YouTube to Text — Transcribe YouTube Videos Free Online

Use Whisper Web's built-in media downloader to save the YouTube video, then transcribe it locally. The AI processes the audio track and generates a full transcript with timestamps. The entire process runs in your browser — no account or signup needed, and your video stays private.

Yes — local mode is completely free with no account required. Unlike TurboScribe (3 free transcriptions/day) or Otter.ai ($16.99/month after 300 minutes), Whisper Web runs the AI model on your device with zero server costs and no usage caps.

OpenAI Whisper achieves a 4.2% word error rate on standard benchmarks — comparable to professional human transcribers. On clear YouTube audio, accuracy typically exceeds 95% across 100+ languages. Selecting a larger model (Small or Medium) improves results on videos with background music or multiple speakers.

Yes. Every transcription includes precise timestamps for each segment, showing exactly when each passage was spoken. Export as JSON with timing data, or generate SRT/VTT subtitle files ready to upload back to YouTube or any video platform.

Yes. Whisper automatically identifies the spoken language in the video. You can also manually select the language before transcription for optimal accuracy. This works for 100+ languages including English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, French, German, and Arabic.

Yes — your video file never leaves your device. All processing runs locally in your browser via WebGPU or WebAssembly. Zero audio or video is uploaded to any server, with no data collection. You can verify by disconnecting from the internet after the model loads; transcription continues to work.