---

name: youtube-transcript-fetcher description: Extract and download YouTube video transcripts and subtitles for content analysis and accessibility

YouTube Transcript Fetcher Skill

Extract transcripts and captions from YouTube videos.

When to Use

• Content analysis
• Translation
• Accessibility
• Research documentation

Core Capabilities

• Auto-generated transcript extraction
• Manual caption download
• Multiple language support
• Timestamp preservation
• Format conversion (SRT, TXT, JSON)

Tools

Copy# youtube-transcript-api (Python)
pip install youtube-transcript-api
youtube_transcript_api VIDEO_ID

# yt-dlp with subtitles
yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --skip-download VIDEO_URL

# youtube-dl
youtube-dl --write-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download VIDEO_URL

Python Example

Copyfrom youtube_transcript_api import YouTubeTranscriptApi

video_id = "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
transcript = YouTubeTranscriptApi.get_transcript(video_id)

for entry in transcript:
    print(f"[{entry['start']:.2f}s] {entry['text']}")

Best Practices

• Check caption availability first
• Prefer manual captions over auto-generated
• Preserve timestamps for reference
• Verify accuracy for critical content
• Respect copyright

Resources

• youtube-transcript-api: https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api
• yt-dlp: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp