| name | youtube-transcript |
| description | Download YouTube transcripts using yt-dlp. Outputs markdown with timestamps (default) or VTT. Use when extracting subtitles/captions from YouTube for analysis or reference. |
YouTube Transcript Downloader
Quick Start
python scripts/download_transcript.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
Options
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|
--lang LANG | en | Language code |
--format {md,vtt} | md | Output format |
--output-dir DIR | . | Output directory |
--auto-only | - | Auto-generated subs only |
--list | - | List available subtitles |
--check-setup | - | Verify environment |
Examples
python scripts/download_transcript.py "URL" --list
python scripts/download_transcript.py "URL" --format vtt
python scripts/download_transcript.py "URL" --lang es --output-dir ./transcripts
Output Formats
Markdown (default):
# Transcript
**[00:00:00]** Hello everyone and welcome back.
**[00:00:03]** Today we'll be discussing...
VTT:
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.500
Hello everyone and welcome back.
Setup
python scripts/download_transcript.py --check-setup
brew install yt-dlp
pip install yt-dlp