Youtube Playlist Scraper

YouTube Playlist Scraper is an Apify Actor that extracts comprehensive data from YouTube playlists — video URLs, titles, thumbnails, view counts, like/dislike ratios, upload dates, and duration for every video.

What Is YouTube Playlist Scraper?

YouTube Playlist Scraper pulls complete metadata for all videos in one or more YouTube playlists. It efficiently handles rate limiting, pagination, and data parsing while ensuring compliance with YouTube's terms of service, and returns structured JSON you can export or pipe into any workflow.

Key Features

• Complete metadata for all videos in YouTube playlists
• Multiple playlists — add one or more playlist URLs per run
• Rate limiting & pagination handled automatically
• Proxy support & user-agent rotation to minimize blocking risks (residential proxies by default)
• Robust error handling and progress tracking
• Export to JSON/CSV formats
• Pay-per-event pricing — charged only per successfully extracted video

Supported Content

Any YouTube playlist URL (must contain youtube.com/playlist). Each extracted video includes its full metadata plus the playlist ID and playlist title it came from.

Use Cases

• Data analysis and reporting
• Content research workflows
• Social media monitoring systems
• YouTube channel performance tracking
• Building video databases or archives

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
startUrls	string	Yes	—	URL of a YouTube playlist to scrape (must contain youtube.com/playlist)
maxItems	integer	No	0	Maximum number of videos to extract from all playlists (0 for unlimited)
proxyConfig	object	No	Residential proxy	Proxy configuration to prevent IP blocking

Example input:

{
  "startUrls": "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLObrtcm1Kw6Ohp5OC9ymNNBVEgTa2DZuh",
  "maxItems": 0
}

Sample Output

{
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Music Video)",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg",
  "viewCount": 1000000000,
  "likeCount": 10000000,
  "dislikeCount": 100000,
  "likeRatio": 0.98,
  "uploadDate": "2009-10-24",
  "duration": 212,
  "channelName": "RickAstleyVEVO",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
  "playlistId": "PL7u4BG8iCLjkCzP5krcHZ-X5DsUl0xdg9",
  "playlistTitle": "Popular Videos"
}

Output Fields

Field	Description
id	YouTube video ID
title	Video title
url	Full YouTube video URL
thumbnailUrl	Video thumbnail URL
viewCount	Number of views
likeCount	Number of likes
dislikeCount	Number of dislikes
likeRatio	Ratio of likes to total votes
uploadDate	Upload date (YYYY-MM-DD)
duration	Video duration in seconds
channelName	Channel name
channelUrl	Channel URL
playlistId	Playlist ID
playlistTitle	Playlist title

How to Use

1. Create a new task in Apify Console or open the Actor page on Apify Store.
2. Add one or more YouTube playlist URLs to scrape (must contain youtube.com/playlist).
3. Configure proxy settings if needed (recommended for large extractions).
4. Set the maximum number of videos to extract (optional; 0 for unlimited).
5. Run the Actor.
6. Download results in JSON or CSV format.

How to Use via API

cURL:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/akash9078/youtube-playlist-scraper/runs" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"startUrls": "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID", "maxItems": 0}'

Python:

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/akash9078/youtube-playlist-scraper/runs",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"},
    json={"startUrls": "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID", "maxItems": 0},
)
print(response.json())

Node.js with Apify Client:

const { ApifyClient } = require('apify-client');

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });

const run = await client.actor('akash9078/youtube-playlist-scraper').call({
    startUrls: 'https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID',
    maxItems: 0,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Pricing

Event	Price	When it's charged
Video Extracted (video-extracted)	$0.01 per video	Each video successfully extracted from playlists with complete metadata
Synthetic Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.00005	Synthetic event automatically charged by Apify for Actor initialization

Limitations

• Only playlist URLs containing youtube.com/playlist are accepted
• Intended use complies with YouTube's terms of service
• Very large playlists take proportionally longer to extract

FAQ

Can I scrape multiple playlists in one run?

Yes — add one or more playlist URLs, and maxItems applies across all playlists combined.

Is there a limit on the number of videos?

Set maxItems: 0 for unlimited extraction, or cap the run at any number.

Do I need to configure a proxy?

No — the Actor uses Apify residential proxies by default to minimize blocking, but you can adjust the proxy configuration if needed.

Does it include transcripts?

No. For playlist metadata plus transcripts, use YouTube Playlist Scraper with Transcript.

Related Actors

If you need more YouTube data from Apify, check out my other Apify Actors:

• YouTube Transcript Scraper — extract transcripts from any YouTube video
• YouTube Transcript Extractor — transcripts with timestamps in 100+ languages
• YouTube Full Channel Transcripts Extractor — transcripts for entire channels
• YouTube Playlist Scraper with Transcript — playlist metadata plus transcripts
• YouTube Channel Video Scraper — video metadata for entire channels
• YouTube Search Scraper — search YouTube via the official Data API
• YouTube Trending Scraper — trending videos by region and category

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Built and maintained by akash9078 on the Apify platform.