YouTube Subtitle Downloader yt-dlp
Download subtitles and auto-generated captions as SRT or VTT in any language. Free forever in your browser.
Works with: YouTube · Vimeo · TED · Bilibili · and 1000+ sites
Available languages
Popular Languages
Subtitles (uploader-provided)
Auto-generated captions
No subtitles matched your search.
Any language
Uploader subtitles plus auto-translated captions in 100+ languages.
SRT & VTT
Export clean SRT for editors or VTT for the web — your choice.
Auto-captions
Grab YouTube auto-generated captions even when no manual subs exist.
No install
Browser based. Works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS.
How to Download Subtitles with yt-dlp
- Paste a single video URL into the box above. YouTube, Vimeo, TED, Bilibili, and 1000+ sites supported by yt-dlp all work.
- Pick a language — after analysis, every available subtitle language is listed, split into uploader subtitles and auto-generated captions. Use the search box to find a language fast, and toggle between SRT and VTT output.
- Download — click a language and the caption file is generated server-side and offered as an instant download link. No command line, no Python, no updates to manage.
Why Our yt-dlp Subtitle Downloader is Different
Many subtitle sites only scrape a single language, break on auto-generated captions, or bury the file behind ads. By running the authentic yt-dlp engine on robust servers, we list every language a video actually offers and convert it cleanly to SRT or VTT.
Because captions are extracted on our servers, you also sidestep the "sign in to confirm you are not a bot" blocks that so often break subtitle scraping on home connections. No terminal, no Python install, and no dependency updates to babysit — just paste a link and pick a language.
Manual Subtitles vs Auto-Generated vs Auto-Translated Captions
YouTube exposes up to three different caption sources for the same video, and knowing which one you are downloading saves a lot of cleanup time:
Uploader-provided subtitles
- Written or reviewed by the creator — correct punctuation, speaker labels, and song lyrics.
- The best choice for translation work, quoting, or embedding in an edit.
- Listed first on this page whenever the video has them.
Auto-generated captions
- Produced by YouTube speech recognition in the video's spoken language — available on many videos, even without manual subs.
- No punctuation and occasional misheard words, so expect light editing for publication use.
- Perfect for transcripts, study notes, and searching long videos.
Auto-translated captions
- Machine translations of the auto captions into 100+ target languages.
- Quality depends on both the speech recognition and the translation — treat them as a draft, not a final subtitle track.
- Great for quickly understanding foreign-language videos.
When to pick SRT and when to pick VTT
- SRT — choose it for video editors (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, CapCut), desktop players like VLC, and TV media centers. It is plain text with numbered cues, so it is also the easiest format to edit by hand or feed into translation tools.
- VTT — choose it for anything on the web: the HTML5 <track> element, video.js / Plyr players, and most LMS platforms. VTT also preserves positioning and styling cues that SRT strips away.
yt-dlp Subtitle Download CLI Commands
Prefer the command line? Here are copy-ready yt-dlp commands for grabbing captions in any language:
1. List every available subtitle and caption language
Prints all uploader-provided subtitles and auto-generated captions a video offers, so you know exactly which language codes to request.
yt-dlp --list-subs "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"2. Download one language as SRT (no video)
Fetches the uploader subtitles in the chosen language, converts them to SRT, and skips the video download entirely.
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs en --convert-subs srt --skip-download "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"3. Grab manual and auto captions in every language as VTT
Downloads both uploader subtitles and YouTube auto-generated captions for all available languages and converts them to web-ready VTT files.
yt-dlp --write-subs --write-auto-subs --sub-langs all --convert-subs vtt --skip-download "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"Frequently Asked Questions
How do I download subtitles from a YouTube video?
Paste the video URL, click Analyze, then pick a language from the list of available subtitles. Choose SRT or VTT and click a language to download — the caption file is generated server-side and appears as a download link.
What is the difference between SRT and VTT subtitles?
SRT (SubRip) is the most widely supported format and works in almost every video player and editor. VTT (WebVTT) is the standard for HTML5 web video and supports styling. Pick SRT for editing and playback, VTT for web use.
Can I download auto-generated captions?
Yes. When a video has no uploader-provided subtitles, YouTube auto-generated captions (and their auto-translated languages) are listed separately. Select one and download it as SRT or VTT.
Do you support subtitles in other languages?
Yes. Every language the video offers is listed after analysis, including auto-translated captions in 100+ languages such as English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.
What sites are supported?
Any site supported by yt-dlp — over 1000 platforms including YouTube, Bilibili, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and TED talks. Subtitle availability depends on the source video.
Is it free to download subtitles?
Yes, subtitle download is completely free and runs in your browser. No account, no install, and no software required.
Want the full video instead of just subtitles? Try the yt-dlp online console →
Downloading a whole playlist? Try our Playlist Downloader →