YouTube Subtitles Not Downloading? Causes and Fixes
In short
YouTube subtitles go missing when the video has no track in the language you ticked, or when only auto-generated captions exist and they were left unticked. Embedding can also fail for WEBM files and titles with square brackets. B-ROLL's Subtitles dialog shows the real tracks, and a separate .srt file is the dependable fallback.
On this page
Why are the YouTube subtitles missing from your download?
YouTube subtitles go missing for seven reasons, and the first to check is the Subtitles menu left on None, its default. The others are a missing language, unticked auto captions, a WEBM container, square brackets in the title, a clip download, or YouTube limiting requests. The video itself is never the casualty, because B-ROLL fetches subtitles in a separate pass after the video finishes, with pauses and retries against YouTube’s rate limit.
The table maps what you see to its cause and the fix. Start with the row that matches your folder.
| What you see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No subtitle file and no Subtitles dialog appeared | The Subtitles menu next to Format is on None, the default | Pick SRT, ASS, VTT or Embedded and download again |
| The Subtitles dialog says “No subtitles available for this video.” | The video has no subtitle track of any kind | Nothing to download; transcribe it yourself or ask the creator |
| One video in a batch has no subtitle file | The dialog asks once per batch, and that video has no track in the chosen language | Paste that link on its own and tick a language it lists |
| Captions show on YouTube, not in your folder | Only an auto-generated track exists and it was not ticked | Tick the language in the AUTO-GENERATED group |
| Embedded chosen, WEBM file has no subtitle track | Embedding can fail for WEBM, which takes only WebVTT | Use the .srt left next to the video, or pick MP4 or MKV |
| Embedded chosen, title contains square brackets | Embedding can be skipped for such titles | Use the .srt left next to the video |
| Embedded chosen for a clip | B-ROLL does not embed subtitles into clip files | Use the Title.lang.srt saved next to the clip |
| Clip subtitles look wrong or empty | Clip subtitles cover the whole video, timed from 0:00 | Offset the track by the clip’s start time |
| Several languages, but no files beside the video | More than one file moves into a subfolder | Open the Title - subtitles folder |
| The subtitle pass failed, the video is fine | YouTube refused requests for a while | Wait, then use Only subtitles to fetch them again |
As of September 2026, the yt-dlp wiki FAQ describes HTTP 429 as the service blocking your IP address for overuse, usually a soft block. Every fix for YouTube’s side of the problem, from sign-in to HTTP 403, is collected in YouTube downloader fixes for editors.
Does the video have subtitles in the language you picked?
B-ROLL’s language picker lists only the subtitle tracks the video really has. If a language is not in the Subtitles dialog, YouTube does not offer a track for it, and no setting will produce one.
The dialog opens before the first download of a batch and splits tracks into two groups: “OFFICIAL: uploaded by the creator” and “AUTO-GENERATED”. The original language carries the mark “· original”, and B-ROLL pre-ticks it along with the app’s language and English. Type in Search language… to find a language in a long list.
The dialog asks once per batch, so ten links pasted together share one language choice. A video in that batch without the chosen language finishes with no subtitle file, and the video still downloads. Paste that link on its own to see its real list.
The full dialog, with every option and the files it produces, is explained on the YouTube subtitle downloader page.
Why are YouTube auto-generated captions not included?
YouTube auto-generated captions are left out when their language was not ticked in the AUTO-GENERATED group, or when you pressed Only official subtitles. That button keeps the creator’s tracks and unticks every automatic one on purpose.
B-ROLL asks yt-dlp for both kinds of track. As of September 2026, the yt-dlp README keeps them apart: --write-subs saves the creator’s subtitle files and --write-auto-subs saves the automatically generated ones, and B-ROLL passes both. So an auto track you ticked arrives as a normal Title.lang.srt.
When the OFFICIAL group is empty, tick the auto track you need and expect to correct names and punctuation. The cleanup, and the repeated lines auto tracks often carry, are covered in downloading YouTube auto-generated captions as SRT.
Why do embedded subtitles not show in the video file?
Embedded subtitles can go missing from a WEBM file, because B-ROLL embeds SRT and WebM accepts only WebVTT. Embedding can also be skipped when the video title contains square brackets, and B-ROLL does not embed tracks into clip files.
When embedding works, B-ROLL muxes every chosen language into the file with language tags, as mov_text in MP4 and MOV or as an SRT track in MKV, then deletes the loose files. The log line Subtitles embedded. confirms it. When that line is missing, look next to the video: the .srt files stay there, so nothing is lost.
WebVTT is the W3C text track format built for the HTML track element, and a valid file starts with the signature WEBVTT (W3C WebVTT specification). For a WEBM download with subtitles, pick SRT in the Subtitles menu instead of Embedded.
Some players also keep an embedded track switched off until you pick it in their subtitle menu. For an edit, a separate file is the dependable route, and SRT vs VTT vs ASS explains which one to keep.
How do you get subtitles for a file you already downloaded?
Paste the same link with the same settings, then click Only subtitles in the “Already downloaded” dialog. B-ROLL fetches the subtitles for the existing file and skips the video, which is the fix after a failed subtitle pass.
The “Already downloaded” dialog appears only when type, quality, format, subtitles and part all match a finished download whose file still exists, and Only subtitles shows up only while subtitles are on. A file downloaded with Subtitles on None therefore never offers it: a different Subtitles choice counts as a new download.
For that file, pick SRT and paste the link again with the other settings unchanged. yt-dlp skips a video file that already exists, and B-ROLL then runs its subtitle pass next to that file.
For a clip, the subtitle file covers the whole source video and counts from 0:00. A clip named Interview [02-10 to 02-38].mp4 needs its subtitle track moved 2 minutes 10 seconds earlier. The import and offset steps for Adobe’s editor are in importing YouTube subtitles into Premiere Pro.
Frequently asked questions
Why do some videos have captions in the player but not in the download?
The captions you saw on YouTube were most likely an auto-generated track that was not ticked in the Subtitles dialog. Open the dialog again and look in the AUTO-GENERATED group. Text that is part of the picture itself, typed onto the frames by the creator, is not a subtitle track at all, so no downloader can save it as a file.
Can I download translated captions?
Only when the Subtitles dialog lists that language. B-ROLL fetches the tracks the dialog shows, official or auto-generated, and nothing else. A language missing from the list cannot be downloaded, so translate the original track yourself or ask the creator. Picking the right file type for the translation is covered in SRT vs VTT vs ASS.
Why is the SRT empty?
Open the .srt in Notepad first. If it holds numbered cues, the file is fine and the editor is hiding them: subtitles for a clip are timed to the full video, so cues can sit past the end of a short clip timeline. If Notepad shows no text, fetch the subtitles again with Only subtitles or tick a different track.
Sources
- yt-dlp README on GitHub github.com
- yt-dlp wiki: FAQ github.com
- W3C: WebVTT, the Web Video Text Tracks format w3.org
