How to copy text from a video on Mac
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2 while the video plays: the screen freezes on that frame, you drag over the text, and it is in your clipboard when you let go. Copyable reads the pixels on your screen, so it works in any player, including Chrome, Firefox, VLC, IINA and course apps. In QuickTime Player and Safari, the free Live Text in macOS can do it too.
How to do it with Copyable
Play the video in any app
Make the video as large as you comfortably can. Full screen is best: bigger text on screen is read more reliably.
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2 and drag over the text
The screen freezes, so you don’t have to pause or hunt for the right frame. Drag a rectangle around the line, the code or the paragraph you need.
Paste it
The text is in your clipboard the moment you let go, and the panel next to your selection shows it. Press ⌘ V wherever you need it.
Without Copyable
The free ways, and where they stop working. If one of them covers what you need, you don’t need an app.
Live Text in QuickTime Player and Safari
On macOS 13 Ventura and later, pause the video in QuickTime Player or Safari, drag across the text in the frame and press ⌘ C.
Where it stops: Only in those two apps. Chrome, Firefox, VLC, IINA and most course apps don’t have it.
A screenshot, then Preview
Press ⌘ ⌃ ⇧ 4 (Command-Control-Shift-4) and select the area to copy a screenshot to the clipboard. Open Preview, choose File → New from Clipboard and select the text with Live Text.
Where it stops: Works for anything on screen, but each capture takes several steps and leaves a Preview window to close.
Tips for text in videos
- Video compression blurs small text, especially right after a cut. If the result has mistakes, capture again a moment later or switch the player to a higher quality.
- Slides that change every few seconds: press ⌘ ⇧ 1 to read the same area again without dragging.
- Text over a busy background, such as a caption over footage, reads better when you select only the text and not the picture around it.
- Streaming services that protect their video, such as Netflix and Apple TV, show up black to every screen capture, Copyable included.
Questions
Does the video have to be paused?
No. When you press ⌘ ⇧ 2 the screen freezes, so you can select text in a video that is still playing.
Can it copy text from Netflix or Apple TV?
No. Protected video appears black to every screen capture on macOS, so there is no text to read.
Does it read what people say in the video?
No. Copyable reads text you can see on screen: slides, code, captions and titles. For speech, use the video’s captions or transcript if it has them.
Is the frame uploaded anywhere?
No. Copyable reads the area on your Mac with Apple’s Vision framework, makes no network requests and doesn’t save the image.
Copy text from anything on your screen
Copyable reads the text in any area you select with ⌘ ⇧ 2, on your Mac, without uploading anything. $4.99 once, plus tax where it applies. Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.
Buy for $4.99