Cuescribe

Workflow · YouTubers

Free tools for YouTubers

Everything a YouTube channel repeats every week, from script to Shorts, without uploading your footage: transcripts from a link or a file, chapters, captions burned into vertical clips that follow your face, loudness checked against YouTube's -14 LUFS, and a thumbnail frame picker. All free, no watermark, no account.

The workflow, step by step

  1. 1

    Script and record

    Record your screen and camera with a teleprompter, then remove ums and false starts so only your last take stays.

    Screen recorderScreen + webcam bubble, or camera + teleprompter. No limits.Filler word removerUm, uh, false starts and repeats cut; keeps your last take.
  2. 2

    Captions that are right

    Time your script's exact words to the video, or transcribe it on your device and fix the subtitles.

    Script to subtitles NewYour exact script, timed to the recording. Or a translation onto existing timing.Transcribe a fileMP4, MOV, MP3, WAV, M4A to text and captions, without uploading.Subtitle fixerOverlaps, flash cues, long lines, drift: found and fixed. SRT ⇄ VTT.
  3. 3

    Package the upload

    Chapters from the transcript, a sharp thumbnail frame previewed at YouTube's real sizes, loudness at -14 LUFS.

    YouTube chaptersChapter timestamps at natural pauses, checked against YouTube rules.Thumbnail frame pickerSharpest frames from a video, previewed at YouTube sizes.Loudness checkerLUFS and true peak vs YouTube, podcast and broadcast targets.
  4. 4

    Shorts from the long video

    Pick the lines in the transcript, export a 9:16 clip with word-by-word captions, reframed to follow the speaker.

    Clip from transcriptClick sentences, export that clip as MP4 with its subtitles.Auto-reframe to vertical16:9 → 9:16 with a crop that follows the face.Add captions to videoStyled, burned-in captions, 9:16 crop and safe-area guides.
  5. 5

    Research other videos

    Pull the transcript of any YouTube video to study structure, quote it or make notes.

    YouTube transcriptCaptions YouTube already has, in seconds, searchable and downloadable.YouTube Shorts transcriptText of any Short, from its link, in seconds.
Free Chrome extension

Cuescribe for Chrome

A transcript side panel on every YouTube and TikTok video, a library of everything you transcribe, and one click to open any of it in these tools.

Get the extension
Pro · early access

Pro keeps this free

Every tool stays free. Pro (early access, $9/month) adds batch delivery for client work and the extension's Pro features; longer files and multi-file projects are in development. Early subscribers keep their price and choose what gets built next.

What Pro includes

Questions

How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video?

Paste the link into the YouTube transcript tool. Captions load in seconds when the video has them; with the free extension the transcript also appears in a side panel next to the video.

How do I turn a long video into Shorts for free?

Open the video in the clip maker, select the lines you want in the transcript, choose 9:16 and a caption style, and export. The reframe tool keeps a moving speaker centred.

What loudness should a YouTube video be?

YouTube turns playback down to about -14 LUFS, so mixing louder only costs you dynamics. The loudness checker measures yours and fixes it.

Also for: Podcasters · Video editors · Small business. Comparing apps? Descript, OpusClip, Headliner, Loom.