TextLift
YouTube transcripts. One click.
Status: version 0.2.0 is built and tested but not yet published in any extension store. This page will link to the store listing once there is one.
TextLift is a small browser extension that copies the available transcript YouTube already shows for a video, or saves it as a text file, without selecting hours of captions by hand. It can also export the chat replay of an archived livestream.
What it does
- Copy Full Transcript and Download TXT: every available entry, in order, with timestamps (hour-long ones included), repeated lines kept, and the video title and link at the top.
- Download Chat TXT: for an archived livestream that has a chat replay, the available replay in order, with replay timestamps, display names, message text, emoji, Super Chats, memberships and gifts. It shows progress, can be cancelled, and clearly labels any partial export.
- A plain status line: how many entries or lines were read, the final timestamp, and the caption language where YouTube shows it.
- If a video has no transcript or no chat replay, it says so and exports nothing. It never makes text up.
What it does not do
- No account, sign-in, API key, analytics or outside service. No summaries, translation or audio transcription.
- No live chat capture. Chat export works only for archived streams: the stream must have ended and YouTube must have made its replay available. For a stream that is still live, TextLift says so and does nothing.
- It cannot prove a transcript is complete: YouTube's transcript panel gives no end marker. A chat export is "complete" only in the sense that YouTube's end-of-replay marker was reached; removed, filtered or unavailable messages cannot be recovered.
Privacy in short
Transcripts and chat exports go only to your clipboard or to a file you save. The transcript buttons make no requests of their own. Chat export makes requests to youtube.com, and only youtube.com, from your own browser, to read the replay page by page. Read the full privacy policy.
Details
- Version
- 0.2.0
- Works on
- youtube.com video pages, in Chromium-based browsers. Tested in Vivaldi 8.2 and Chrome 155.
- Permissions
activeTabandclipboardWrite; scripts run only onhttps://www.youtube.com/*. No host permissions.- Language
- Expects the English YouTube interface (it finds the "Show transcript" button by its English label).
Known limitations
- With several caption languages, YouTube's transcript panel doesn't say which one it shows, so TextLift lists the available languages instead of guessing.
- Many archived streams have no chat replay at all; the owner can turn it off.
- Chat export uses an internal YouTube interface that can change without notice. If it does, TextLift stops with an error rather than guessing.
- YouTube can change its page at any time.
Questions or problems? See support.