YouTube Transcript & Audio to Text (Whisper) - SRT/VTT

✅ Tested daily with its default input (Apify's automated QA plus our own smoke test before every release).

YouTube transcript and audio to text in one Actor: get the transcript of a YouTube video from its existing captions for $0.0045, or turn your own audio or video files (MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, WebM by direct file URL) into text, SRT and VTT subtitles with Whisper speech recognition. 99 languages, automatic language detection, timestamps included.

Why this Actor

• Cheapest YouTube transcripts: $0.0045 per video when the video already has captions.
• Your own files: AI transcription (Whisper) for any audio/video file you provide by direct URL.
• Subtitles ready to use: every result includes plain text, SRT and VTT with timestamps.
• Sources: YouTube links (existing captions only) and direct audio/video file URLs. Media downloads from video platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Vimeo, X, Facebook) are not supported, in line with those platforms' terms; such links without captions return an error and are not charged.
• No setup: paste URLs, click Start. Bulk input supported.

Input

Field	Description
urls	List of URLs. Either YouTube video links (only existing captions are read, $0.0045 each) or direct audio/video file URLs ending in .mp3, .wav, .m4a, .mp4, .webm that you have the rights to (Whisper, billed per audio minute). Video-platform downloads are not supported. Example: ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"].
model	Whisper model for audio files and caption-less videos: tiny/base = fast, $0.02 per audio minute; small/medium = more accurate, $0.035 per audio minute. Not used when YouTube captions are found.
language	Optional ISO 639-1 code of the spoken language, e.g. 'en', 'de', 'nl'. Leave empty to auto-detect.
useCaptions	true (recommended) = use the YouTube video's existing captions: fastest and cheapest ($0.0045 per video). false = always run Whisper (billed per audio minute).

Output (per URL)

{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...",
  "source": "captions",
  "language": "en",
  "duration_s": 211.3,
  "text": "We're no strangers to love ...",
  "srt": "1\n00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000\n...",
  "vtt": "WEBVTT\n\n00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.000\n..."
}

Pricing (pay per event)

Event	Price
YouTube transcript from existing captions	$0.0045 per video
AI transcription (Whisper base)	$0.02 per audio minute
Premium AI transcription (Whisper small/medium)	$0.035 per audio minute

Use cases

YouTube transcript extraction, video subtitles (SRT/VTT), podcast transcription, meeting and interview transcription, content repurposing, SEO, research, accessibility, feeding transcripts to LLMs and AI agents.

Notes

Only process content you are allowed to use. The Actor processes the videos and files you provide; it does not collect profiles or personal data.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor can be used as a tool by AI agents (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, other MCP clients) through the official Apify MCP server:

• Add only this Actor as a tool: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=admirala/audio-to-subtitles (sign in with OAuth or an Apify API token).
• Or connect https://mcp.apify.com and let the agent find it with search-actors (e.g. "youtube transcript"), read the input schema with fetch-actor-details and run it with call-actor.

Example input an agent can pass:

{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "useCaptions": true
}

Cost per call: $0.0045 per YouTube transcript from captions; $0.02 per audio minute (Whisper base) or $0.035 (small/medium) for your own files. Failed items are not charged. Results come back as dataset items (get-dataset-items).

FAQ

How do I get the transcript of a YouTube video? Paste the video URL in urls and keep useCaptions on. The Actor returns the existing captions as plain text, SRT and VTT for $0.0045 per video.

Can it transcribe an MP3 or MP4 file to text? Yes, if you give a direct file URL (for example from your own storage, S3 or Dropbox direct link). Whisper transcribes it and you pay per audio minute.

Does it download videos from YouTube, TikTok or Instagram? No. For video platforms only existing captions are read. Platform links without captions return an error and are not charged.

Which languages are supported? Whisper supports 99 languages with auto-detection; set language (e.g. en, de, nl) to force one.

Related actors

• YouTube Transcript Scraper - Text, Timestamps & SRT (coming soon to Apify Store)
• Podcast Transcription - RSS Feed to Text, SRT & VTT (coming soon to Apify Store)
• RSS Feed Reader - RSS & Atom to JSON (bulk, auto-discovery) (coming soon to Apify Store)