A zero-configuration YouTube tool that extracts subtitles and transcribes audio using multiple engines without requiring API keys or cookies.

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Last updated

2026-07-29

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FR-AI / ANALYSIS

Why it is worth attention

It combines three complementary approaches (youtube-transcript-api, yt-dlp, and OpenAI Whisper) into a single CLI tool, eliminating the need for API keys or cookies while offering automatic fallback for videos without subtitles.

Who it is for

  • Content creators who need to repurpose video text
  • Language learners extracting subtitles for study
  • Researchers collecting transcript data from YouTube
  • Developers looking for a simple, open-source subtitle extraction library

Use cases

  • Batch downloading subtitles from YouTube playlists or single videos
  • Transcribing videos that lack built-in captions using Whisper
  • Generating timestamped transcripts for note-taking or accessibility
  • Extracting multilingual subtitles (Chinese, English, Japanese, etc.) with priority ordering

Strengths

  • No API key or cookie required – fully self-contained
  • Dual-engine fallback (youtube-transcript-api + yt-dlp) for robust subtitle retrieval
  • Integrated Whisper speech recognition for videos without subtitles
  • Simple CLI with comprehensive options (--auto, --force-whisper, language selection, device control)

Considerations

  • Requires ffmpeg installation for Whisper-based transcription
  • Whisper model download can be large (depending on model size) and time-consuming on first run
  • Relies on YouTube’s availability and may break if YouTube changes its API or site structure

README quick start

安装

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