YouTube Transcript Extraction

Extract subtitles and transcripts from YouTube videos.

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Methods

Method	Tool	When to Use
CLI	yt-dlp	Fast, reliable, preferred
Browser	Chrome automation	Fallback when CLI fails
API	youtube-transcript-api	Python programmatic access

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yt-dlp Method (Preferred)

Basic Command

yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --write-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" "VIDEO_URL"

Key Flags

Flag	Purpose
--write-sub	Download manual subtitles
--write-auto-sub	Download auto-generated subtitles
--sub-lang LANG	Specify language (en, zh-Hans, etc.)
--skip-download	Don't download video
--cookies-from-browser chrome	Use browser cookies for restricted videos

Common Issues

Issue	Solution
Sign-in required	Add --cookies-from-browser chrome
No subtitles found	Video has no captions available
Age-restricted	Use cookies from logged-in browser

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Browser Automation Fallback

When CLI fails, use browser automation:

1. Open video page - Navigate to YouTube URL
2. Expand description - Click "...more" button
3. Open transcript - Click "Show transcript" button
4. Extract text - Query DOM for transcript segments

DOM Selectors

Element	Selector
Transcript segments	ytd-transcript-segment-renderer
Timestamp	.segment-timestamp
Text	.segment-text

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Output Formats

Format	Extension	Use Case
VTT	.vtt	Web standard, includes timing
SRT	.srt	Video editing, media players
TXT	.txt	Plain text, no timing

Convert VTT to Plain Text

# Strip timing and formatting
sed '/^[0-9]/d; /^$/d; /WEBVTT/d; /-->/d' video.vtt > video.txt

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Language Codes

Language	Code
English	en
Chinese (Simplified)	zh-Hans
Chinese (Traditional)	zh-Hant
Spanish	es
Multiple	en,es,zh-Hans

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Best Practices

Practice	Why
Try manual subs first	Higher quality than auto-generated
Use cookies for restricted	Avoids sign-in errors
Check multiple languages	Some videos have better subs in other languages
Verify transcript exists	Not all videos have captions