Turn a YouTube video into a podcast episode
Paste a YouTube link into Lissin and get a podcast episode written from the video's captions: a summary, a two-host discussion or only the parts you ask for.
The short answer
Copy the video's link from YouTube, paste it into a new request in the Lissin iPhone app and say what you want from it. When YouTube has English captions for the video, Lissin works from them and writes a spoken episode: a summary, a two-host discussion or only the parts you ask about.
How to do it
Decide whether you want the video or an episode about it
Lissin does not extract the video's sound. It reads what was said and writes a new episode, so the speakers' own voices, the music and anything shown but not said are gone. If you want to hear the original with your screen off, play it in YouTube. If you want a forty-minute talk as a ten-minute walk-through, use Lissin.
Paste a link to one video
Use Share in the YouTube app, or copy the address bar in a browser, and paste the link into Lissin's Create screen. Ordinary watch links, youtu.be short links and Shorts all work. A channel page or a playlist link is not read as a video, so paste each video you want covered.
Say what you want from it
"The three arguments she makes against rent control, in her order" gives a faithful summary. "Two hosts: one explains the lecture, one asks the questions a beginner would" gives a discussion. "Only the parts about running a small café" gives a briefing for you. Name the speaker if it matters, because captions do not always say who is talking.
Put several videos, or videos and articles, in one episode
One episode takes up to 20 links. Three conference talks on the same subject become a single episode on where the speakers agree and differ, and a video can sit beside the article it responds to. The episode lists the links it used so you can go back to any of them.
At a glance
- Links Lissin reads
- YouTube watch links, youtu.be short links and Shorts
- What it reads from a video
- The English captions YouTube has for it, with the video's title and channel name
- Video with no English captions
- Lissin cannot use the video. Depending on the rest of the request, the episode is researched from the web and will not follow the video, or the request stops with an error
- Not read
- Channel pages, playlists, comments and anything shown on screen but not said
- Links per episode
- Up to 20, and they can mix videos and web pages
- What you get
- A spoken episode for one or two voices, with its sources listed
Hear what comes out
Shows already published on Lissin, free to play in the browser.
Questions
- Does Lissin download the video's audio?
- No. It reads the captions and writes a new script, which is voiced by Lissin's own narrators. You choose the episode's length and how it is organised, so it can be far shorter than the video.
- What about a video in another language?
- Lissin asks YouTube for English captions. When a video has captions only in another language, Lissin cannot read it: the episode is either researched from the web instead or stops with an error. The episode itself can be in any of Lissin's 25 languages, so an English talk can become a Spanish episode.
- Can it make an episode for every new video on a channel?
- No. Lissin does not subscribe to a channel. A recurring show that names a channel searches the web, YouTube pages included, but it works from search results, not from the videos' captions. To have a video covered from what is said in it, paste its link.
- How accurate is the episode?
- It is as good as the captions. Automatic captions often mishear names, numbers and technical terms, and the episode carries those mistakes forward. Check anything you plan to quote against the video.
What this does not do
Lissin needs English captions on the video. Without them it cannot use the video at all, so the episode is either researched from the web and will not match the video, or the request stops with an error. It does not read channel or playlist links, comments, slides or anything on screen that nobody says aloud, and it never gives you the video's own audio. Creating an episode needs the iPhone app on iOS 26 or later.
Sources
Make your own show, or hear a sample
Make a show from your topic or documents in the Lissin iPhone app (iOS 26 or later). Or listen to public shows in the web player without installing the app.
Last reviewed October 27, 2026 by Lissin Editorial.