YouTube's auto-generated captions are often inaccurate. Local transcription with Whisper gives you better results while keeping your viewing history private.
Why Transcribe YouTube Locally?
- Better accuracy: Whisper outperforms YouTube's auto-captions
- Privacy: No third-party services see what you watch
- Full control: Edit and format transcripts as needed
- Offline access: Create searchable notes from videos
The Workflow
- Download the video's audio track (yt-dlp works great)
- Run through local Whisper transcription
- Get accurate text with timestamps
- Use for notes, quotes, or content creation
Use Cases
- Research: Create searchable notes from educational content
- Content creation: Quote and reference other creators accurately
- Learning: Study transcripts at your own pace
- Accessibility: Create better captions than auto-generated ones
Tips for Best Results
- Use highest quality audio available
- Whisper Large model for best accuracy
- Enable language detection for multilingual content
- Post-process with AI for summaries
Transcribe Any Audio
Sotto handles audio files from any source with local Whisper processing. $29 one-time.
Get Sotto