By name: video-transcript-downloader description: "yt-dlp downloads: video, audio, subtitles, transcripts, clips, playlists."
Video Transcript Downloader
./scripts/vtd.js can:
- Print a transcript as a clean paragraph (timestamps optional).
- Download video/audio/subtitles.
Transcript behavior:
- YouTube: fetch via
youtube-transcript-pluswhen possible. - Otherwise: pull subtitles via
yt-dlp, then clean into a paragraph.
Setup
cd ~/Projects/agent-scripts/skills/video-transcript-downloader && npm ci
CLI syntax:
./scripts/vtd.js --help
./scripts/vtd.js transcript --help
Subcommands support focused help without requiring --url.
Transcript (default: clean paragraph)
./scripts/vtd.js transcript --url 'https://…'
./scripts/vtd.js transcript --url 'https://…' --lang en
./scripts/vtd.js transcript --url 'https://…' --timestamps
./scripts/vtd.js transcript --url 'https://…' --keep-brackets
Download video / audio / subtitles
./scripts/vtd.js download --url 'https://…' --output-dir ~/Downloads
./scripts/vtd.js audio --url 'https://…' --output-dir ~/Downloads
./scripts/vtd.js subs --url 'https://…' --output-dir ~/Downloads --lang en
Formats (list + choose)
List available formats (format ids, resolution, container, audio-only, etc):
./scripts/vtd.js formats --url 'https://…'
Download a specific format id (example):
./scripts/vtd.js download --url 'https://…' --output-dir ~/Downloads -- --format 137+140
Prefer MP4 container without re-encoding (remux when possible):
./scripts/vtd.js download --url 'https://…' --output-dir ~/Downloads -- --remux-video mp4
Notes
- Default transcript output is a single paragraph. Use
--timestampsonly when asked. - Bracketed cues like
[Music]are stripped by default; keep them via--keep-brackets. - Pass extra
yt-dlpargs after--fortranscriptfallback,download,audio,subs,formats.
./scripts/vtd.js formats --url 'https://…' -- -v
Troubleshooting (only when needed)
- Missing
yt-dlp/ffmpeg:
brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg
- Verify:
yt-dlp --version
ffmpeg -version | head -n 1