# YouTube Transcript API: Subtitles, SRT, Text, Markdown (`actose/youtube-transcripts`) Actor

Get YouTube transcripts from video, Shorts, channel or playlist URLs: timestamped segments, plain text, Markdown, SRT, metadata. No API key, no login. MCP-ready for Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT and AI agents. YouTube Data API alternative. Pay per result, errors are free: $0.80 per 1,000 videos.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/actose/youtube-transcripts.md
- **Developed by:** [ABM](https://apify.com/actose) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, AI, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.68 / 1,000 video transcribeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Transcript API: Subtitles, SRT, Text & Markdown

**$0.80 per 1,000 videos transcribed ($0.0008 per video).** Pay per result, no monthly rental. Errors, blocked requests and videos without captions are **free**.

Extract YouTube transcripts (captions / subtitles) in bulk from **video, Shorts, channel or playlist URLs**. No API key, no login, no YouTube quota: a simple YouTube Data API alternative for transcripts. For every video you get:

- the **timestamped transcript**: start, duration and end in seconds + text for every caption line,
- the **plain text** transcript and an **LLM-ready Markdown** version with `[mm:ss]` timestamps,
- optional **RAG chunks** with timestamped YouTube links for citations,
- a ready-to-use **SRT subtitle file** with its download link,
- **video metadata**: title, channel, channel ID, duration, views, publish date, category, description, keywords, thumbnail,
- the **list of available caption languages**, and whether the transcript is auto-generated or translated.

Public data only: no account, no cookies, no browser. Proxy handling is automatic and included in the price.

### How much does it cost?

You pay one `video` event per transcript delivered to the dataset:

| Videos transcribed | Price |
|---|---|
| 100 | $0.08 |
| 1,000 | **$0.80** |
| 10,000 | $8.00 |

Nothing is charged for videos without captions, private or removed videos, blocked requests, invalid URLs or videos skipped by `onlyNew`. Set a **maximum cost per run** in Apify: the actor stops cleanly when your budget is reached and never delivers anything it cannot bill.

### How to use

1. Paste one or more URLs into **YouTube URLs** (videos, `youtu.be` links, Shorts, `@handle` channels, `/channel/UC…`, playlists, or bare video IDs).
2. Choose the **transcript language** (`en`, `fr`, `de`, `es`, `pt`, `ja`…).
3. Run. Results appear in the dataset (one item per video), SRT files in the key-value store.

### Input example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "fallbackToAnyLanguage": true,
  "translateIfMissing": false,
  "preferManualCaptions": true,
  "maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist": 10,
  "includeTimestamps": true,
  "includeMarkdown": true,
  "ragChunkWords": 300,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "saveSrtFile": true
}
```

| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `urls` | – | Video, Shorts, channel or playlist URLs, or bare video IDs. |
| `language` | `en` | Preferred language code. `en` also matches `en-US`, `en-GB`. |
| `fallbackToAnyLanguage` | `true` | If your language is missing, return the original-language transcript. |
| `translateIfMissing` | `false` | If your language is missing, return YouTube's machine translation into it. |
| `preferManualCaptions` | `true` | Prefer creator-uploaded subtitles over auto-generated ones. |
| `maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist` | `20` | Videos per channel (latest uploads) or playlist. |
| `includeTimestamps` | `true` | Include the `segments` array. |
| `includeMarkdown` | `true` | Include the LLM-ready `markdown` field. |
| `ragChunkWords` | `0` | If > 0, include `chunks` of about this many words (for embeddings / RAG). |
| `onlyNew` | `false` | Skip videos already delivered by your previous runs (scheduled runs). |
| `saveSrtFile` | `true` | Save one `.srt` file per video and return its link. |
| `fetchPublishDate` | `true` | Add `publishDate`, `uploadDate`, `category`. |
| `maxConcurrency` | `5` | Videos processed in parallel. |
| `residentialFallback` | `true` | Retry blocked videos through residential proxy (no extra charge). |

### Output example

```json
{
  "status": "success",
  "videoId": "jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "title": "Me at the zoo",
  "channelName": "jawed",
  "channelId": "UC4QobU6STFB0P71PMvOGN5A",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4QobU6STFB0P71PMvOGN5A",
  "durationSeconds": 19,
  "viewCount": 350000000,
  "publishDate": "2005-04-23",
  "uploadDate": "2005-04-23",
  "category": "Film & Animation",
  "description": "The first video on YouTube...",
  "keywords": [],
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jNQXAC9IVRw/hqdefault.jpg",
  "isLiveContent": false,
  "language": "en",
  "languageName": "English",
  "isAutoGenerated": false,
  "isTranslated": false,
  "availableLanguages": [
    { "code": "en", "name": "English", "isAutoGenerated": false },
    { "code": "de", "name": "German", "isAutoGenerated": false }
  ],
  "segmentCount": 6,
  "wordCount": 48,
  "text": "All right, so here we are in front of the elephants...",
  "segments": [
    { "start": 1.2, "duration": 2.16, "end": 3.36, "text": "All right, so here we are in front of the elephants" }
  ],
  "markdown": "# Me at the zoo\n\n- Channel: jawed\n- Published: 2005-04-23\n- Duration: 00:19\n- Language: en\n- URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw\n\n## Transcript\n\n**[00:01]** All right, so here we are in front of the elephants...\n",
  "chunks": [
    { "index": 0, "start": 1.2, "end": 17.5, "wordCount": 48, "url": "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw?t=1", "text": "All right, so here we are..." }
  ],
  "srtFileUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/<storeId>/records/jNQXAC9IVRw-en.srt",
  "srtFileKey": "jNQXAC9IVRw-en.srt",
  "sourceUrl": "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-15T09:00:00+00:00"
}
```

Videos that cannot be transcribed still get a **free** item so you know why:

```json
{
  "status": "error",
  "videoId": "abcdefghijk",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcdefghijk",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@somechannel",
  "error": "this video has no captions/subtitles"
}
```

Filter on `status = "success"` to keep billed results only. The **Overview** view shows a table with thumbnail, title, channel, language, transcript and SRT link.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

This actor is MCP-ready: Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT and other AI agents can call it through the Apify MCP server (`https://mcp.apify.com`). The input is just a list of URLs plus a language code; the output is flat JSON with `text`, `markdown` (ready to drop into a prompt) and optional `chunks` with timestamped links for grounded answers. Typical agent prompts: "summarize the last 10 videos of @channel", "find where this video talks about pricing and give me the timestamp".

### Integrations

- **API**: run it from any language with the Apify API or the `apify-client` for Python / JavaScript and read the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML.
- **Make, Zapier, n8n**: use the Apify app/node to start a run and get the transcripts in your workflow.
- **Google Sheets**: export the dataset or use the Apify integration to append one row per video.
- **Schedules + `onlyNew`**: schedule a channel or playlist daily and receive only the new uploads, billed only once.
- **Webhooks**: get notified when a run finishes.

### Use cases

- **AI & LLM pipelines**: feed transcripts to summarizers, chatbots, RAG knowledge bases or AI agents.
- **Content repurposing**: turn videos into blog posts, newsletters, social threads or show notes.
- **Subtitles**: download SRT files for editing, translation or re-upload.
- **Research & monitoring**: track what a channel talks about, follow keywords and brand mentions over time.
- **SEO**: publish searchable text versions of your own videos.
- **Education**: build study notes and searchable lecture archives from playlists.

### FAQ

**Which videos work?** Any public video that has captions (creator-made or YouTube auto-generated), including Shorts and finished live streams.

**What am I charged for?** Exactly one `video` event ($0.0008) per transcript delivered to the dataset. Errors, videos without captions, blocked requests and duplicates are free.

**Do I need a YouTube API key, an account or a proxy?** No. No key, no login, no quota. Proxy handling (datacenter first, residential fallback when YouTube blocks) is automatic and included in the price.

**What if my language is not available?** By default you get the original-language transcript (the `language` field tells you which). Enable `translateIfMissing` to get YouTube's machine translation, or disable `fallbackToAnyLanguage` to get an error instead.

**Auto-generated or human captions?** Human captions are preferred by default; `isAutoGenerated` tells you which one you got.

**How do channels work?** A channel URL returns its latest uploads (videos, Shorts and lives), up to `maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist`.

**How does `onlyNew` work?** Delivered video IDs are remembered per language in your key-value store named `youtube-transcripts-state`. Later runs skip them (for free). Delete that store to start over.

**Does it transcribe videos without captions (speech-to-text)?** No. It returns the captions YouTube already has; videos without any are reported as free errors.

### Limitations

- Private, members-only and age-restricted videos require sign-in and are not supported (returned as free errors).
- Videos with no captions at all cannot be transcribed (no speech-to-text).
- Live streams in progress usually have no transcript until they end.
- Channel listing follows the uploads playlist order (newest first); large channels are limited by `maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist`.
- YouTube sometimes rate-limits cloud servers; the actor retries with new IPs and a residential fallback. Very long videos (3 h+) that end up on the residential fallback may fail (free).

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Video URLs (watch, youtu.be, Shorts, live, embed), bare 11-character video IDs, channel URLs (@handle, /channel/UC…, /c/…, /user/…) or playlist URLs (?list=…). Channels return their latest uploads.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Preferred language code (ISO 639-1, e.g. en, fr, de, es, pt, ja). Regional variants match too (en matches en-US, en-GB).

## `fallbackToAnyLanguage` (type: `boolean`):

If the video has no transcript in your language, return the original-language transcript instead of an error. The returned language is shown in the `language` field.

## `translateIfMissing` (type: `boolean`):

If no transcript exists in your language, ask YouTube for its machine translation into that language (when available). Takes priority over the fallback above.

## `preferManualCaptions` (type: `boolean`):

Use creator-uploaded subtitles when available, auto-generated captions otherwise. Disable to prefer auto-generated captions.

## `maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist` (type: `integer`):

How many videos to transcribe for each channel (latest uploads first) or playlist URL.

## `includeTimestamps` (type: `boolean`):

Add the `segments` array (start, duration, end in seconds + text) to each item. The plain `text` field is always included.

## `includeMarkdown` (type: `boolean`):

Add a `markdown` field: title, channel, date and the transcript in ~1-minute paragraphs with \[mm:ss] timestamps. Ready to paste into ChatGPT, Claude or a knowledge base.

## `ragChunkWords` (type: `integer`):

If above 0, add a `chunks` array: the transcript split into pieces of about this many words, each with start/end seconds and a timestamped YouTube link for citations. 0 = off. 200 to 500 suits most embedding models.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Skip videos already transcribed by your previous runs of this actor in the same language (remembered in your key-value store named "youtube-transcripts-state"). Ideal with a schedule on a channel or playlist: you only pay for new uploads.

## `saveSrtFile` (type: `boolean`):

Store a ready-to-use .srt file per video in the key-value store and return its download link in `srtFileUrl`.

## `fetchPublishDate` (type: `boolean`):

Adds `publishDate`, `uploadDate` and `category`. Costs one extra small request per video when needed.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many videos are processed at the same time. Lower it if you see many blocks in the log.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

YouTube limits requests from cloud servers. Apify datacenter proxy is used first (included).

## `residentialFallback` (type: `boolean`):

When YouTube blocks the datacenter IPs, retry the blocked video through residential proxy. No extra charge for you: the price per video stays the same.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
    "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "fallbackToAnyLanguage": true,
  "translateIfMissing": false,
  "preferManualCaptions": true,
  "maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist": 10,
  "includeTimestamps": true,
  "includeMarkdown": true,
  "ragChunkWords": 0,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "saveSrtFile": true,
  "fetchPublishDate": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "residentialFallback": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `transcripts` (type: `string`):

One item per video: metadata, plain text, timestamped segments and SRT link.

## `srtFiles` (type: `string`):

Key-value store holding one .srt file per transcribed video.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
        "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ],
    "language": "en",
    "maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("actose/youtube-transcripts").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
        "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    ],
    "language": "en",
    "maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("actose/youtube-transcripts").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
    "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "maxVideosPerChannelOrPlaylist": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call actose/youtube-transcripts --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,actose/youtube-transcripts"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/f1uOiDcaeXo41e5GU/builds/8aOgvk8ICu9kcaR96/openapi.json