- name
- youtube-transcriber
- description
- One-command YouTube video transcription. Automatically downloads audio and transcribes using OpenAI Whisper API — works even when YouTube subtitles are disabled. Use when asked to "transcribe this video", "get transcript", "what does this video say", or when YouTube captions are unavailable.
YouTube Transcriber
One-command transcription for any YouTube video — even when subtitles are disabled.
How it works:
- Tries to fetch existing YouTube subtitles first (free, instant)
- If subtitles are disabled/unavailable → downloads audio → transcribes via OpenAI Whisper API
Prerequisites
yt-dlp—brew install yt-dlporpip install yt-dlpffmpeg—brew install ffmpegOPENAI_API_KEYenvironment variable set
Usage
# Basic — auto-detect best method
{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
# Specify language (improves accuracy for non-English)
{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --lang zh
# Custom output path
{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --out /tmp/transcript.txt
# Force Whisper (skip subtitle check)
{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --force-whisper
# Keep downloaded audio file
{baseDir}/scripts/transcribe.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --keep-audioOptions
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
--lang <code> | Language hint (ISO 639-1: en, zh, ja, ko, etc.) | auto-detect |
--out <path> | Output transcript file path | /tmp/yt_transcript_<VIDEO_ID>.txt |
--force-whisper | Skip subtitle check, always use Whisper API | off |
--keep-audio | Keep the downloaded audio file after transcription | off (deletes audio) |
--audio-bitrate <kbps> | Audio compression bitrate | 64 |
How It Works
YouTube URL
│
├─► Try yt-dlp subtitles (free, instant)
│ │
│ ├─ Found → Clean & output transcript ✓
│ │
│ └─ Not found / disabled
│ │
│ ▼
└─► Download audio (yt-dlp + ffmpeg)
│
├─ Compress to mono, low bitrate (fit 25MB API limit)
│
▼
OpenAI Whisper API → transcript ✓Cost
- With subtitles available: Free (uses existing captions)
- Whisper API: ~$0.006/minute of audio → 23-min video ≈ $0.14
Supported
- Any YouTube video URL (full URL, youtu.be short link, or video ID)
- All languages supported by Whisper (99+ languages)
- Videos up to ~4 hours (audio compressed to fit 25MB API limit)
Troubleshooting
- 403 from YouTube: Update yt-dlp (
pip install -U yt-dlp) - File too large for Whisper: Lower bitrate with
--audio-bitrate 32 - Missing API key: Set
OPENAI_API_KEYenvironment variable