Convert VTT to TXT
Turn a WebVTT caption track into a readable transcript with the timestamps taken out.
- Free
- No upload, no signup
- Timecodes on or off
How to convert VTT to TXT
Choose your .vtt file
Press the box at the top of this page and pick your VTT file, or drop it on. It is read in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and there is no account to make.
Pick how the text is laid out
One line per cue, one paragraph, or one line per cue with its start time in front. The preview shows the first lines of the TXT file as they will be saved.
Download the .txt file
Save the text file to your device, or press Copy text to paste it straight into a document. Your VTT file is left as it was.
What gets removed
A WebVTT file carries more furniture than SubRip does: the WEBVTT header, optional cue identifiers, timestamps, and cue settings such as alignment and position. None of it belongs in a transcript.
Converting to plain text drops all of it and keeps the spoken content. Voice tags, the markup that labels who is speaking, are removed as markup, so if the speaker names matter put them into the text before converting.
The usual destinations are a document, show notes, or a prompt: text with timecodes in it wastes tokens and confuses summaries.
VTT and TXT, side by side
The timings go away. A plain text file is the words in order and nothing else, which is what you want for a transcript, a script or a caption file you are about to rewrite - and not what you want if the file still has to sit under a video.
Both samples below hold the same two cues, so the difference you can see is the whole difference between the formats.
WEBVTT
1
00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:03.500
This is the first line.
2
00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:06.000
And this is the second.
This is the first line.
And this is the second.
VTT to TXT: questions
Will the speaker labels survive?
WebVTT voice tags are markup, so they are removed with the rest of it. If you need the names, write them into the caption text before converting.
Does it keep the line breaks?
Each cue comes out on its own line, and a cue that was split over two lines becomes one. Choose One paragraph instead and every cue is joined into continuous text, because those breaks were timing decisions rather than sentence breaks.
What happens to the cue settings?
Everything that is not the words comes out: the WEBVTT header, the timings, the cue identifiers and any positioning or alignment settings. What is left is the spoken text in order.
Is this the same as a transcript?
Close, but a transcript is usually punctuated and grouped into paragraphs by speaker, while caption text is broken up by how much fits on screen. This gives you the words; tidying the line breaks is a quick pass.
Can I use the result for subtitles again?
Not without re-timing it. A text file says nothing about when a line was spoken, so putting it back under a video means transcribing again. Keep the .vtt if that is a possibility.
Other caption conversions
Everything else you can do here.
Convert the video too
Convert VTT to TXT now
Free, in your browser. The file is converted on your device and is not uploaded.