Only after the stream ends
There is no real-time transcription. A stream that is still live can't be imported, and the link only works once YouTube has finished the stream and published the replay as a regular video. For a long broadcast this can take a little while after it goes offline; if the import is refused, wait and try again.
Once the replay is ready, copy its address, press Import from link and paste it. The check step shows the length of the recording before anything is fetched.
Who transcribes stream replays
Streamers turn a long session into clips, highlights and captions. Event organisers keep a written record of a streamed panel, launch or town hall. Teachers and coaches who teach live publish the text afterwards. Researchers and journalists work from the replay of a public hearing or briefing that was streamed. In each case the replay is long and the useful parts are scattered through it, which is where searchable text helps.
Long recordings, waiting screens and chat
Live replays have their own quirks:
- Length: streams of several hours are split into chunks and processed in parallel, so they are ready in minutes. The limits for your plan are shown in the pricing section on this page.
- Starting soon screens: long stretches of music or silence before the stream begins can leave a few stray lines in the transcript. Delete them.
- Chat: messages in the live chat are not part of the audio, so they are not in the transcript. A streamer reading a question aloud is.
- Guests and co-hosts: speaker identification on paid plans or with a Minute Pack labels the voices.
Finding the moments that matter
Search the transcript for a word you remember, click the line and the player jumps there. That turns a four-hour replay into something you can navigate in seconds. CSV export gives every segment with its start time, which is a quick way to note timestamps for clips or for a chapter list in the description.
For your own channel, SRT or VTT gives corrected captions for the replay. If you saved the stream recording locally from your streaming software, uploading the file works too and avoids any download issues. Only transcribe videos you have the right to use. A transcript of someone else's video is fine for your own notes and research; republishing it may need the owner's permission.