Video Text Selector

Tracking since May 30, 2026.

Changelog

• Jun 12, 2026
  description

  Cmd/Ctrl-click on text inside any playing video to select and ctrl/cmd-c to copy, just like text on a webpage.
  
  You've spotted something worth keeping — a quote in a talk, a code snippet in a screencast, an ingredient on a recipe card, a sign in a travel vlog, a bullet on a slide — and you reach for the keyboard only to remember it's pixels, not text. This extension turns those pixels into selectable text without pausing, screenshotting, or hunting for a transcript.
  
  How it works:
  Hold cmd (Mac) or ctrl (Win/Linux) and click on the text. A small frozen snapshot lifts off the video with the text now selectable underneath. Drag across what you want, hit cmd-c (or ctrl-c), and it's on your clipboard. The video never pauses.
  
  What you can select:
  - Single words and phrases
  - Full sentences across wrapped lines — they flow back into one paragraph on copy
  - Multi-line paragraphs with proper reading order
  - Bulleted lists, with each item kept on its own line
  - Headings and body text together, structure preserved
  
  What it works on:
  Most non-DRM HTML5 video on the open web — YouTube, lecture recordings, embedded video essays, slide-based talks, conference recordings, tutorials, and anywhere video plays in a standard <video> element.
  
  What it doesn't work on:
  DRM-protected content (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, etc.). Protected video paths return blank frames to browser extensions by design — this is a platform-level limitation with no workaround.
  
  Privacy:
  Everything runs locally in your browser. The OCR engine is bundled into the extension. No frames or text are ever sent to a server, no data is collected, no account is needed, and no network requests are made.
  
  Open source: https://github.com/jobrienski/video-text-selector

  You've spotted something worth keeping — a quote in a talk, a code snippet in a screencast, an ingredient on a recipe card, a sign in a travel vlog, a bullet on a slide — and you reach for the keyboard only to remember it's pixels, not text. This extension turns those pixels into selectable text without pausing, screenshotting, or hunting for a transcript.
  
  How it works:
  Hold cmd (Mac) or ctrl (Win/Linux) and click on the text. A small frozen snapshot lifts off the video with the text now selectable underneath. Drag across what you want, hit cmd-c (or ctrl-c), and it's on your clipboard. The video never pauses.
  
  What you can select:
  - Single words and phrases
  - Full sentences across wrapped lines — they flow back into one paragraph on copy
  - Multi-line paragraphs with proper reading order
  - Bulleted lists, with each item kept on its own line
  - Headings and body text together, structure preserved
  
  What it works on:
  Most non-DRM HTML5 video on the open web — YouTube, lecture recordings, embedded video essays, slide-based talks, conference recordings, tutorials, and anywhere video plays in a standard <video> element.
  
  What it doesn't work on:
  DRM-protected content (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, etc.). Protected video paths return blank frames to browser extensions by design — this is a platform-level limitation with no workaround.
  
  Privacy:
  Everything runs locally in your browser. The OCR engine is bundled into the extension. No frames or text are ever sent to a server, no data is collected, no account is needed, and no network requests are made.
  
  Open source: https://github.com/jobrienski/video-text-selector

Permissions & access

Permissions

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Host access

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Screenshots