How to Add a Transcript to Your YouTube Video

This guide is for creators. For someone else's video, see how to get the transcript of a YouTube video.

What a transcript is on YouTube

YouTube builds its text panel from a published caption track, so adding one means adding captions. YouTube's glossary:

• Transcript: the spoken words as plain text, without timings.
• Captions: timed text on a video.
• Closed captions: captions that also describe sounds.
• Subtitles: text translated from the spoken language.

What you need before adding a transcript

Check four things first, so the upload works the first time.

Access to the channel in YouTube Studio

Owners, Managers and Editors can add subtitles, and so can the Subtitle Editor role, which can do nothing else (Brand Accounts lack it).

A video language set on the video

Set it in Content: tick the videos, click Edit, choose Video language. Subtitle Editors need it.

A transcript or a timed subtitle file

Plain .txt has no timings, so YouTube adds them; an .srt or .sbv file has them for every line.

A computer, not the phone app

YouTube documents adding subtitles only in YouTube Studio on a computer, not in the Studio phone app.

How to add a transcript to a YouTube video in Studio

These steps follow YouTube's help center.

1. 01

   Open Subtitles in YouTube Studio

   Sign in to studio.youtube.com, select Subtitles in the left menu and click the video.

   

2. 02

   Add the video language

   Click ADD LANGUAGE and select the spoken language. Skip this if it is already listed.

   

3. 03

   Click Add under Subtitles

   In that language's row, under Subtitles, click ADD.

   

4. 04

   Choose how to add the text

   Upload file, Auto-sync or Type manually: see the next section.

   

5. 05

   Publish and check the Show transcript panel

   Publish, then open the panel from the description on YouTube and check the lines.

   

Upload a file, auto-sync or type: which method to use

Upload a file with or without timing

Select Upload file, choose With timing for .srt, .sbv and other subtitle files or Without timing for plain text, click Continue, pick the file and click Save.

Auto-sync a transcript you already have

Select Auto-sync, paste the words or upload a .txt file and save. In a few minutes YouTube aligns the text with the speech and publishes the track. The text must be in the spoken language, and speech recognition must support it.

Type or paste the text manually

Select Type manually, play the video and type or paste each line; timings are set as you go. Add sound cues such as [applause], then click PUBLISH.

Caption file formats YouTube accepts

For a first upload, YouTube recommends SubRip (.srt) or SubViewer (.sbv): basic timing, any text editor.

1
00:00:00,599 --> 00:00:04,160
Welcome back to the workshop.

0:00:00.599,0:00:04.160
Welcome back to the workshop.

SRT numbers each cue and puts a comma before milliseconds; SBV uses dots. See what an SRT file looks like.

1
00:00:00,420 --> 00:00:05,040
hello welcome or welcome back to my

2
00:00:02,879 --> 00:00:08,220
channel in this video I will be

1
00:00:00,420 --> 00:00:02,879
hello welcome or welcome back to my

2
00:00:02,879 --> 00:00:05,040
channel in this video I will be

How to format a transcript file for auto-sync

YouTube wants plain .txt in the spoken language:

• A blank line starts a new caption.
• Sounds go in square brackets: [music], [laughter].
• >> marks a new speaker.
• Save non-English text as UTF-8: in Notepad, Save as → Encoding UTF-8; in TextEdit, Format → Make Plain Text, then save as UTF-8.

>> Hi, I'm Dana, and this is the studio.

[music]

>> And I'm Sam. Let's start with the cheapest one.

If the text adds or skips sentences, check the timings.

Start from YouTube automatic captions instead

Fixing automatic captions is often faster than writing from scratch. YouTube makes them with speech recognition, in the default language only, and says to always review them.

Edit automatic captions in YouTube Studio

In Subtitles, click the video, then Edit in the Subtitles column. Choose Duplicate and edit, fix the lines and click Publish: the fixes become a new track.

Download, edit and upload the caption file

For bigger rewrites, click Options → Download subtitles in the same view. Edit it in Subtitle Edit or a text editor and upload it With timing. More in how to download YouTube subtitles.

Get the caption track with TranscriptYou

Our tool reads a public video's existing caption track from its link: copy the captions as text or save a .txt or .srt file. It uploads nothing to YouTube and has no speech recognition: no captions, no text.

When adding a transcript does not work

Auto-sync timings are off

The language may be unsupported, the text may not match the speech, or the video is long or noisy. Fix lines in Studio or upload a timed file.

YouTube rejects the subtitle file

Use a format from the table; re-save .srt and .sbv as plain UTF-8 without formatting tags.

Automatic captions never appear

Processing may be unfinished, or the language, length or sound defeats speech recognition. Upload your own file.

Viewers do not see Show transcript

Make sure the track is published. Otherwise see what else hides the panel.

Why add a transcript to your videos

Captions open a video to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and to speakers of other languages, and any line in the panel jumps to its moment. YouTube promises no ranking boost: caption for your viewers.