Guides

Make SRT captions from a YouTube video

An SRT file is a timed caption list: index, start → end, then the line. CapCut, Premiere, DaVinci, and Descript ingest it directly. This site builds SRT from either YouTube captions or an AI transcript of the audio.

Copy the YouTube link

On desktop, open the video and copy the address bar. In the app, tap Share and copy the link. Paths often look like /watch?v= or /shorts/. Short youtu.be links also work. The video must be public.

Generate timed text

  1. Paste the URL into the tool.
  2. Leave the time range at 0–15 minutes, or pick a later 15-minute window for a long video.
  3. Use Extract if you want YouTube’s caption timing. Use AI if those captions are missing or in the wrong language.
  4. Download SRT. VTT is the web equivalent if you are embedding a player.

Drop it into an editor

If timings feel early or late by a fraction of a second, that usually comes from YouTube’s caption file, not from the download step. AI timing follows the audio clip you selected.

Accessibility vs. style

SRT from speech-to-text is a first draft. Clean names, add punctuation, and split long lines before you publish. This tool will not burn captions onto pixels; it only gives you the timed text.

Create SRT from a YouTube video