Transcribe a Video, Get the Text
Upload a video file or paste a link from YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, or Instagram, and ScreenApp turns the spoken words into a transcript with speaker labels and timestamps. There is no download step for a URL: paste the link and the tool fetches and transcribes it directly.
992 people started a video-to-text job on this page in the last 90 days. You get a transcript you can search and edit in the browser instead of scrubbing back and forth through the video to find a quote.
What you get:
- A transcript with speaker labels and timestamps, in 100+ languages
- Export as PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT and VTT
- Ask AI questions about the video and get answers that point to the moment it happened
- Import directly from YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and most other public video links (Twitch, Loom, Dropbox, Google Drive, Pinterest, X, Threads, Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili) through a generic importer, no download required
- Free plan: 2 transcriptions of recordings up to 45 minutes each, with AI chat on it
How to Extract Text from Video
- Upload or paste a link: Drag in a video file (MP4, M4V, MOV, AVI, WEBM, MKV, FLV, TS, MTS, M2TS, 3GP, 3GPP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, VOB, OGV, RM, RMVB, MPG, MPEG, M2V, F4V, MXF) or paste a YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, or Instagram link. No account setup is needed to start.
- Let it transcribe: The audio is converted to text, speakers are separated, and every sentence gets a timestamp.
- Search, edit, export: Read the transcript in the browser, edit it if needed, and export as PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT and VTT.
Accuracy depends on the audio. Clean, single-speaker audio with no background noise transcribes best; a phone recording from across a noisy room will have more gaps. See how we measure accuracy.
Video to Text vs Other Apps
| Spec | ScreenApp | HappyScribe | UniScribe |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI accuracy (clear audio) | 95.8% (April 2026 test, clear English audio) | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free plan | 2 transcriptions, up to 45 min each | 45 min per recording, 10-min AI trial | 120 min/month, 30 min per file |
| Languages | 100+ | 60+ | 63 |
| Export formats | PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT and VTT | TXT, SRT (Free/Basic) | Word, CSV, PDF, TXT, SRT, and VTT |
| Entry paid plan | $19/month annual | $8.50/month annual | $6/month annual |
Sources, checked 2026-09-29: screenapp.io/accuracy#languages, ScreenApp pricing, Transcription accuracy and languages, happyscribe.com/pricing, uniscribe.co/pricing
- vs HappyScribe: HappyScribe’s free plan caps a recording at 45 minutes and limits export to TXT, SRT until you upgrade; the Basic plan starts at $8.50 a month annual. ScreenApp’s free plan exports as PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT and VTT from the start.
- vs UniScribe: UniScribe gives 120 free minutes a month split across files of up to 30 minutes each, but YouTube import and speaker identification need a paid plan; Basic starts at $6 a month annual. ScreenApp includes URL import and speaker identification on every plan, including Free.
Who Reaches for a Video-to-Text Tool
Litigation paralegals and court reporters turn deposition video and recorded hearings into a searchable transcript before review. Speaker labels separate counsel, witness, and opposing counsel in the export, so a quote can be cited with the timestamp attached.
University students drop in a recorded lecture from Zoom, Panopto, or Echo360 to get a transcript they can search instead of scrubbing through the video for a term or a formula.
Podcasters run an episode through transcription before publishing to write show notes and pull quotes for social posts, and to have a text version of the episode for anyone who would rather read it.
Reporters and researchers transcribe field interviews and on-camera sources to find a quote without re-watching the tape. Speaker labels keep source A and source B separated even when they talk over each other.
Qualitative researchers transcribe focus groups, ethnographic interviews, and usability sessions before coding them in qualitative analysis software. A transcript with timestamps that exports as PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT and VTT drops straight into that workflow. The 100+ languages cover sessions run outside English.
