How to Get a Vimeo Video's Transcript (Text, SRT or VTT)

Searching for a Vimeo transcript usually ends in one of two dead ends: Vimeo's help page, which only covers videos you own, or a "generator" that wants you to upload the file and pay. The truth is simpler. A Vimeo transcript is the video's caption track turned into text, so what you can get depends on whether the video has captions and whether you own it.

Which route fits you

Option 1: Download it from Vimeo (your own videos)

Vimeo documents this in its help center. You need edit access to the video, and the video must already have captions or subtitles, either uploaded or auto-generated. Vimeo says the feature is available on the Free plan and all paid plans.

1. 1

   Open the video

   Select it in your Library to reach its settings page.

2. 2

   Go to Languages

   Use the left-hand navigation. If you do not see it, check with your team admin about permissions.

3. 3

   Open the menu

   Click the three-dot menu next to the transcript.

4. 4

   Choose Download

   Vimeo gives you the captions as .srt, .vtt or .ttml.

To read or fix the text first, the same menu has a pencil icon for viewing and editing. Vimeo also generates automatic captions on uploads, as long as your Vimeo site language is one it supports. Per its help article on automatic captions, that covers videos uploaded after May 25, 2022, and you can switch them off per video, so check the Languages panel.

Option 2: Use a free tool for any public video

Vimeo's download is built for owners. If you are studying a conference talk, reviewing a client's cut or quoting a lecture, you probably do not have edit access. That is where the Vimeo to Transcript tool helps: it takes the caption track already attached to the video and formats it for you.

1. 1

   Paste the link

   A plain vimeo.com/ID link works, and so do channel and group video links.

2. 2

   Pick a format

   Paragraphs for reading, timestamped lines for review notes, or SRT/VTT for a subtitle file.

3. 3

   Set a language if needed

   Type a code such as en or es in the Caption language field, or leave it empty to take whichever track the video has.

4. 4

   Copy or download

   Copy the text, or use the download button for the subtitle file.

Pick the right format

Plain text is for reading, quoting and pasting into notes. SRT and VTT keep the timing, so you need them to caption a re-edit or import into a player. They look alike, but VTT is the web standard and SRT is the older, simpler one; SRT vs VTT covers when each one matters.

WEBVTT

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.200
Welcome back to the studio walkthrough.

00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:08.000
Today we are reviewing the final cut.

Getting every video in a Showcase

A Showcase is Vimeo's word for a playlist (older links use /album/). There is no single "download all transcripts" button, but you can get close. Paste the Showcase link into the Vimeo playlist extractor to get a table of every video's link, title, uploader and duration, with CSV download. Then run each link through the transcript tool. Only publicly served Showcases work. If you need to organize the list afterwards, export a playlist to a spreadsheet shows the workflow.

When the video has no captions

No tool can read words that were never written down. If the owner is you, add captions in Vimeo and download them as above. If it is someone else's video, ask them to add captions, or transcribe the audio with a speech-to-text service you trust. Only do that where you have the right to use the audio.

Do something with it

A transcript is raw material. Search it for the one line you need, or turn it into study material: flashcards from a video, a quiz or notes. The same ideas apply to any lecture video. The same approach works for YouTube links with the YouTube to Transcript tool.

Study from the transcript, not just read it

UpSolo turns a video's transcript into a summary, flashcards, quizzes and mind maps you can review later. Sign in to try it.

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