Can you use dictation or voice typing to transcribe a YouTube video?

No. Dictation and voice typing listen to your microphone and type what you say. They listen to your microphone, not to the sound a video plays through your speakers, so pointing them at a YouTube video usually gives you text you cannot use. The reasons are below, followed by the routes that do work.

Dictation types what you say, not what your computer plays

Dictation is built to turn your own speech into text. On a Mac, Apple says that with Dictation you speak to enter text in any place where you can type ¹. On Windows, voice typing works the same way: you turn it on, put your cursor in a text box, and it types what it hears ². Neither feature is described as a way to capture a video's audio.

Windows voice typing is online. Microsoft says voice typing on a PC uses online speech recognition, and that you need an internet connection, a working microphone and a cursor in a text box ².

Playing the video out loud will not produce a usable draft

Some people play the video through the speakers and let the microphone pick it up. This usually fails for two reasons.

The first is the speakers. Windows voice typing is designed to keep the PC's own sound out of the text. Microsoft says it "automatically suppresses audio coming from your speakers, such as Narrator or app playback" ³. The feature is meant to keep your dictation clean, so it filters playback rather than typing it. A video played aloud is then competing with the feature's own filter.

The second is the room. Recognition gets worse in noise. A 1996 study found that the performance of a speech recognition system degrades rapidly in the presence of ambient noise ⁴. That study used older recognizers, so modern engines may cope better. A loudspeaker in the room still adds echo, music and other sound, and you get no timing, no speaker labels, and no way to check a word against the video. Treat any text you get this way as unreliable.

The routes that work start from the video itself

There are three routes, in the order to try them.

1. Read the transcript YouTube shows. If the video has captions, a transcript may appear on the video page. You can read or copy its text without downloading anything. Our question on how to get a YouTube transcript covers the steps, and why the YouTube transcript is not showing covers the common causes when it is missing.
2. Use live captions for the sound on your computer. This is the only dictation-like route that hears playing audio. On a Mac, Live Captions can caption the computer's audio or the microphone, and you can switch between them ⁵. In Chrome, Google says Live Caption works offline, including for audio and video files saved on the computer ⁶. The text appears as the video plays, so you can read along. Check whether the app lets you copy or export the text before you rely on it. The guide to transcribing video explains the live caption options for each platform.
3. Transcribe the audio from a file. If you need a full, saved transcript, you need the audio itself, and that depends on the video's rights. YouTube's terms let you view or listen to its content for your personal, non-commercial use ⁷. They also say you may not download any part of the service or its content unless the service permits it ⁸. If you own the video, or have permission to use it, transcribe the file as you would any recording. Our question on how to transcribe audio for free lists the free options.

When dictation is the right tool for a video

Dictation is useful around a video, not on its soundtrack. If you are watching a talk and want to write your own summary, you can speak your notes while you watch. Dictation is also the right tool for turning your own spoken corrections into text after you have a transcript.

What to do next

• If the video has captions, open its transcript first. It costs nothing and needs no download.
• If you need a quick read of what is being said, turn on live captions for the computer's audio.
• If you need a saved, checked transcript, get the audio from a file you own or have permission to use, then transcribe and review it.
• If you want to write about a video, dictate your own notes while you watch, and keep the transcript separate.

Related reading: how to get a YouTube transcript, why the YouTube transcript is not showing and how to transcribe audio for free. The full picture is in our guide to video to text, part of our overview of transcription.