3 Ways To Transcribe Your YouTube Video Into Text (FREE & PAID)

Yesterday I was sitting in a coffee shop watching a YouTube video, but couldn’t hear what the video was saying because the noise around me drowned out the sound of the video.

If the video contained subtitles or closed captions, I’d be able to read the closed captions
while watching the video.

In the video below, you’ll learn 3 ways to transcribe a YouTube, video into text using free and paid options so you can reach a wider audience. You’ll also learn the top benefits of transcribing your video and how to repurpose it to get more views and subscribers.

Click here to Get My New Video Course
“SECRETS TO AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT” You’ll discover how to hook your viewers’ attention, get them to spend more time on each video, and motivate them to watch more videos from your channel, so YouTube will recommend your content to other channels.

Free Captioning Options

The free ways to add close captions to your YouTube video is editing the autogenerated transcript from YouTube or upload a transcript you created or got created by someone else.

I’ll discuss how you can get a transcript done for you later in the video.

• Click on the content tab on YouTube studio.
• Select the video you wish to add subtitles and close captions to.
• I’m gonna add close captions to this Shorts video.
• Click on the pencil icon that says details.
• To add subtitles. you can click the subtitles in the left hand column, or you can click on subtitles.

There are 3 ways you can add captions to your videos.

• You can upload a file. This contains a text of what is said in the video.
• You can auto sync the video, which means you can type and paste in a full transcript of the video, and the timings will be set automatically
• You can type them manually. This creates subtitles and closed captions by typing
  them in as you watch the video.

Type text manually while watching the video

Videos that are captioned see an increase in watch time compared to
videos that don’t have the captions.

• Click type manually.
• Play the video.
• Tap the YouTube app.
• Now I just type in my words
• Just add captions as you’re listening to the video.
• If you want to enter subtitles faster, then you can use the keyboard shortcuts.
• Just click on keyboard shortcuts, and here’s all the different shortcuts you can use.
• After you’ve finished adding your closed captions, you can click save draft, or you can click Done.

Enable Closed Captions for a video you want to watch

Captions or subtitles are available to videos where the owner has added
them or where YouTube automatically adds them.

Here’s how to turn a default setting for captions on or off.

• Click on your profile icon.
• Click on settings.
• Click on playback and performance .
• Check “always show captions”
• Check the box that says, “Include autogenerated captions when available.”
• This option turns on or off automatic captions for videos when they’re not available for that video.

Here’s how to turn on closed captions for a video you want to watch on YouTube, as long as the owner has made closed captions available.

• Go to the video you’ll want to watch.
• Click on CC at the bottom of the video.
• Now you’ll see the closed captions at the bottom of the video.

Enable Autogenerated Captions

Here’s how to upload a transcript you’ve created or got created by somebody else.

• Click on subtitles,
• click on upload file.
• You can select with timing, or you can select without timing.
• I’m gonna select without timing.
• Click continue.
• I’ve got my transcript text here, so you just select that.
• Click open, and here’s my transcript.
• If I click edit timings, then it’ll generate all the text for the particular captions on my video.
• If I click on auto sync, I can select all the text from my transcript and post it here.
• Here’s the text from my transcript and I’m gonna copy all that text.
• Paste it in here, then click edit timings, and here all the timings will automatically be set for that particular text.
• If I’m happy with that, I just click done.
• If I click on subtitles, I can now see that I’ve got the autogenerated transcript and I’ve also got my edited transcript right here.
• Now, if I play the video, you can see the subtitles have been added to the bottom of my video.

Paid Options To Transcribe A Video

The paid options to create a transcript of your video content include online software
as well as an online service.

Create Transcripts With Free Online Video and Image Editor

Kapwing is a free online video editor that allows you to repurpose your content on other social media platforms.

The free version of Kapwing includes…

• Unlimited exports with a watermark.
• Create videos up to 7 minutes long
• Use the auto subtitler for 10 minutes per month.

Pro Version
The most popular paid version is only $16 per month, which gives you…

• No Kapwing watermark on your creations.
• Create videos longer than 60 minutes,
• Unlimited auto subtitling in minutes,
• HD video quality,
• Unlimited cloud storage,
• Access all video editing tools.

Autogenerate subtitles and closed captions with Kapwing

• After you’ve signed in, click create new project,
• Upload or drag and drop your video file here, or you can just paste your URL in the box.
• So I’m gonna do that Now it’s fetching, and here’s my shorts video.
• Then I can create subtitles, so click subtitles,
• Click Auto generate.
• This will auto generate subtitles using a transcription API only take a few minutes.
• I can also switch the language and create subtitles and close captions for any language.
• If I wanna translate it, click translate.
• Then I can select the language that I wish to translate it into.
• This will generate all the subtitles for that particular language.
• Click Transcribe.
• Click Auto Generate
• Now it’s auto generating all the subtitles for this particular Shorts video.
• Now I can go through my video to edit the captions & correct any mistakes.
• Play the video
• Now you can edit each line of text to fix mistakes.
• So I would go through all these to generate these closed captions and subtitles for my Shorts video. After I’ve finished generating all the closed captions and subtitles, I just click Done.
• As you can see, the captions are added directly to the video.
• Here’s the finished video with the closed captions on the video.
• So I can copy the link or I can just download the file.
• So if I want to download this transcript and upload it to YouTube,
• Just click “Download Transcript”, and here’s my transcript file with all the edited text

Human Generated Transcription Service (GoTranscript)

If you want to get your videos professionally and accurately transcribed by humans use GoTranscript

• After you’ve signed up for GoTranscript, click place your order.
• Select transcription, then upload your files or drag and drop your files here to upload them.
• You can also paste a url.
• So if I click paste URL, I can enter the YouTube URL in the box here then click add.
• Click done.
• It will show you your order summary here.
• Total price, $7.
• Turnaround time is 3 days, or you can select 5 days, which is cheaper.
• Select your payment option,
• Click place order.
• You’ll receive an email that your order has been processed.
• We’ll let you know when your order is finished.
• Within a few days, you’ll receive an email that your transcription has been completed,
• Click Download transcription.

Top Benefits For Adding Closed Captions To YouTube Videos

When you add close captions or subtitles to YouTube videos, it means that people who can’t hear or have the sound turned off can read the captions under your videos while watching the video.

A transcript gives your viewers the ability to consume your content anywhere at any time. For example, they can consume your content at work with the sound turned off. It could be on the bus, in a noisy coffee shop, or while waiting for the doctor in a waiting room.

Ultimately, transcribing your videos leads to a bigger and broader audience, resulting in more views and subscribers.

Repurpose Transcript For More Views

After you’ve transcribed your video, you can use that transcript to reach a wider audience. For example, you can copy and paste the text from your transcript to add video chapters in the description below your video. This will enable viewers to skip to the section that they’re most interested in.

Another way to repurpose your video transcript is to use it as a blog post. Typically, I’ll post a transcript on my blog and embed the YouTube video in the transcript. This helps my video get ranked in Google search by ranking on the first page of YouTube. As a result, the external traffic from Google drives more views and subscribers to my channel.

For example, this video ranks at the top of Google search and drives new views and subscribers to my Channel every day.

Another way to repurpose your video transcript is to use it on social media sites. For example, I’ll take a 6o second clip from my YouTube video and upload it as a Reel to Instagram. I’ll use the text from my transcript to add subtitles to the Reel.

Another way to repurpose your transcript is to use it as lead magnet in exchange for contact information. You can convert your transcript into a free ebook, free report, or free template, and viewers can download it in exchange for contact information.

This is a great way to build a large email list. When you upload a new video, you can email your list, which results in a high view velocity in the first 24 hours of uploading the video.

Videos that are captioned see an increase in watch time compared to videos
that don’t have the captions.

I asked my subscribers, “When do you read close captions on a video?”

• 22% said hardly ever.
• 16% said every video.
• 16% said Only if I’m watching with the sound turned off,
• 45% says only if I can’t understand what they’re saying.

Here’s my recommendation….
If you wanna reach a wider audience with YouTube videos, I highly recommend transcribing your video. You will be able to reach people that are hard of hearing or can’t understand what you’re saying because of your accent, or those people in a noisy coffee shop or at work who have the sound turned off.

Want to reach even more people?
Watch this video right now on how to translate YouTube videos into English or another language.

You’ll be glad you did.

Click here to Get My New Video Course
“SECRETS TO AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT” You’ll discover how to hook your viewers’ attention, get them to spend more time on each video, and motivate them to watch more videos from your channel, so YouTube will recommend your content to other channels.