youtube-transcript-fetcher

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Extract and download YouTube video transcripts and subtitles for content analysis and accessibility

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[Web Research]

When & Why to Use This Skill

The YouTube Transcript Fetcher is a specialized Claude skill designed to automate the extraction and downloading of transcripts and subtitles from YouTube videos. It supports multiple output formats including SRT, TXT, and JSON, while preserving critical timestamps. By bridging the gap between video content and text-based analysis, this tool enables users to efficiently process video data for research, accessibility compliance, and content repurposing without manual transcription.

Use Cases

  • Content Analysis: Researchers can extract full transcripts to perform sentiment analysis, keyword tracking, or thematic coding on large volumes of video content.
  • Accessibility & SEO: Content creators can download SRT files to provide accurate closed captions or transform video dialogue into SEO-optimized blog posts and articles.
  • Academic Research: Students and educators can convert video lectures and webinars into searchable text documents for study guides and documentation.
  • Translation & Localization: Translators can fetch original language captions to streamline the process of creating subtitles for international audiences.
  • Knowledge Management: Organizations can index internal video presentations and meetings into a centralized, searchable knowledge base.
nameyoutube-transcript-fetcher
descriptionExtract 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

# 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

from 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