Free tool
YouTube video summarizer
Paste a video’s transcript into this YouTube video summarizer and get the gist without watching it: an overview, the key points and the key moments, each with its timestamp from the video. It works from the transcript YouTube shows under the video, so it never needs a link.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Nothing is stored
Up to about 8,000 words, 5 free summaries a day.
Want the same for your own calls? NoteOwl writes summaries, decisions and action items from your meetings on your Mac, with on-device AI models, unlimited.
How it works
How do you summarize a YouTube video?
Copy the video’s transcript from YouTube and paste it here. On youtube.com, open the description under the video, press Show transcript, select the lines in the panel, copy them, and press Summarize on this page.
- 1
Open the transcript
Under the video on youtube.com, expand the description and press Show transcript. The lines appear beside the video, each with its time.
- 2
Copy every line
Click before the first line, scroll to the end and Shift-click after the last, then copy. Keep the timestamps: they become the key moments.
- 3
Paste and summarize
Paste into the box above, choose short, medium or detailed, and press Summarize. Copy the summary or save it.
What do the timestamps give you?
Key moments. When the copied transcript keeps its times, the summary lists the moments where the main parts start, each with the time from the video. Without them you still get the overview and the key points.
- Copied with timestamps
- What the summary hasKey moments listed with times like 4:05, matching the video
- Copied without them
- What the summary hasThe same summary and key points, with no key moments
- Auto-generated captions
- What the summary hasSummarized the same way; they often lack punctuation, which the summarizer reads past
| The transcript you paste | What the summary has |
|---|---|
| Copied with timestamps | Key moments listed with times like 4:05, matching the video |
| Copied without them | The same summary and key points, with no key moments |
| Auto-generated captions | Summarized the same way; they often lack punctuation, which the summarizer reads past |
What can you do with a summary of a YouTube video?
Skip what you don’t need. A summary tells you what a video covers before you watch it, and where to find the part you came for.
- 1
Decide whether to watch
Read the overview of a long talk or tutorial before you give it an hour.
- 2
Jump to the part you need
A key moment’s time takes you straight to that point in the video.
- 3
Keep notes from a lesson
Paste the key points into your notes, with the video’s times beside them.
What is sent when you press Summarize?
Only the transcript text you pasted. It goes to an AI service that writes the summary, and the summary comes back to this page. NoteOwl stores neither, and nothing is ever requested from YouTube.
To turn the same transcript into clean paragraphs without summarizing it, use the YouTube transcript cleaner, which works entirely in your browser. For a video file of your own, the video summarizer transcribes the sound first.
Can you summarize your own calls the same way?
Yes, with NoteOwl on a Mac. It records the call with no bot joining, transcribes it and writes the summary, decisions and action items with on-device AI models, so the call never leaves your Mac. See NoteOwl’s meeting summaries.
FAQ
Questions about summarizing YouTube videos
Is the YouTube summarizer free?
Yes. It writes 5 summaries a day for free, with no account and no extension to install. Copy the summary, or save it as a text file, a Word document or Markdown.
Why doesn’t it take a YouTube link?
Because it never contacts YouTube. You copy the transcript YouTube itself shows you, and only that text is sent to be summarized. It also means any video with captions works, from any channel.
Where do I find a video’s transcript?
On youtube.com, in the description under the video: press Show transcript and it opens beside the video. Copying is easiest in a browser on a computer, where the lines select like ordinary text.
What if the video has no transcript?
Then it has no captions, and there is nothing to copy. If it is your own video, download it from YouTube Studio and use the Upload a video tab, which transcribes the sound first.
How long a video can it summarize?
About an hour of speech per summary. A longer transcript is summarized up to that point, and the page says how much of it the summary covers.
Are the key moments accurate?
Each time comes from the transcript you pasted: the summarizer may only use timestamps that are in it, and the server checks every one. So a moment at 12:40 points to a line YouTube timed at 12:40.
Keep exploring
More summary tools
- Lecture summarizerUpload a lecture recording or paste its transcript and get the key concepts, the terms the lecture explains and the moments to rewatch
- Podcast summarizerUpload a podcast episode or paste its transcript and get the episode in brief, the topics, word-for-word quotes and key moments
- SummarizerPaste an article, report, essay, email or notes and get a short, medium or detailed summary and the key points; nothing is stored
- Video summarizerUpload a video or paste its transcript and get an AI summary, the key points and key moments with times; nothing is stored
Related
- YouTube transcript to textPaste the transcript YouTube shows under a video and get clean paragraphs, with or without timestamps, as text, Word or SRT; nothing is fetched from YouTube
- AI meeting summariesAI meeting summaries, decisions and action items written on your Mac from any template, when the call ends
- Chat with your meetingsAsk your own meetings a question on your Mac, even offline; every answer cites the passage it came from
Your own calls, summarized on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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