Free tool · runs in your browser
Subtitle to text converter Turn SRT and VTT files into a clean transcript.
Paste or upload a caption file. The timestamps, cue numbers and formatting tags disappear, and the lines join into paragraphs you can read, quote or give to an AI model.
Plain text
Need YouTube transcripts?
Skip the caption files. Get the text of any video directly.
Paste a video, playlist or channel link. The YouTube Transcript Scraper on Apify returns plain text for every video, plus title, channel and publish date. No YouTube API key needed.
What the converter removes
- Cue numbers such as 1, 2, 3 above each SRT caption.
- Time lines such as
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,400, including VTT position settings. - Header blocks: the WEBVTT line, NOTE comments, STYLE and REGION blocks.
- Formatting tags like
<i>,<b>,<font>, word timing tags and{\an8}position codes. - Repeated lines from rolling auto-captions.
- Sound labels like [Music] or (applause), if you leave that option on.
Speaker names written as VTT voice tags, such as
<v Maria>, stay in the text as "Maria:" so you can
still tell who said what.
How paragraphs are built
Captions split sentences into short pieces to fit the screen. In Paragraphs mode the tool joins those pieces and starts a new paragraph when the speaker pauses for two seconds or more, or when a paragraph gets long and a sentence ends. Choose One line per caption to keep the original breaks.
Common uses for a plain transcript
- Summarize a long video or lecture with ChatGPT or Claude.
- Turn a webinar or podcast into a blog post or show notes.
- Search a recording for a quote, then keep timestamps to find it again.
- Check a translation line by line without the timing noise.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert an SRT file to plain text?
Open the file in this converter by pasting its contents or clicking Upload. The tool removes the cue numbers and the time lines, joins the caption lines into readable paragraphs and gives you a .txt file to download or copy.
What is the difference between SRT and VTT?
Both are text files with a time range above each caption. SRT numbers every cue and uses a comma before the milliseconds (00:00:01,200). VTT starts with the word WEBVTT, uses a dot (00:00:01.200), and can carry styling, positions and speaker names. This tool reads both.
Why does my YouTube VTT file repeat every line?
Automatic YouTube captions roll: each cue shows the previous line again with the new words below it. Removing the timestamps alone leaves every sentence twice. The converter drops a line when it repeats the one before it, so the transcript reads once.
Can I keep the timestamps?
Yes. Tick Keep timestamps to put the start time in front of each paragraph or line, like [00:01:05]. This helps when you quote a video or want to jump back to a moment later.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read and converted inside your browser. It never reaches our server, so you can use it for private recordings too.
How do I get transcripts for many YouTube videos?
Use the YouTube Transcript Scraper on Apify. Give it video, playlist or channel links, and it returns the transcript of each video as plain text, timed segments, SRT or VTT, with the video title and channel. You need no YouTube API key.