Pepys
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YouTube Caption & Subtitle Generator

Paste a YouTube link and download a ready-to-use SRT or VTT subtitle file with accurate timestamps.

YouTubeYouTube

Accepts a public YouTube video link · returns a downloadable SRT or VTT subtitle file with timestamps.

Works on public YouTube videos by reading their captions – Pepys is a captions tool, not a video downloader, and never saves the video or audio. To caption a video you own, upload the file instead.

60 min free · no card required · we never train on your audio

PodcasterJournalistContent creatorResearcherStudent
Trusted by 100k+ usersRated 4.9 out of 5 by 100k+ users

How do I generate captions for a YouTube video?

To generate YouTube captions, paste the video link into Pepys and it returns the captions as timestamped text you can download as an SRT or VTT subtitle file in seconds, in 99+ languages. The file is a sidecar you add in your editor – Pepys never saves the video. No signup needed to try it; first 60 minutes free.

How youtube caption generator works

01

Paste the YouTube link

Copy a public YouTube video URL and paste it in – nothing to install.

02

Get the caption text

Pepys pulls the video's captions into clean, timestamped lines in seconds.

03

Download SRT or VTT

Export a ready-to-use SRT or VTT subtitle file you can load into your editor or re-upload.

Captions make a video watchable on mute, searchable, and accessible – but typing them by hand or wrestling with YouTube Studio's editor is a slog. Paste a link and Pepys hands you the caption text already split into timestamped lines, ready to download as an SRT or VTT file you drop straight into Premiere, DaVinci, CapCut, or back into YouTube.

It covers 99+ languages with timestamps that line up, and you can edit any line before you export. Free to try with no signup; your first 60 minutes are free, you pay only for what you caption, and credits never expire.

Clean paragraphs. No more um's and ah's.

The left is what Pepys hands back – logical paragraphs with the filler stripped out, punctuated and readable. The right is the raw, one-line-per-segment dump most transcribers leave you with.

reel-voiceover.mp4

um so yeah everyone keeps telling you to like lead with your best line right but uh honestly if you give away the whole answer in the first second you know there's basically no reason for anyone to keep watching so the hook isn't kind of the smartest thing you say it's like a loop you open that they need to close and um that's the part that actually keeps people around

Raw
BeforeAfter

  • Download a clean SRT or VTT file you can load into any editor

  • Timestamps that line up – not a wall of un-timed text

  • Edit any caption line inline before you export

  • 99+ languages, auto-detected · pay as you go, credits never expire

Any language – 99+ detected automatically

Works with the platforms you live in.

Paste a link from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts – or drop in any audio or video file. We transcribe it once, then you export it however your workflow needs.

  • YouTubeYouTube
  • TikTokTikTok
  • InstagramInstagram
  • FacebookFacebook
  • SpotifySpotify
  • Apple PodcastsApple Podcasts
  • or any file

Export to any format

  • TXT
  • Markdown
  • DOCX
  • PDF
  • SRT
  • VTT
  • JSON

Timestamps, speaker labels, and subtitle timing carry through to every export.

Youtube caption generator – questions, answered

How do I generate captions for a YouTube video?

Paste the public YouTube link on this page and Pepys returns the captions as timestamped lines you can download as an SRT or VTT file. No signup is needed to try it.

What's the difference between SRT and VTT?

Both are sidecar subtitle files with the same caption text and timestamps. SRT is the universal choice for most editors and platforms; VTT is the web standard. Pepys exports either – pick what your tool expects.

Can I burn the captions into the video?

No – Pepys gives you a sidecar SRT or VTT file, not subtitles burned into the footage. Load that file in your video editor or upload it alongside the video to display the captions.

Can I get captions in another language?

Yes – captions come in the video's spoken language across 99+ languages, and you can translate the finished transcript before exporting your subtitle file.

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Youtube caption generator – free to start

Pay as you go – credits never expire, nothing to cancel. Or start free with 60 minutes, no card.

Start free – 60 minutesor see pricing