With YouTube now generating over 100 billion annual visits, it’s hard to believe that the platform is less than 20 years old.
Today, everyone from digital influencers to B2B marketers uses YouTube to connect with their audiences.
While some content should be video-only, you may also be interested in transcribing YouTube videos into text.
This is an easy way to increase outreach, and transcribing an existing video is much easier than coming up with new text from scratch.
You can publish the text on your blog or website for an easy traffic boost.
Depending on the content, you may also be interested in publishing your video as a podcast.
Transcription might sound tedious and time-consuming, but there are a number of efficient solutions.
In this article, we’ll cover four different ways to transcribe YouTube videos.
Voice-to-text is one of the lesser-known features of Google Docs.
Unfortunately, it’s currently only available in English, so speakers of other languages will need to wait for a forthcoming update.
After enabling voice-to-text, you can simply play the video on one device and let Google Docs listen on another device.
You could even run them in two different windows on the same computer.
Keep in mind that voice-to-text may not get the transcription exactly right.
You should make a second pass yourself to fix any typos or grammar issues produced by the voice typing system.
Still, it’s much faster than typing the entire text yourself.
Transcribing directly into Google Docs is an easy DIY solution, but third-party transcription services could make your life easier.
They may offer greater accuracy — and more languages — than Google Docs voice typing.
Trint, for example, is an audio transcription provider that currently supports 31 unique languages.
It offers dedicated solutions for individuals, teams, and even large-scale enterprises.
The AI tool is a good way to create accurate transcriptions, and Trint meets ISO 27001 certification standards for user security.
On the other hand, you can also use a platform like Rev if you want a human to transcribe the video for you.
Naturally, paying real people to transcribe your video and audio files will usually be more expensive than paying for an AI service.
Still, you may find that people are better at capturing nuance and avoiding transcription mistakes.
Happy Scribe is another option that combines both artificial intelligence and real language professionals.
AI transcriptions are listed as 85% accurate, while human-made transcriptions offer an estimated 99% accuracy.
Instead of going through Google Docs, you also have the option to generate transcriptions within YouTube.
To get started, enable automatic captioning on your YouTube videos.
YouTube will use speech recognition to create transcriptions and display them as captions for viewers.
Once you set up captions for a video, you can always review them in the YouTube Studio.
Start by clicking “subtitles,” then select the video you want to view.
From there, you can edit the transcription directly to resolve any issues or inaccuracies.
AI-generated captions are inherently unreliable, so it’s a good idea to review them before publishing the video.
Even though the subtitles should generally be correct, it’s impossible to predict what mistakes might be included.
To view the transcript from those captions, go to the YouTube video and click the three dots underneath the video on the right side.
You should see an option to “open transcript.”
At that point, you’ll be able to access the automatically generated captions (with your own revisions) as a separate text.
You can always make transcriptions yourself if you have the time.
This could be your most efficient option if you’re a fast, accurate typer who’s willing to DIY.
Fortunately, YouTube makes it easier by providing the option to play videos at different speeds.
You can set playback to x0.25, x0.5, or x0.75 to give yourself time to type out what you’re hearing.
One advantage of typing your own transcriptions is that you won’t have to re-review someone else’s work (whether human or AI).
Remember, even the human transcriptions mentioned above only offered an estimated 99% accuracy.
That may sound high, but it really means that you should expect about one mistake every 100 words.
Most people speak at a rate of roughly 250 words per minute, which would lead to 2.5 mistakes for every minute of video.
Remember to budget your own editing time when comparing different transcription options.
A foot pedal can help you transcribe more efficiently by enabling you to control video playback with your foot.
That way, you won’t waste any time switching back and forth between the video and transcription.
Controlling a video with your foot might sound counterintuitive, but you’ll get used to it quickly.
Some transcriptionists also use shorthand software to type more quickly.
If you’re working on European content, for example, you could set your computer to automatically convert the word “euro” into the € symbol.
These services are thoroughly customizable, enabling transcriptionists to set up whatever shorthand works for them.
There are several easy ways to transcribe YouTube content — whether you’re planning to delegate or do it yourself.
The right method for you will depend on your budget, content scale, and tolerance for inaccuracies.
Learn more about transcription and media localization on our website.
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