How To Transcribe YouTube Videos Automatically (auto generate subtitles and closed captions)

Have you ever had a hard time trying to understand what a person is saying in the video because you couldn’t understand their accent or the way they were speaking?

Have you ever watched a video with the sound turned off but couldn’t understand the content because there were no closed captions under the video?

In the video below, I show you how to transcribe your YouTube videos automatically using YouTube’s service, how to edit the transcript yourself, how to get a professional transcript done, and tips for creating the best transcript file.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

How To Turn On Caption Default Setting

Transcripts are a simple way of creating closed captions. If you want your videos to be automatically transcribed by YouTube, you need to turn on the caption default setting. Adding closed captions to your videos allows you to share your content with a larger audience. This may include deaf or hard of hearing viewers, or people who speak a different language. They only contain the text of what’s said in the video.

  • Log to YouTube channel.
  • Click on your profile icon.
  • Click on Settings.
  • Click on Playback and performance.
  • Next to subtitles and closed captions, check the Always show captions box.
  • If you want to include auto-generated captions when available, you can check this box as well.
  • Your changes will be automatically saved.

Keep in mind that automatic captions are generated by machine learning algorithms, so it may not be entirely accurate. Later on, I’ll show you how to edit the auto-generated captions.

Now, if somebody watches your video and they click on the CC icon at the bottom of your video, then the closed captions will show up on the video.

Here’s how to turn on automatic closed captions for an individual video.

  • Go to the details page of that video.
  • Scroll down to the bottom.
  • Look under language, subtitles, and closed captions,
  • Select your video’s language, and if needed, a caption certification.
  • I’m going to select English because I’m living in USA. Title description will be English. If I want to add other languages besides English, I can just go to subtitles here, or just click on Subtitles

If you’re living in a country that doesn’t speak English, then select the language of your country. If you want to know how to translate your videos into a different language besides English, click here

Here I’ve got English by YouTube, which is automatic. If I click the three dots, I can download it or delete it, and I’ve added a transcript here that’s English United States. If I click on the three dots, then I can replace it, I can download it and delete it. You can see I’ve got the automated transcription from YouTube at the top here. I’ve uploaded a transcript here in English. This is a professional transcript that has been done by GoTranscript, which I’ll talk about later.

If you have TubeBuddy installed, you’ll be able to see the top 10 languages spoken by your channel’s audience. You could translate your video into foreign subtitles to expose your content to a wider audience. TubeBuddy is my secret weapon for finding the best keywords to rank my videos in the YouTube search engine.

If you haven’t turned on auto-generated captions for your channel or for your videos, or uploaded a transcript, then people aren’t going to see the captions on the video.

How to edit the auto-generated transcript from YouTube.

  • Click on the Content tab in YouTube dashboard,
  • Hover over the video that you wish to edit the transcript for,
  • Click the pencil icon that says Details.
  • Click Subtitles.
    Here’s the auto-generated transcript from YouTube.
  • Under Title and Description, I can click on these three dots, and I can edit the title and description.
  • Under subtitles, I can hover over the three dots, select unpublished, download or delete.
  • In this case, I’m going to duplicate and edit. It says, “This will overwrite your existing English draft.”
  • Click Continue.
  • If you click on the three dots at the top here next to Assign Timings, I can download the subtitles, clear the text, or upload a file.
  • I just want to edit the auto-generated transcript.
  • I’m going to click Assign Timings. Now I can edit each of these timing boxes. It’ll show up on the timeline below here, and also on my video, so I can see exactly what’s being said.

You can also play the video to make sure what you’re saying is accurate. After you’re finished, you just click Publish, and now I’ve got my edited transcript at the top here. I can remove the auto-generated transcript just by clicking on the three dots and then click Delete.

If you don’t want to edit the auto-generated transcript from YouTube, get a professional transcript done for you from GoTranscript. It’ll only cost you a few dollars but it’ll save you a ton of time, and you can re-purpose the content for other social media sites. Make sure the language of your transcript is the same language you’re speaking in your video.

How To Get A Professional Transcript Done

I get my videos professionally transcribed for a few dollars using GoTranscript, the 100% human-generated transcription services.

  • All you have to do is click “Order Online”,
  • Click Paste URL,
  • Enter the URL of your video,
  • Click Add.
  • You’ll receive an email saying, “Your order has been processed. We’ll let you know when your order is finished.”
  • Within a few days, you’ll receive an email that your transcription has been completed.
  • Click “Download transcription”.

Here’s how to upload your own transcript or transcript you got professionally done by a professional service.

  • Go to the Content tab in YouTube Studio.
  • Hover over the video that you wish to upload the transcript for.
  • Click on the pencil icon,
  • Click Subtitles,
  • Click Add language, and then
  • Select English United States.
  • Click Add. I can upload my transcript here.
  • I can choose auto-sync, which means that I can create subtitles and closed captions by typing them in as I watch the video, or I can just copy and paste my file in there.
  • If I choose “Type manually”, I can type or paste in a full transcript of the video, and subtitle timings will be set automatically. Here, I’ve got auto-translate.

To use auto-translate, you’ve got to publish the captions in the original video language, which is English for me. Auto-translateD subtitles are unavailable for auto-generated captions, so I can upload my own transcript or use the edited auto-generated transcript from YouTube.

I can select Upload File, but the file has to be a text file. I have a DOCX file. I’m just going to copy and paste the text from that file. In this case, I’m going to select Auto-sync.

Here’s my file, I’m just going to copy all the text in that DOCX file because it can’t upload a DOCX file. I copy all the text and just paste it in here, then unclick Assign Timings.

Then automatically, all the timings have been set for that document. I can also see how it appears on my video here and also on the timeline. I could quickly check through all these boxes here to make sure everything’s correct, and once everything’s correct, then I can just click Publish.

Now you can see I’ve got my most accurate transcript up here, English United States video language, and if I go to the video, as you can see, I’ve got the accurate closed captions displayed on my video now. Anybody that has the sound turned off or can’t understand my language or accent, can read these closed captions.

Here are some tips for creating a transcript file.

  1. Edit the auto-generated transcript from YouTube.
    Just make sure that you’ve enabled default automatic captions for your videos and channel
  2. Convert your transcript into a text file.
    If the transcript you receive from a professional transcription company is an HTML file, document.exe file, or Word doc, make sure you convert it into a plain text file. It should also be in the same language as the content in your video. To convert the file into plain text using a PC, just use Notepad. If you’re using a Mac computer, open TextEdit, click Format and select Plain Text to save it as a plain text file. You can do the same if you’re uploading a transcript for your video in a different language.

If you want to translate your YouTube videos into English or a different language, watch this video. You’ll be able to expose your content to a whole different audience.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

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