# YouTube Transcript Scraper (`admo-solutions/youtube-transcript-scraper`) Actor

Extract transcripts and subtitles from YouTube videos with timestamps. Supports all video formats including regular videos, shorts, and live streams.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/admo-solutions/youtube-transcript-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Admo Solutions](https://apify.com/admo-solutions) (community)
- **Categories:**
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $7.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## YouTube Transcript Scraper

Extract transcripts and subtitles from YouTube videos with timestamps. Supports regular videos, shorts, and live streams.

### 💰 Pricing

This Actor uses the **Pay Per Event** pricing model:

| Event | Price |
|-------|-------|
| Actor run | $0.00005 |
| Per video transcript | $0.007 |

For example, extracting transcripts from 100 videos costs: $0.00005 + (100 × $0.007) = **$0.70**

### 📥 Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| `start_urls` | array | ✅ | — | List of YouTube video URLs to extract transcripts from |
| `language` | string | ❌ | `"en"` | Language code for subtitles (en, es, fr, de, pt, it, ja, ko, zh, ru, ar, hi) |

#### Example Input

```json
{
  "start_urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/abc123" }
  ],
  "language": "en"
}
```

### 📤 Output

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `videoId` | string | YouTube video ID |
| `url` | string | Full video URL |
| `title` | string | Video title |
| `transcript` | array | Array of transcript segments with timestamps |
| `transcript[].start` | string | Start time (MM:SS format) |
| `transcript[].startSeconds` | number | Start time in seconds |
| `transcript[].text` | string | Transcript text for this segment |
| `fullText` | string | Complete transcript as single text block |
| `segmentsCount` | number | Total number of transcript segments |
| `error` | string | Error message if extraction failed |

#### Example Output

```json
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
  "transcript": [
    { "start": "00:00", "startSeconds": 0, "text": "We're no strangers to love" },
    { "start": "00:03", "startSeconds": 3.5, "text": "You know the rules and so do I" }
  ],
  "fullText": "We're no strangers to love You know the rules and so do I",
  "segmentsCount": 2
}
```

### 🔧 How It Works

1. Uses `yt-dlp` to download YouTube subtitles (most reliable method)
2. Supports both manual and auto-generated subtitles
3. Parses JSON3 subtitle format for accurate timestamps
4. Falls back to auto-generated subtitles when manual ones aren't available

### 🌐 Supported Languages

English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi

### 🔗 Integration

- **Zapier**: Use the "Run Actor" action with dataset polling
- **Make.com**: Use the HTTP module to call the Actor API
- **n8n**: Use the Apify node or HTTP Request node
- **OpenAI MCP**: Connect via the Apify MCP server

### ⚠️ Notes

- Videos must have subtitles or auto-generated captions enabled
- Some videos may not have subtitles available in the requested language
- Rate limiting may apply for large batches of videos

# Actor input Schema

## `start_urls` (type: `array`):

List of YouTube video URLs to extract transcripts from

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

Language code for subtitles (e.g., en, es, fr, de). Auto-generated subtitles will be used if manual subtitles are not available.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "start_urls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    }
  ],
  "language": "en"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "start_urls": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("admo-solutions/youtube-transcript-scraper").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 = { "start_urls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("admo-solutions/youtube-transcript-scraper").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 '{
  "start_urls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call admo-solutions/youtube-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/E9Kh8nWdSuoQDNt8L/builds/2yjtqElthVFg7RSOT/openapi.json