Free, open source video downloader with local, searchable transcripts.
VidBee is a free, open source desktop app that downloads video and audio from 1,000+ sites and turns them into local, searchable, speaker-labeled transcripts you can export, summarize or translate with an AI provider of your choice.
VidBee is an open source video and audio downloader for macOS, Windows and Linux that pulls media from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook, Bilibili and more than 1,000 other sites, built on top of yt-dlp and FFmpeg. It works without an account: paste a link or a playlist URL, pick a format up to 4K or 8K, and save the files to a local folder. Users can also import video or audio files already sitting on their computer rather than downloading them. Once a file is in VidBee, it can generate a transcript locally, choosing between Whisper, SenseVoice or Qwen3-ASR. The transcript keeps timestamps and separates speakers, auto-detects among more than 100 languages, and lets a user search for a word or phrase, click a result and jump straight to that moment in playback. Transcripts and downloads are stored on the device rather than on VidBee's servers, and export options cover plain text, Markdown, subtitle files or a captioned video. A further layer turns the transcript into something usable: summaries, translations, FAQs, mind maps, chapter outlines or quote libraries, either through built-in workflows or custom skills a user writes and saves for reuse. This step is optional and requires an AI provider, which can be OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Groq, Hugging Face, OpenRouter, xAI, Azure, or a local model run through Ollama or LM Studio, connected with the user's own API key or endpoint. VidBee suits researchers, journalists, podcasters and anyone who regularly needs to pull quotes or notes out of long recordings rather than watch them back. It sits alongside downloader alternatives such as Downie, Stacher and Parabolic, but differentiates itself with the local transcript and search layer, an MIT license, and a bundled set of online video and audio tools for trimming, converting, compressing and subtitling.
VidBee's desktop downloader and local transcription are free with no account required; the site also lists a Pricing page and references subscription features such as RSS auto-download and batch processing, though specific plan costs aren't detailed on the homepage.
Learn moreSupport resources include a documentation site, how-to guides and articles, a GitHub repository for issues and contributions, and community channels on Discord, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon.
Learn moreConnects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Groq, Hugging Face, OpenRouter, xAI and Azure, or local models via Ollama and LM Studio, with a user-supplied API key. Downloads run on yt-dlp and FFmpeg.
Learn moreDownloads video, audio and playlists from 1,000+ sites or local files; generates local, timestamped transcripts with speaker labels and 100+ language auto-detect; supports search-to-timestamp navigation; exports text, Markdown, subtitles or captioned video; offers built-in and custom AI skills for summaries, translation, FAQs and mind maps; includes online tools for converting, trimming, merging, cropping, resizing, compressing and subtitling video and audio.
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