adds a short summarization prompt.
• Broad YouTube link handling: Accepts youtube.com/watch, youtu.be short links, Shorts, live, and embed links; playlist, channel, search, and clip pages must be opened as individual video links.
• AI fallback for uncaptioned videos: After user confirmation, AI transcription can process audio, subject to limits such as 3 videos per day up to 3 minutes each and 20 minutes per day on the free tier.
• Account and retention model: Captioned extraction requires no account; results are saved for 24 hours, and Pro adds higher limits plus recent transcripts across signed-in devices.

Helpful Tips

• Start with captioned public videos. Caption extraction is free, requires no account, and has no set length limit; reserve AI transcription for uncaptioned videos, where free use is limited to 3 videos per day, 3 minutes each, and 20 minutes per day.
• Treat auto-generated captions as unverified source text. Names, numbers, and quotes can be misheard, so check important passages against the video before quoting or publishing.
• Choose output by task. Use the timestamped Transcript for locating moments, Script or TXT for clean reading, SRT for editing, and Copy for ChatGPT for summarization; copy or download results before the 24-hour retention window ends.
• Evaluate paid use against volume. Pro is $9 per month or $72 per year and raises limits to 60 minutes per AI video, about 300 minutes per month, and 200 caption requests per day. The tool works one public video at a time, does not translate or download video/audio, and has no public API; transcript access also does not grant republishing rights.