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"2024 Approved Turning YouTube Sounds Into Text An In-Depth, No-Cost Course"
Turning YouTube Sounds Into Text: An In-Depth, No-Cost Course
How to Transcribe a YouTube Video for FREE
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
A Compreayer’s Primer to Navigating the Online Copyright Labyrinth
The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Copyright
Richard Bennett
Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions
One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.
We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.
Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.
In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?
Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.
Now that we are set, let’s dive in:
Part 1: What is Fair Use?
When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.
Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.
Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.
Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use
There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.
- Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
- Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
- Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?
Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use
Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:
Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.
Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!
Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.
There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.
Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.
In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.
Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike
If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.
This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.
However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:
- Having all your accounts and videos removed
- Not being able to create a new channel
So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:
- Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice
- Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
- Decide how to respond to the strike:
- Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
- Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
- Dispute the claim with a counter notification
Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike
It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.
1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.
The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.
However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.
2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.
In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.
3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.
4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.
5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.
Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content
As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.
If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.
Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube
- View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
- Click on “Report”
- Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.
- Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
- Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.
Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match
In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.
- You can choose to do nothing.
- You can contact the publisher.
- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.
Key Takeaways
I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:
- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.
- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.
- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.
- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.
- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.
- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.
Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions
One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.
We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.
Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.
In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?
Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.
Now that we are set, let’s dive in:
Part 1: What is Fair Use?
When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.
Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.
Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.
Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use
There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.
- Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
- Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
- Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?
Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use
Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:
Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.
Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!
Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.
There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.
Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.
In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.
Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike
If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.
This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.
However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:
- Having all your accounts and videos removed
- Not being able to create a new channel
So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:
- Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice
- Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
- Decide how to respond to the strike:
- Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
- Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
- Dispute the claim with a counter notification
Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike
It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.
1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.
The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.
However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.
2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.
In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.
3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.
4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.
5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.
Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content
As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.
If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.
Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube
- View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
- Click on “Report”
- Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.
- Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
- Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.
Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match
In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.
- You can choose to do nothing.
- You can contact the publisher.
- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.
Key Takeaways
I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:
- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.
- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.
- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.
- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.
- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.
- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.
Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions
One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.
We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.
Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.
In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?
Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.
Now that we are set, let’s dive in:
Part 1: What is Fair Use?
When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.
Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.
Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.
Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use
There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.
- Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
- Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
- Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?
Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use
Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:
Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.
Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!
Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.
There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.
Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.
In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.
Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike
If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.
This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.
However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:
- Having all your accounts and videos removed
- Not being able to create a new channel
So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:
- Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice
- Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
- Decide how to respond to the strike:
- Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
- Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
- Dispute the claim with a counter notification
Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike
It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.
1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.
The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.
However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.
2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.
In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.
3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.
4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.
5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.
Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content
As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.
If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.
Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube
- View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
- Click on “Report”
- Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.
- Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
- Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.
Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match
In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.
- You can choose to do nothing.
- You can contact the publisher.
- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.
Key Takeaways
I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:
- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.
- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.
- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.
- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.
- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.
- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.
Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions
One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.
We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.
Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.
In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?
Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.
Now that we are set, let’s dive in:
Part 1: What is Fair Use?
When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.
Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.
Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.
Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use
There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.
- Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
- Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
- Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?
Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use
Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:
Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.
Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!
Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.
There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.
Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.
In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.
Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike
If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.
This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.
However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:
- Having all your accounts and videos removed
- Not being able to create a new channel
So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:
- Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice
- Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
- Decide how to respond to the strike:
- Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
- Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
- Dispute the claim with a counter notification
Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike
It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.
1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.
The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.
However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.
2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.
In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.
3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.
4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.
5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.
Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content
As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.
If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.
Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube
- View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
- Click on “Report”
- Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.
- Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
- Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.
Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match
In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.
- You can choose to do nothing.
- You can contact the publisher.
- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.
Key Takeaways
I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:
- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.
- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.
- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.
- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.
- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.
- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.
Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
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- Title: "2024 Approved Turning YouTube Sounds Into Text An In-Depth, No-Cost Course"
- Author: Joseph
- Created at : 2024-05-31 13:45:41
- Updated at : 2024-06-01 13:45:41
- Link: https://youtube-stream.techidaily.com/2024-approved-turning-youtube-sounds-into-text-an-in-depth-no-cost-course/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
