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"From Speech to Text A Complete, FREE Workshop on YouTube Transcription for 2024"
From Speech to Text: A Complete, FREE Workshop on YouTube Transcription
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
Enhance Videos at No Extra Cost: Best Editors Ranked (Top 9)
9 Best Free and Easy Editing Apps You Should Know
Richard Bennett
Dec 14, 2023• Proven solutions
Have you ever made a video 100% on your phone using a mobile video editing app?
If you’ve just started off on YouTube, there’s a good chance your main camera is the one in your phone. Actually, there’s a good chance of that even if you’ve been making YouTube videos for a while now.
Since you’re shooting videos on your phone, why shouldn’t you edit them there too? Here are 9 free video editing apps you can use for YouTube.
Note: This is not a ranked list. The apps will appear in alphabetical order.
- Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS)
- Cameo (iOS)
- Clips (iOS)
- Filmora (Android or iOS)
- Funimate (Android or iOS)
- iMovie (iOS)
- Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS)
- PowerDirector (Android)
- Vlogit (Android or iOS)
Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Automatic using clips. Times them to music
- Guides you with pop-up tips
- No text/title overlays
- Exports directly to YouTube
Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional-grade desktop editor, and Adobe Premiere Clip lives up to the quality standards set by its big-brother software. It is missing some features you might want for YouTube videos, like title effects, but it does have some bells and whistles. There’s a good selection of filters.
Making changes to your picture, like adjusting the exposure or the prevalence of highlights or shadows, is just a matter of sliding bars. The tools for splitting and duplicating clips are easy to find too. You just toggle between the two icons right above your video – the one that looks like a shutter and the one that looks like adjustment bars – to switch between the picture tools and the other tools.
You cannot add what you might normally think of as a title effect in Adobe Premiere Clip, so it’ll be hard to fully complete your video. You can add text cards to put in-between your video clips, but you can’t overlay the title on top of a clip.
You can share your video directly to YouTube when you export.
Cameo (iOS)
Key Points:
- Easy-to-apply themes
- Customizable titles
- Limited features
- Exports to 4K (if your clips are 4K)
Vimeo is a video sharing site with more of a ‘filmmaker’ focus than YouTube, so it isn’t a surprise that their mobile editing app Cameo can export high-quality 4K videos.
Like some of the other apps on this list, Cameo does not have a huge variety of functions. You can reorder your clips, trim them, add titles, and apply themes (essentially filter and title combos).
There are three icons on the main interface: Scissors, a Music Note, and Filters.
The Scissors will take you to the trimming screen, where you can make your clip shorter or longer.
You can also add a title in the trimming screen, but you will not be able to change the font style or color until you are in the Filter screen.
In the Filter screen (tap the overlapping filters icon on the main interface) you will be able to adjust the color of your text by tapping on the circle with the A in it. Tapping where it says ‘Font’ will change your font style.
You can also tap on Themes and choose a premade style.
Here’s what ‘Crush’ looks like applied:
My font was changed, and there’s also a filter now. In order to apply a filter, you must start with a theme.
Clips (iOS)
Key Points:
- Great selection of stickers
- Lacks some basic tools
- Simple interface
Clips is an intuitive app with a lot of options for decorating your videos. It is lacking in some of the more basic editings features you might expect (i.e. you cannot split clips or do any color correction), but it has a lot of fun features like stickers and emojis that could make up for that depending on your needs.
There are also more traditional effects, like filters and titles. There are a wide range of title options in styles that are popular on YouTube, and a fairly standard filter selection.
While you cannot split clips in this app, but trimming and reordering them is easy. For trimming, you just select the clip and then Trim to open a screen where you can drag the start and end points of the clip.
To rearrange your clips, just tap the clip you want to move and hold down. You’ll be able to drag it to a new location.
It’d be hard to rely on Clips exclusively as your YouTube video editor, but it’s well suited for Instagram or for making quick ‘on-the-go’ videos.
Filmora (Android or iOS)
Key Points:
- Export directly to YouTube
- 16:9 or 1:1 for Instagram
- Includes effects like transitions, filters, and overlays
- End-roll logo
You can make a complete video easily just by tapping and dragging in Filmora, and there are even effects like filters, transitions, and overlays you can add to make your video more polished.
After importing your media into Filmora (you can import videos and photos saved on your phone, or media which has been uploaded to a social media account like Facebook or Instagram) you can change the order of your clips by tapping one, pressing down for a moment, and then dragging your clips where you want them.
Trimming a clip is as simple as tapping on it and then Duration. You’ll get this screen where you can adjust the length easily by dragging the markers to beginning or endpoints.
Cropping and zooming are simple too.
Filmora comes with pre-made themes you can apply which include titles, filters, and other effects. These might not be ideal if you already have branding you like to use for YouTube, but in some situations, they can make video creation a lot faster.
Filmora comes loaded with music, or you can even import your own music from your phone.
Once you’re done, tap ‘save’ in the top right corner of your screen to export your video. From the save screen, you’ll be able to export your video directly to YouTube.
One potential drawback is that Filmora will add its own logo to the end of your exported video. This logo will not distract from your video content since it is added at the end and never overlaps any of your clips, but it still might not be ideal for all creators.
Funimate (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easily add text and shapes
- Rainbow doodling
- Shake effects
- Small ‘Funimate’ watermark in videos from the free version
Funimate is lives up to the ‘fun’ promise in its name. It’s designed mostly for music videos/Musical.ly and while it is missing a lot of more typical editing options, there are a few free tools in Funimate that other apps just don’t have.
For example, there are shake and distortion effects available through Funimate that you usually only find in desktop software.
You can also draw rainbow designs on your video with your finger – no other app on this list can do that.
The text tool in Funimate is easy to use, and there are cool looking glow effects you can apply in the color selection screen. Those options are also available when you’re adding shapes, likes stars and sparkles.
Funimate is not built for typical editing, which is both its strength and its weakness. Trimming your clips is its own stage which you must complete before you start adding effects, and you cannot split clips or add multiple clips.
The free version of Funimate does add a small watermark to your videos in the bottom-right corner, but it is subtle enough that I almost missed it completely while reviewing the app.
iMovie (iOS)
Key Points:
- Trailer templates
- Themes
- Limited tools and resources
iMovie’s mobile app is designed for ease and includes things like ‘trailer templates’ and themes that allow you to make a video quickly and with minimal effort.
This streamlined app is limited in its features. Other apps on this list have left out color correction tools or clip splitting tools and instead loaded up on decorative features like stickers, emojis, and overlays. iMovie has left out these tools and does not have an abundance of decorative features either.
There are filters, themes, and titles, however.
The titles are simple but polished, and you’ll find all the standard types of filters.
The themes include a variety of graphics and are applied to your entire video, not individual clips. You can also apply one filter to your entire video.
iMovie also includes a decent selection of transitions, which you can apply easily by tapping the area between two clips.
Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Good title tool
- Stickers
- Change clip duration
- 16:9 or 1:1
Movie Maker Filmmaker (the app will be labeled ‘Alive’ in on your phone) has a lot of features that will help you put together a fun YouTube video. There’s a great selection of stickers, filters, and overlays and they’re all easy to apply. You just click on what you want and resize/reposition it in the player.
This app is missing a lot of basic editing features, however. You cannot adjust things like brightness or saturation. This won’t be a problem if you’re happy with your clips as-is, but it’s a bit odd to not have those options.
There is a text tool and while it is fairly basic, it is also flexible. There is a good selection of fonts to choose from, and you can also choose whether or not you want a colored background, and if your text should have a shadow.
Once you’ve decided on the look of your text you can drag it, resize it, and tilt it however you want in the preview screen.
A slightly odd feature of this app is that it doesn’t save your video to your phone or export it directly to YouTube. Instead, it saves it – and shares it – within the app and gives you the option of sharing it with YouTube after.
Power Director (Android)
Key Points:
- A timeline like desktop software
- All the basic editing features
- Lots of transitions
- Videos from the free version will be watermarked
The first thing you’ll notice when you open up Power Director is that the interface looks a lot like the interface of a lot of desktop editors with a very classic timeline. This familiarity could make it easy to jump into if you’re used to editing on your laptop.
However, Power Director is a bit less intuitive than most of the other apps on this list. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s difficult to use – it isn’t, it’s much easier than a lot of desktop software – but among mobile apps designed for streamlined efficiency it does stand out as being a bit harder to dive into.
That is partly because there’s a lot you can do with it. It has the tools you would expect in an editor. You can split and trim clips, and you have all the standard color tools including some that most mobile apps leave out.
A lot of apps have Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation, but PowerDirector also has Color Temperature and Tint.
In addition to editing tools, PowerDirector has bells and whistles like filters –
- and a ton of great transitions.
One drawback of PowerDirector is that the free version will watermark your videos. This watermark is not intrusive, but it isn’t as subtle as the Funimate one either.
You can export videos from PowerDirector directly to YouTube.
Vlogit (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easy thumbnail maker
- Export directly to YouTube
- Animated stickers
Vlogit is also an app from the creators of the Filmora Video Editor. It isn’t quite as intuitive as Filmora, but the major benefit of Vlogit for YouTube creators is that it was designed with you in mind. It has features like animated stickers, emojis, and a thumbnail maker which were included specifically because YouTubers and vloggers need them.
All the usual adjustments you might want to make, like saturation or sharpness, are easy in Vlogit. So are adjustments to the length or crop of clips.
After you save your video you’ll have the option of creating a thumbnail using a screenshot from your video. You can add a colored border, text, emojis, and more!
Once you’re done, you can export directly to YouTube. Like Filmora, Vlogit does have a post-video logo roll.
Have you ever used a free mobile app to edit one of your YouTube videos? What did you use, and were you happy with the results?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 14, 2023• Proven solutions
Have you ever made a video 100% on your phone using a mobile video editing app?
If you’ve just started off on YouTube, there’s a good chance your main camera is the one in your phone. Actually, there’s a good chance of that even if you’ve been making YouTube videos for a while now.
Since you’re shooting videos on your phone, why shouldn’t you edit them there too? Here are 9 free video editing apps you can use for YouTube.
Note: This is not a ranked list. The apps will appear in alphabetical order.
- Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS)
- Cameo (iOS)
- Clips (iOS)
- Filmora (Android or iOS)
- Funimate (Android or iOS)
- iMovie (iOS)
- Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS)
- PowerDirector (Android)
- Vlogit (Android or iOS)
Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Automatic using clips. Times them to music
- Guides you with pop-up tips
- No text/title overlays
- Exports directly to YouTube
Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional-grade desktop editor, and Adobe Premiere Clip lives up to the quality standards set by its big-brother software. It is missing some features you might want for YouTube videos, like title effects, but it does have some bells and whistles. There’s a good selection of filters.
Making changes to your picture, like adjusting the exposure or the prevalence of highlights or shadows, is just a matter of sliding bars. The tools for splitting and duplicating clips are easy to find too. You just toggle between the two icons right above your video – the one that looks like a shutter and the one that looks like adjustment bars – to switch between the picture tools and the other tools.
You cannot add what you might normally think of as a title effect in Adobe Premiere Clip, so it’ll be hard to fully complete your video. You can add text cards to put in-between your video clips, but you can’t overlay the title on top of a clip.
You can share your video directly to YouTube when you export.
Cameo (iOS)
Key Points:
- Easy-to-apply themes
- Customizable titles
- Limited features
- Exports to 4K (if your clips are 4K)
Vimeo is a video sharing site with more of a ‘filmmaker’ focus than YouTube, so it isn’t a surprise that their mobile editing app Cameo can export high-quality 4K videos.
Like some of the other apps on this list, Cameo does not have a huge variety of functions. You can reorder your clips, trim them, add titles, and apply themes (essentially filter and title combos).
There are three icons on the main interface: Scissors, a Music Note, and Filters.
The Scissors will take you to the trimming screen, where you can make your clip shorter or longer.
You can also add a title in the trimming screen, but you will not be able to change the font style or color until you are in the Filter screen.
In the Filter screen (tap the overlapping filters icon on the main interface) you will be able to adjust the color of your text by tapping on the circle with the A in it. Tapping where it says ‘Font’ will change your font style.
You can also tap on Themes and choose a premade style.
Here’s what ‘Crush’ looks like applied:
My font was changed, and there’s also a filter now. In order to apply a filter, you must start with a theme.
Clips (iOS)
Key Points:
- Great selection of stickers
- Lacks some basic tools
- Simple interface
Clips is an intuitive app with a lot of options for decorating your videos. It is lacking in some of the more basic editings features you might expect (i.e. you cannot split clips or do any color correction), but it has a lot of fun features like stickers and emojis that could make up for that depending on your needs.
There are also more traditional effects, like filters and titles. There are a wide range of title options in styles that are popular on YouTube, and a fairly standard filter selection.
While you cannot split clips in this app, but trimming and reordering them is easy. For trimming, you just select the clip and then Trim to open a screen where you can drag the start and end points of the clip.
To rearrange your clips, just tap the clip you want to move and hold down. You’ll be able to drag it to a new location.
It’d be hard to rely on Clips exclusively as your YouTube video editor, but it’s well suited for Instagram or for making quick ‘on-the-go’ videos.
Filmora (Android or iOS)
Key Points:
- Export directly to YouTube
- 16:9 or 1:1 for Instagram
- Includes effects like transitions, filters, and overlays
- End-roll logo
You can make a complete video easily just by tapping and dragging in Filmora, and there are even effects like filters, transitions, and overlays you can add to make your video more polished.
After importing your media into Filmora (you can import videos and photos saved on your phone, or media which has been uploaded to a social media account like Facebook or Instagram) you can change the order of your clips by tapping one, pressing down for a moment, and then dragging your clips where you want them.
Trimming a clip is as simple as tapping on it and then Duration. You’ll get this screen where you can adjust the length easily by dragging the markers to beginning or endpoints.
Cropping and zooming are simple too.
Filmora comes with pre-made themes you can apply which include titles, filters, and other effects. These might not be ideal if you already have branding you like to use for YouTube, but in some situations, they can make video creation a lot faster.
Filmora comes loaded with music, or you can even import your own music from your phone.
Once you’re done, tap ‘save’ in the top right corner of your screen to export your video. From the save screen, you’ll be able to export your video directly to YouTube.
One potential drawback is that Filmora will add its own logo to the end of your exported video. This logo will not distract from your video content since it is added at the end and never overlaps any of your clips, but it still might not be ideal for all creators.
Funimate (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easily add text and shapes
- Rainbow doodling
- Shake effects
- Small ‘Funimate’ watermark in videos from the free version
Funimate is lives up to the ‘fun’ promise in its name. It’s designed mostly for music videos/Musical.ly and while it is missing a lot of more typical editing options, there are a few free tools in Funimate that other apps just don’t have.
For example, there are shake and distortion effects available through Funimate that you usually only find in desktop software.
You can also draw rainbow designs on your video with your finger – no other app on this list can do that.
The text tool in Funimate is easy to use, and there are cool looking glow effects you can apply in the color selection screen. Those options are also available when you’re adding shapes, likes stars and sparkles.
Funimate is not built for typical editing, which is both its strength and its weakness. Trimming your clips is its own stage which you must complete before you start adding effects, and you cannot split clips or add multiple clips.
The free version of Funimate does add a small watermark to your videos in the bottom-right corner, but it is subtle enough that I almost missed it completely while reviewing the app.
iMovie (iOS)
Key Points:
- Trailer templates
- Themes
- Limited tools and resources
iMovie’s mobile app is designed for ease and includes things like ‘trailer templates’ and themes that allow you to make a video quickly and with minimal effort.
This streamlined app is limited in its features. Other apps on this list have left out color correction tools or clip splitting tools and instead loaded up on decorative features like stickers, emojis, and overlays. iMovie has left out these tools and does not have an abundance of decorative features either.
There are filters, themes, and titles, however.
The titles are simple but polished, and you’ll find all the standard types of filters.
The themes include a variety of graphics and are applied to your entire video, not individual clips. You can also apply one filter to your entire video.
iMovie also includes a decent selection of transitions, which you can apply easily by tapping the area between two clips.
Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Good title tool
- Stickers
- Change clip duration
- 16:9 or 1:1
Movie Maker Filmmaker (the app will be labeled ‘Alive’ in on your phone) has a lot of features that will help you put together a fun YouTube video. There’s a great selection of stickers, filters, and overlays and they’re all easy to apply. You just click on what you want and resize/reposition it in the player.
This app is missing a lot of basic editing features, however. You cannot adjust things like brightness or saturation. This won’t be a problem if you’re happy with your clips as-is, but it’s a bit odd to not have those options.
There is a text tool and while it is fairly basic, it is also flexible. There is a good selection of fonts to choose from, and you can also choose whether or not you want a colored background, and if your text should have a shadow.
Once you’ve decided on the look of your text you can drag it, resize it, and tilt it however you want in the preview screen.
A slightly odd feature of this app is that it doesn’t save your video to your phone or export it directly to YouTube. Instead, it saves it – and shares it – within the app and gives you the option of sharing it with YouTube after.
Power Director (Android)
Key Points:
- A timeline like desktop software
- All the basic editing features
- Lots of transitions
- Videos from the free version will be watermarked
The first thing you’ll notice when you open up Power Director is that the interface looks a lot like the interface of a lot of desktop editors with a very classic timeline. This familiarity could make it easy to jump into if you’re used to editing on your laptop.
However, Power Director is a bit less intuitive than most of the other apps on this list. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s difficult to use – it isn’t, it’s much easier than a lot of desktop software – but among mobile apps designed for streamlined efficiency it does stand out as being a bit harder to dive into.
That is partly because there’s a lot you can do with it. It has the tools you would expect in an editor. You can split and trim clips, and you have all the standard color tools including some that most mobile apps leave out.
A lot of apps have Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation, but PowerDirector also has Color Temperature and Tint.
In addition to editing tools, PowerDirector has bells and whistles like filters –
- and a ton of great transitions.
One drawback of PowerDirector is that the free version will watermark your videos. This watermark is not intrusive, but it isn’t as subtle as the Funimate one either.
You can export videos from PowerDirector directly to YouTube.
Vlogit (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easy thumbnail maker
- Export directly to YouTube
- Animated stickers
Vlogit is also an app from the creators of the Filmora Video Editor. It isn’t quite as intuitive as Filmora, but the major benefit of Vlogit for YouTube creators is that it was designed with you in mind. It has features like animated stickers, emojis, and a thumbnail maker which were included specifically because YouTubers and vloggers need them.
All the usual adjustments you might want to make, like saturation or sharpness, are easy in Vlogit. So are adjustments to the length or crop of clips.
After you save your video you’ll have the option of creating a thumbnail using a screenshot from your video. You can add a colored border, text, emojis, and more!
Once you’re done, you can export directly to YouTube. Like Filmora, Vlogit does have a post-video logo roll.
Have you ever used a free mobile app to edit one of your YouTube videos? What did you use, and were you happy with the results?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 14, 2023• Proven solutions
Have you ever made a video 100% on your phone using a mobile video editing app?
If you’ve just started off on YouTube, there’s a good chance your main camera is the one in your phone. Actually, there’s a good chance of that even if you’ve been making YouTube videos for a while now.
Since you’re shooting videos on your phone, why shouldn’t you edit them there too? Here are 9 free video editing apps you can use for YouTube.
Note: This is not a ranked list. The apps will appear in alphabetical order.
- Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS)
- Cameo (iOS)
- Clips (iOS)
- Filmora (Android or iOS)
- Funimate (Android or iOS)
- iMovie (iOS)
- Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS)
- PowerDirector (Android)
- Vlogit (Android or iOS)
Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Automatic using clips. Times them to music
- Guides you with pop-up tips
- No text/title overlays
- Exports directly to YouTube
Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional-grade desktop editor, and Adobe Premiere Clip lives up to the quality standards set by its big-brother software. It is missing some features you might want for YouTube videos, like title effects, but it does have some bells and whistles. There’s a good selection of filters.
Making changes to your picture, like adjusting the exposure or the prevalence of highlights or shadows, is just a matter of sliding bars. The tools for splitting and duplicating clips are easy to find too. You just toggle between the two icons right above your video – the one that looks like a shutter and the one that looks like adjustment bars – to switch between the picture tools and the other tools.
You cannot add what you might normally think of as a title effect in Adobe Premiere Clip, so it’ll be hard to fully complete your video. You can add text cards to put in-between your video clips, but you can’t overlay the title on top of a clip.
You can share your video directly to YouTube when you export.
Cameo (iOS)
Key Points:
- Easy-to-apply themes
- Customizable titles
- Limited features
- Exports to 4K (if your clips are 4K)
Vimeo is a video sharing site with more of a ‘filmmaker’ focus than YouTube, so it isn’t a surprise that their mobile editing app Cameo can export high-quality 4K videos.
Like some of the other apps on this list, Cameo does not have a huge variety of functions. You can reorder your clips, trim them, add titles, and apply themes (essentially filter and title combos).
There are three icons on the main interface: Scissors, a Music Note, and Filters.
The Scissors will take you to the trimming screen, where you can make your clip shorter or longer.
You can also add a title in the trimming screen, but you will not be able to change the font style or color until you are in the Filter screen.
In the Filter screen (tap the overlapping filters icon on the main interface) you will be able to adjust the color of your text by tapping on the circle with the A in it. Tapping where it says ‘Font’ will change your font style.
You can also tap on Themes and choose a premade style.
Here’s what ‘Crush’ looks like applied:
My font was changed, and there’s also a filter now. In order to apply a filter, you must start with a theme.
Clips (iOS)
Key Points:
- Great selection of stickers
- Lacks some basic tools
- Simple interface
Clips is an intuitive app with a lot of options for decorating your videos. It is lacking in some of the more basic editings features you might expect (i.e. you cannot split clips or do any color correction), but it has a lot of fun features like stickers and emojis that could make up for that depending on your needs.
There are also more traditional effects, like filters and titles. There are a wide range of title options in styles that are popular on YouTube, and a fairly standard filter selection.
While you cannot split clips in this app, but trimming and reordering them is easy. For trimming, you just select the clip and then Trim to open a screen where you can drag the start and end points of the clip.
To rearrange your clips, just tap the clip you want to move and hold down. You’ll be able to drag it to a new location.
It’d be hard to rely on Clips exclusively as your YouTube video editor, but it’s well suited for Instagram or for making quick ‘on-the-go’ videos.
Filmora (Android or iOS)
Key Points:
- Export directly to YouTube
- 16:9 or 1:1 for Instagram
- Includes effects like transitions, filters, and overlays
- End-roll logo
You can make a complete video easily just by tapping and dragging in Filmora, and there are even effects like filters, transitions, and overlays you can add to make your video more polished.
After importing your media into Filmora (you can import videos and photos saved on your phone, or media which has been uploaded to a social media account like Facebook or Instagram) you can change the order of your clips by tapping one, pressing down for a moment, and then dragging your clips where you want them.
Trimming a clip is as simple as tapping on it and then Duration. You’ll get this screen where you can adjust the length easily by dragging the markers to beginning or endpoints.
Cropping and zooming are simple too.
Filmora comes with pre-made themes you can apply which include titles, filters, and other effects. These might not be ideal if you already have branding you like to use for YouTube, but in some situations, they can make video creation a lot faster.
Filmora comes loaded with music, or you can even import your own music from your phone.
Once you’re done, tap ‘save’ in the top right corner of your screen to export your video. From the save screen, you’ll be able to export your video directly to YouTube.
One potential drawback is that Filmora will add its own logo to the end of your exported video. This logo will not distract from your video content since it is added at the end and never overlaps any of your clips, but it still might not be ideal for all creators.
Funimate (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easily add text and shapes
- Rainbow doodling
- Shake effects
- Small ‘Funimate’ watermark in videos from the free version
Funimate is lives up to the ‘fun’ promise in its name. It’s designed mostly for music videos/Musical.ly and while it is missing a lot of more typical editing options, there are a few free tools in Funimate that other apps just don’t have.
For example, there are shake and distortion effects available through Funimate that you usually only find in desktop software.
You can also draw rainbow designs on your video with your finger – no other app on this list can do that.
The text tool in Funimate is easy to use, and there are cool looking glow effects you can apply in the color selection screen. Those options are also available when you’re adding shapes, likes stars and sparkles.
Funimate is not built for typical editing, which is both its strength and its weakness. Trimming your clips is its own stage which you must complete before you start adding effects, and you cannot split clips or add multiple clips.
The free version of Funimate does add a small watermark to your videos in the bottom-right corner, but it is subtle enough that I almost missed it completely while reviewing the app.
iMovie (iOS)
Key Points:
- Trailer templates
- Themes
- Limited tools and resources
iMovie’s mobile app is designed for ease and includes things like ‘trailer templates’ and themes that allow you to make a video quickly and with minimal effort.
This streamlined app is limited in its features. Other apps on this list have left out color correction tools or clip splitting tools and instead loaded up on decorative features like stickers, emojis, and overlays. iMovie has left out these tools and does not have an abundance of decorative features either.
There are filters, themes, and titles, however.
The titles are simple but polished, and you’ll find all the standard types of filters.
The themes include a variety of graphics and are applied to your entire video, not individual clips. You can also apply one filter to your entire video.
iMovie also includes a decent selection of transitions, which you can apply easily by tapping the area between two clips.
Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Good title tool
- Stickers
- Change clip duration
- 16:9 or 1:1
Movie Maker Filmmaker (the app will be labeled ‘Alive’ in on your phone) has a lot of features that will help you put together a fun YouTube video. There’s a great selection of stickers, filters, and overlays and they’re all easy to apply. You just click on what you want and resize/reposition it in the player.
This app is missing a lot of basic editing features, however. You cannot adjust things like brightness or saturation. This won’t be a problem if you’re happy with your clips as-is, but it’s a bit odd to not have those options.
There is a text tool and while it is fairly basic, it is also flexible. There is a good selection of fonts to choose from, and you can also choose whether or not you want a colored background, and if your text should have a shadow.
Once you’ve decided on the look of your text you can drag it, resize it, and tilt it however you want in the preview screen.
A slightly odd feature of this app is that it doesn’t save your video to your phone or export it directly to YouTube. Instead, it saves it – and shares it – within the app and gives you the option of sharing it with YouTube after.
Power Director (Android)
Key Points:
- A timeline like desktop software
- All the basic editing features
- Lots of transitions
- Videos from the free version will be watermarked
The first thing you’ll notice when you open up Power Director is that the interface looks a lot like the interface of a lot of desktop editors with a very classic timeline. This familiarity could make it easy to jump into if you’re used to editing on your laptop.
However, Power Director is a bit less intuitive than most of the other apps on this list. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s difficult to use – it isn’t, it’s much easier than a lot of desktop software – but among mobile apps designed for streamlined efficiency it does stand out as being a bit harder to dive into.
That is partly because there’s a lot you can do with it. It has the tools you would expect in an editor. You can split and trim clips, and you have all the standard color tools including some that most mobile apps leave out.
A lot of apps have Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation, but PowerDirector also has Color Temperature and Tint.
In addition to editing tools, PowerDirector has bells and whistles like filters –
- and a ton of great transitions.
One drawback of PowerDirector is that the free version will watermark your videos. This watermark is not intrusive, but it isn’t as subtle as the Funimate one either.
You can export videos from PowerDirector directly to YouTube.
Vlogit (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easy thumbnail maker
- Export directly to YouTube
- Animated stickers
Vlogit is also an app from the creators of the Filmora Video Editor. It isn’t quite as intuitive as Filmora, but the major benefit of Vlogit for YouTube creators is that it was designed with you in mind. It has features like animated stickers, emojis, and a thumbnail maker which were included specifically because YouTubers and vloggers need them.
All the usual adjustments you might want to make, like saturation or sharpness, are easy in Vlogit. So are adjustments to the length or crop of clips.
After you save your video you’ll have the option of creating a thumbnail using a screenshot from your video. You can add a colored border, text, emojis, and more!
Once you’re done, you can export directly to YouTube. Like Filmora, Vlogit does have a post-video logo roll.
Have you ever used a free mobile app to edit one of your YouTube videos? What did you use, and were you happy with the results?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 14, 2023• Proven solutions
Have you ever made a video 100% on your phone using a mobile video editing app?
If you’ve just started off on YouTube, there’s a good chance your main camera is the one in your phone. Actually, there’s a good chance of that even if you’ve been making YouTube videos for a while now.
Since you’re shooting videos on your phone, why shouldn’t you edit them there too? Here are 9 free video editing apps you can use for YouTube.
Note: This is not a ranked list. The apps will appear in alphabetical order.
- Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS)
- Cameo (iOS)
- Clips (iOS)
- Filmora (Android or iOS)
- Funimate (Android or iOS)
- iMovie (iOS)
- Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS)
- PowerDirector (Android)
- Vlogit (Android or iOS)
Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Automatic using clips. Times them to music
- Guides you with pop-up tips
- No text/title overlays
- Exports directly to YouTube
Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional-grade desktop editor, and Adobe Premiere Clip lives up to the quality standards set by its big-brother software. It is missing some features you might want for YouTube videos, like title effects, but it does have some bells and whistles. There’s a good selection of filters.
Making changes to your picture, like adjusting the exposure or the prevalence of highlights or shadows, is just a matter of sliding bars. The tools for splitting and duplicating clips are easy to find too. You just toggle between the two icons right above your video – the one that looks like a shutter and the one that looks like adjustment bars – to switch between the picture tools and the other tools.
You cannot add what you might normally think of as a title effect in Adobe Premiere Clip, so it’ll be hard to fully complete your video. You can add text cards to put in-between your video clips, but you can’t overlay the title on top of a clip.
You can share your video directly to YouTube when you export.
Cameo (iOS)
Key Points:
- Easy-to-apply themes
- Customizable titles
- Limited features
- Exports to 4K (if your clips are 4K)
Vimeo is a video sharing site with more of a ‘filmmaker’ focus than YouTube, so it isn’t a surprise that their mobile editing app Cameo can export high-quality 4K videos.
Like some of the other apps on this list, Cameo does not have a huge variety of functions. You can reorder your clips, trim them, add titles, and apply themes (essentially filter and title combos).
There are three icons on the main interface: Scissors, a Music Note, and Filters.
The Scissors will take you to the trimming screen, where you can make your clip shorter or longer.
You can also add a title in the trimming screen, but you will not be able to change the font style or color until you are in the Filter screen.
In the Filter screen (tap the overlapping filters icon on the main interface) you will be able to adjust the color of your text by tapping on the circle with the A in it. Tapping where it says ‘Font’ will change your font style.
You can also tap on Themes and choose a premade style.
Here’s what ‘Crush’ looks like applied:
My font was changed, and there’s also a filter now. In order to apply a filter, you must start with a theme.
Clips (iOS)
Key Points:
- Great selection of stickers
- Lacks some basic tools
- Simple interface
Clips is an intuitive app with a lot of options for decorating your videos. It is lacking in some of the more basic editings features you might expect (i.e. you cannot split clips or do any color correction), but it has a lot of fun features like stickers and emojis that could make up for that depending on your needs.
There are also more traditional effects, like filters and titles. There are a wide range of title options in styles that are popular on YouTube, and a fairly standard filter selection.
While you cannot split clips in this app, but trimming and reordering them is easy. For trimming, you just select the clip and then Trim to open a screen where you can drag the start and end points of the clip.
To rearrange your clips, just tap the clip you want to move and hold down. You’ll be able to drag it to a new location.
It’d be hard to rely on Clips exclusively as your YouTube video editor, but it’s well suited for Instagram or for making quick ‘on-the-go’ videos.
Filmora (Android or iOS)
Key Points:
- Export directly to YouTube
- 16:9 or 1:1 for Instagram
- Includes effects like transitions, filters, and overlays
- End-roll logo
You can make a complete video easily just by tapping and dragging in Filmora, and there are even effects like filters, transitions, and overlays you can add to make your video more polished.
After importing your media into Filmora (you can import videos and photos saved on your phone, or media which has been uploaded to a social media account like Facebook or Instagram) you can change the order of your clips by tapping one, pressing down for a moment, and then dragging your clips where you want them.
Trimming a clip is as simple as tapping on it and then Duration. You’ll get this screen where you can adjust the length easily by dragging the markers to beginning or endpoints.
Cropping and zooming are simple too.
Filmora comes with pre-made themes you can apply which include titles, filters, and other effects. These might not be ideal if you already have branding you like to use for YouTube, but in some situations, they can make video creation a lot faster.
Filmora comes loaded with music, or you can even import your own music from your phone.
Once you’re done, tap ‘save’ in the top right corner of your screen to export your video. From the save screen, you’ll be able to export your video directly to YouTube.
One potential drawback is that Filmora will add its own logo to the end of your exported video. This logo will not distract from your video content since it is added at the end and never overlaps any of your clips, but it still might not be ideal for all creators.
Funimate (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easily add text and shapes
- Rainbow doodling
- Shake effects
- Small ‘Funimate’ watermark in videos from the free version
Funimate is lives up to the ‘fun’ promise in its name. It’s designed mostly for music videos/Musical.ly and while it is missing a lot of more typical editing options, there are a few free tools in Funimate that other apps just don’t have.
For example, there are shake and distortion effects available through Funimate that you usually only find in desktop software.
You can also draw rainbow designs on your video with your finger – no other app on this list can do that.
The text tool in Funimate is easy to use, and there are cool looking glow effects you can apply in the color selection screen. Those options are also available when you’re adding shapes, likes stars and sparkles.
Funimate is not built for typical editing, which is both its strength and its weakness. Trimming your clips is its own stage which you must complete before you start adding effects, and you cannot split clips or add multiple clips.
The free version of Funimate does add a small watermark to your videos in the bottom-right corner, but it is subtle enough that I almost missed it completely while reviewing the app.
iMovie (iOS)
Key Points:
- Trailer templates
- Themes
- Limited tools and resources
iMovie’s mobile app is designed for ease and includes things like ‘trailer templates’ and themes that allow you to make a video quickly and with minimal effort.
This streamlined app is limited in its features. Other apps on this list have left out color correction tools or clip splitting tools and instead loaded up on decorative features like stickers, emojis, and overlays. iMovie has left out these tools and does not have an abundance of decorative features either.
There are filters, themes, and titles, however.
The titles are simple but polished, and you’ll find all the standard types of filters.
The themes include a variety of graphics and are applied to your entire video, not individual clips. You can also apply one filter to your entire video.
iMovie also includes a decent selection of transitions, which you can apply easily by tapping the area between two clips.
Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Good title tool
- Stickers
- Change clip duration
- 16:9 or 1:1
Movie Maker Filmmaker (the app will be labeled ‘Alive’ in on your phone) has a lot of features that will help you put together a fun YouTube video. There’s a great selection of stickers, filters, and overlays and they’re all easy to apply. You just click on what you want and resize/reposition it in the player.
This app is missing a lot of basic editing features, however. You cannot adjust things like brightness or saturation. This won’t be a problem if you’re happy with your clips as-is, but it’s a bit odd to not have those options.
There is a text tool and while it is fairly basic, it is also flexible. There is a good selection of fonts to choose from, and you can also choose whether or not you want a colored background, and if your text should have a shadow.
Once you’ve decided on the look of your text you can drag it, resize it, and tilt it however you want in the preview screen.
A slightly odd feature of this app is that it doesn’t save your video to your phone or export it directly to YouTube. Instead, it saves it – and shares it – within the app and gives you the option of sharing it with YouTube after.
Power Director (Android)
Key Points:
- A timeline like desktop software
- All the basic editing features
- Lots of transitions
- Videos from the free version will be watermarked
The first thing you’ll notice when you open up Power Director is that the interface looks a lot like the interface of a lot of desktop editors with a very classic timeline. This familiarity could make it easy to jump into if you’re used to editing on your laptop.
However, Power Director is a bit less intuitive than most of the other apps on this list. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s difficult to use – it isn’t, it’s much easier than a lot of desktop software – but among mobile apps designed for streamlined efficiency it does stand out as being a bit harder to dive into.
That is partly because there’s a lot you can do with it. It has the tools you would expect in an editor. You can split and trim clips, and you have all the standard color tools including some that most mobile apps leave out.
A lot of apps have Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation, but PowerDirector also has Color Temperature and Tint.
In addition to editing tools, PowerDirector has bells and whistles like filters –
- and a ton of great transitions.
One drawback of PowerDirector is that the free version will watermark your videos. This watermark is not intrusive, but it isn’t as subtle as the Funimate one either.
You can export videos from PowerDirector directly to YouTube.
Vlogit (Android or iOS )
Key Points:
- Easy thumbnail maker
- Export directly to YouTube
- Animated stickers
Vlogit is also an app from the creators of the Filmora Video Editor. It isn’t quite as intuitive as Filmora, but the major benefit of Vlogit for YouTube creators is that it was designed with you in mind. It has features like animated stickers, emojis, and a thumbnail maker which were included specifically because YouTubers and vloggers need them.
All the usual adjustments you might want to make, like saturation or sharpness, are easy in Vlogit. So are adjustments to the length or crop of clips.
After you save your video you’ll have the option of creating a thumbnail using a screenshot from your video. You can add a colored border, text, emojis, and more!
Once you’re done, you can export directly to YouTube. Like Filmora, Vlogit does have a post-video logo roll.
Have you ever used a free mobile app to edit one of your YouTube videos? What did you use, and were you happy with the results?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
- Title: "From Speech to Text A Complete, FREE Workshop on YouTube Transcription for 2024"
- Author: Joseph
- Created at : 2024-05-31 13:49:11
- Updated at : 2024-06-01 13:49:11
- Link: https://youtube-stream.techidaily.com/from-speech-to-text-a-complete-free-workshop-on-youtube-transcription-for-2024/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
