How to Copy Text From a Video on Mac
On a Mac, Live Text can copy text from a paused video, but only in Apple’s own players and Safari. For YouTube in Chrome, VLC, a recording inside another app, or a live stream you can’t pause, freeze the screen with Nab and drag over the text.
The built-in ways
Live Text on a paused video (macOS 13 or later). Apple’s Live Text recognises text in paused video frames. Pause the video, then either drag across the text you want, or click the Live Text button in the bottom-right corner of the frame and choose Copy All. It works in:
- QuickTime Player, Photos, Quick Look and Apple’s TV app
- Safari, including YouTube
- other apps that use Apple’s standard video player
Live Text is on unless it’s been switched off in System Settings › General › Language & Region.
YouTube in Safari. It generally works, but some people find they can only select the text in full screen. An Apple Community thread about it has dozens of “me too” replies and no fix.
YouTube in Chrome. Chrome has no Live Text. The closest thing is the ⋮ menu › “Search this tab with Google Lens”: drag over the frame and copy the text Lens finds. That sends a screenshot of the page to Google.
VLC and other players. VLC has no Live Text. IINA’s 1.5 beta adds it; the current stable version doesn’t have it yet.
The screenshot route. In any player: pause, press ⌘⇧4, drag over the text, open the screenshot in Preview and select the text there. See how to copy text from an image on Mac.
Visual Intelligence (macOS 27). With Apple Intelligence on, ⌘⇧6 lets you drag over part of the screen and ask about it. Early reviews say it can’t copy the text it reads.
Where they fall short
- Only some players. Live Text covers Apple’s players and Safari. Chrome, Firefox, VLC, and videos inside other apps (course platforms, Loom, meeting recordings, Slack) are left out.
- You have to pause. That’s impossible in a live stream or someone else’s screen share, and annoying in a talk you’re following.
- YouTube in Safari is patchy outside full screen.
- Screenshots are slow. Capture, open, select, copy, delete: five steps for one line of code.
- Copy-protected video is hard for everyone. Live Text doesn’t read it at all, and streaming services often black it out of screenshots, which would include Nab.
With Nab
- When the text is on screen, press ⌘⇧2. The screen freezes; the video keeps playing underneath.
- Drag over the text you want. It’s copied the moment you let go. ⌘A copies everything on that display.
- Paste it anywhere, then press Esc to unfreeze.
It doesn’t matter which app is playing the video: if you can see the text, you can copy it. Links on the screen, like the ones at the end of a talk, can be clicked straight from the frozen picture.
Questions
Do I have to pause the video first?
No. Nab freezes a still picture of your screen, so the video can keep playing underneath while you select.
Can I keep the line breaks from a code snippet?
Yes. Line breaks are kept by default. Press ⌘L during a freeze to switch between keeping and removing them.
Does it work on Netflix or other streaming services?
It may not. Streaming services protect their video, and on a Mac that often makes it show up black in screenshots, depending on the app or browser. Nab can only read what macOS lets it capture. Live Text doesn't work on protected video either.