youtube-transcribe

📁 eyadsibai/ltk 📅 Jan 28, 2026
29
总安装量
6
周安装量
#12857
全站排名
安装命令
npx skills add https://github.com/eyadsibai/ltk --skill youtube-transcribe

Agent 安装分布

gemini-cli 5
antigravity 5
claude-code 5
cursor 4
qwen-code 4
windsurf 4

Skill 文档

YouTube Transcript Extraction

Extract subtitles and transcripts from YouTube videos.


Methods

Method Tool When to Use
CLI yt-dlp Fast, reliable, preferred
Browser Chrome automation Fallback when CLI fails
API youtube-transcript-api Python programmatic access

yt-dlp Method (Preferred)

Basic Command

yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --write-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" "VIDEO_URL"

Key Flags

Flag Purpose
--write-sub Download manual subtitles
--write-auto-sub Download auto-generated subtitles
--sub-lang LANG Specify language (en, zh-Hans, etc.)
--skip-download Don’t download video
--cookies-from-browser chrome Use browser cookies for restricted videos

Common Issues

Issue Solution
Sign-in required Add --cookies-from-browser chrome
No subtitles found Video has no captions available
Age-restricted Use cookies from logged-in browser

Browser Automation Fallback

When CLI fails, use browser automation:

  1. Open video page – Navigate to YouTube URL
  2. Expand description – Click “…more” button
  3. Open transcript – Click “Show transcript” button
  4. Extract text – Query DOM for transcript segments

DOM Selectors

Element Selector
Transcript segments ytd-transcript-segment-renderer
Timestamp .segment-timestamp
Text .segment-text

Output Formats

Format Extension Use Case
VTT .vtt Web standard, includes timing
SRT .srt Video editing, media players
TXT .txt Plain text, no timing

Convert VTT to Plain Text

# Strip timing and formatting
sed '/^[0-9]/d; /^$/d; /WEBVTT/d; /-->/d' video.vtt > video.txt

Language Codes

Language Code
English en
Chinese (Simplified) zh-Hans
Chinese (Traditional) zh-Hant
Spanish es
Multiple en,es,zh-Hans

Best Practices

Practice Why
Try manual subs first Higher quality than auto-generated
Use cookies for restricted Avoids sign-in errors
Check multiple languages Some videos have better subs in other languages
Verify transcript exists Not all videos have captions