2022-10-29
The world's most popular video hosting site YouTube contains not only videos about cute kittens and dogs. There are a lot of good foreign movies in their original language and really useful videos, like lectures, reports, educational content. Often they are posted by foreign users in a foreign language, so they are accompanied by subtitles with translation. Listening to them in the background, as many are accustomed to doing with Russian-language videos, is impossible.
It is better to save clips to your computer so that you can then easily watch them at any time and at any place. From this article you will learn how to download your YouTube video with subtitles and how to save only subtitles without video.
Subtitles are the text accompanying a video, which transmits the sound content of the video. They are used to watch videos with no sound or to translate into your native language what is said in a foreign language movie.
Downloading only subtitles or videos with them may be necessary:
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if you are going to watch the video in its original (foreign language) mode offline;
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if you only need the text content of the video and the video is of secondary importance;
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if you are learning a language and have to refer to the same video continuously to understand the dialogues in detail.
The program "4K Video Downloader"
This program helps you download videos from youtube with subtitles, but only if they are embedded in the video. With this program you can either save the whole video or just the subtitles separately. But first, install "4K Video Downloader" software on your computer. It is suitable for any operating system:
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Download the installation file here;
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Install the software following the steps;
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Download the subtitles in your browser. Important: They should be embedded. This is indicated by the "CC" sign below;
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Scroll to the URL of the video you would like to download;
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open the "4K Video Downloader" and choose the "Settings" icon (in the upper right corner). If you only need to save the subtitles, skip this step and the 2 following steps;
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check the box near "Embed subtitles in video file if possible". This will download the video immediately with the subtitles;
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Now close "Settings" by clicking on the cross at the top right;
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Click the "Past Link" at the top left and paste there the link to the video you want;
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choose the quality of the picture;
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at the bottom right open "Download Subtitles" and choose the language;
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click on "Download". The video begins to download.
After the download is completed, open the folder in which you have saved the /files. There will either be a video or subtitles only, depending on what you have chosen.
How not to install any additional software
Not everybody likes to install new software on his computer: Some are afraid of viruses, some do not see the point of doing it for the sake of a single download. For these users there are other ways to download subtitles from youtube.
Online service "Dvdvideosoft"
We recommend you to use the site "Dvdvideosoft". It is useful for those who do not need any visuals but are only interested in the subtitles themselves in text format:
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from the "YouTube" page you have to insert the link to the video;
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Before starting the saving process, select the language;
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if you are interested only in subtitles for part of the video, you should indicate the time period in which they are;
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In the "Preview" window you can evaluate the result and then either save it as .txt format or copy it to the clipboard and paste it into another text editor.
The service page contains detailed instructions.
Online "DownSub"
The "DownSub" service works in a similar way to the one described above:
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You just have to copy the link to the video from YouTube, insert it in the service search box, click on "Download";
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After processing "DownSub" offers you to save the subtitles. Sometimes it is possible to choose the language (but this depends on the original video). If you do not find the language you want in the list of languages to save, try to load a translation which is generated automatically;
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subtitles are saved in SRT format. It is playable in most media players.
Saving subtitles directly from "YouTube"
There is one more way to download subtitles from YouTube without having to download the video to your computer:
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open the subtitle video you want (not embedded);
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click the three horizontal dots icon right below the playback window;
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select "View subtitle video";
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a window opens on the right side with the full text commentary of this video. You have just to mark it (CTRL+A) and insert it in any text editor and save.
Load subtitles with your browser
If you use "Google Chrome", try the following:
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Go to "YouTube" and open the video you wish to view;
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Go to "Advanced Tools" directly in the browser and click on "Developer Tools";
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Now click on the subtitle display button and in the "Network" tab at the bottom of the screen type "timedtext" in the search box;
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browser will locate the file to open in a new window. This file will contain all the subtitles for the current video.
This method can be used with other browsers as well:
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call the "Developer Tools" section using CTRL + SHIFT + I;
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from the "Network" or "Network" tab enter "timedtext" in the search field;
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repeat the last item of the previous method.
Now you know both, how to download the subtitles from youtube and how to save the subtitled video to your PC. We have considered the most basic ways from which you can choose the most convenient one.
