No captions on a YouTube video? How to check, and what to do
Most YouTube summarisers don't listen to the video. They read the caption file YouTube already has, so when there isn't one, they stop.
Check in about five seconds
Open the video on YouTube, click the ... menu under the player and look for Show transcript. If that option isn't there, the video has no caption file, and any tool that reads captions will fail on it.
Common cases with no captions: uploads from the last few days, live stream replays, music-heavy videos, and some non-English uploads where auto-captions never ran.
What the big one says
Google's own help page for NotebookLM: "Only public YouTube videos with captions, either user-uploaded or auto-generated, are supported." It also says videos uploaded less than 72 hours ago may not be available yet, and videos without speech aren't supported.
So it's not a bug in your link. There's nothing for it to read.
YouTube Collector takes the other route: if there's no caption file, it transcribes the audio with AI and carries on to the summary, chapters and search. That costs credits (your first two AI transcriptions are free), and it takes longer than reading a ready-made caption file.
Side by side
| YouTube Collector | NotebookLM | NoteGPT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works with no caption file | Yes, AI transcript on demand (credits) | No, captions required | Yes, stated up to 150 minutes |
| Bulk playlist import | Yes, batch 5 (Pro) or 20 (Creator) | Not documented; sources added individually, 50 per notebook free | Batch up to 20 URLs |
| Summaries with clickable timecodes | Yes, chapters that jump the player | Not documented | Not confirmed |
| Search across everything you've saved | Yes, titles, summaries, full transcripts | Not documented | Not confirmed |
| Repurpose to blog, thread, LinkedIn | Yes, built in | Not documented | Not confirmed |
| Community transcript cache | Yes | Not documented | Not confirmed |
"Not confirmed" means we couldn't find it stated on that tool's own site on 31 July 2026, not that it's missing. Check before you switch.
When another tool is the better pick
Choose NotebookLM if your videos already have captions and you also want to question your own PDFs and docs in the same place. It's free and it does that job well.
Choose NoteGPT if you have one no-caption video under 150 minutes and don't need a library, search or repurposing afterwards.
Choose YouTube Collector if you're working through a back-catalogue: whole playlists, some with captions and some without, and you want one search across the lot and drafts out the other end.
FAQ
Can any tool summarise a video with no sound? No. If nobody speaks, there's nothing to transcribe. Google states the same limit for NotebookLM.
I uploaded my video an hour ago. Why won't it import? Auto-captions take a while to appear. NotebookLM also says videos uploaded under 72 hours ago may not be ready. An AI transcript works straight away.
Does the AI transcript cost money? Your first two are free. After that it's credits. The free plan covers 30 videos a month at £0.
Is it as accurate as YouTube's captions? On clear speech, close. On heavy accents, crosstalk or music beds, expect to fix a few words. You can read the transcript alongside the player and correct as you go.
Try it on the video that failed
Paste the link that wouldn't import. Free plan, 30 videos a month, no card. youtubecollector.com