How to Get a Transcript of a Facebook Live Video (2026)

A Facebook Live replay is the whole event: the talk, the service, the Q&A, the product launch. It is also one of the easiest videos to lose. Since February 2025 Facebook deletes new Live replays after a month, so if you want the words, get them while the replay is up.

Facebook now deletes Live replays after 30 days

Meta announced the change in its newsroom on 18 February 2025, in a post titled "Updating Our Facebook Live Video Storage Policy". In Meta's words: "Beginning on February 19th, any new live broadcast videos can be replayed, downloaded or shared from your Facebook Pages or profiles for 30 days, after which they will automatically be removed from Facebook."

The owner can defer deletion "for an additional six months", or send the video to "your linked cloud storage provider (ex: Dropbox or Google Drive)". Meta's stated reason is that "most live video views occur within the first few weeks of broadcasting".

For anyone who needs the text later, a quote for an article, notes from a sermon, minutes of a community meeting, that makes a transcript the durable copy. A replay you meant to come back to may simply be gone.

Which Live replays can be transcribed

The rule is simple: if Facebook shows the replay to someone who is not signed in, it can be transcribed. That covers most Live broadcasts from public Pages and public profiles.

It does not cover replays Facebook keeps behind a login: friends-only posts, private groups, and some Pages that restrict their audience. No transcript tool can reach those without your Facebook account. SubGrab tells you which it was, and the credit comes back automatically.

Our own numbers for the 60 days to 30 September 2026: every Facebook video whose page Facebook let us read transcribed, 35 of 35 between one and three hours long and 220 of 220 between ten minutes and an hour. Most Facebook failures in the same period, 100 of 165, were videos Facebook would not show without a login. For the reason why, see why a Facebook video won't transcribe.

The quick check before you paste: open the replay in a private browsing window. If it plays there, it will transcribe.

How to get the replay's link

The link you need is the one that points at the video itself, not the Page.

• On a computer: open the replay, then click the time stamp under the Page name, or open the three-dot menu and choose Copy link. Links that look like facebook.com/PageName/videos/123456789 or facebook.com/watch/?v=123456789 both work.
• In the Facebook app: open the replay, tap Share, then Copy link. The app gives you a facebook.com/share/v/ link, and that works too.
• From a Page: Live replays sit in the Page's Videos or Live tab. Open the one you want first, then copy its link.

fb.watch short links, Reels and event videos are accepted as well. See every video link format that works if yours is refused.

Step by step

1. Copy the replay's link as above.

2. Paste it into the box on the Facebook transcript page or the SubGrab homepage.

3. Check the quote. It shows the length and the credit cost before anything is charged.

4. Confirm. You get a transcript with timestamps, which you can read in the browser or download as TXT, SRT or VTT.

What it costs, and how long it takes

One credit covers up to an hour of video, then one credit per started hour. A 45-minute replay is 1 credit, a 90-minute one is 2, a three-hour marathon is 3. New accounts include 2 free credits, and packs start at $3.99 for 3 credits on the pricing page. A failed transcript is refunded automatically.

Long replays are not slow. Across the Facebook videos over an hour that we transcribed in the ten days to 30 September 2026, the median time from confirming to a finished transcript was 32 seconds (8 videos). For very long streams, transcribing a 10-hour livestream covers the limits.

When Facebook hides the replay, or it has already been moved

If SubGrab tells you Facebook won't show the video without a login, that is the audience setting, not a broken link. Three ways forward:

1. Ask the Page to make the replay public, if you are working with them.

2. Transcribe a copy. Meta lets owners download a replay or transfer it to Google Drive or Dropbox. A Drive or Dropbox file transcribes from its link once it is shared as "Anyone with the link" (see transcribing a Google Drive video); in the 60 days to 30 September, 158 of 159 Drive recordings between one and three hours long transcribed.

3. Upload the file. If you have the MP4, upload it directly. It costs the same.

What to do with the transcript

A Live transcript is searchable, quotable and easy to repurpose. The AI summary pulls out key points and a timeline, podcast-style show notes take minutes rather than an hour, and an SRT file adds captions to the replay itself. If you are choosing between tools, our comparison of free Facebook transcript tools is honest about where others do better.