By 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
# Download transcript (markdown with timestamps)
python scripts/download_transcript.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
# Output: VideoTitle.en.md
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
# List available subtitles
python scripts/download_transcript.py "URL" --list
# Download VTT format
python scripts/download_transcript.py "URL" --format vtt
# Spanish transcript to specific folder
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
# Check environment
python scripts/download_transcript.py --check-setup
# Install yt-dlp
brew install yt-dlp # macOS
pip install yt-dlp # in venv