YouTube Transcript Extractor

YouTube Transcript Extractor is an Apify Actor that pulls full transcripts with timestamps from any YouTube video in seconds — no YouTube Data API key required, no OAuth, no quota limits. Just a YouTube URL in, clean structured JSON out.

Supports 100+ languages, works with regular videos, Shorts, Premieres, live VODs, and embeds. Auto-generated and manual captions are both supported.

What Is YouTube Transcript Extractor?

YouTube Transcript Extractor is a cloud-based transcript API that converts YouTube video captions into structured plain-text JSON with optional timestamps. It accepts every standard YouTube URL format, bypasses the official API entirely, and delivers results in 3–5 seconds per video.

Whether you're building an AI training data pipeline, ingesting transcripts into a RAG system, repurposing content, or conducting YouTube SEO research — this Actor gets you there without touching Google Cloud.

Key Features

• Extract full transcripts from any YouTube video with subtitles
• Get timestamped transcripts in [MM:SS] format for easy navigation
• Detect and retrieve captions in 100+ languages
• Process videos in 3–5 seconds per transcript
• Access auto-generated captions — something the official YouTube Data API v3 cannot do
• Return structured JSON output ready for databases, vector stores, and LLMs
• Handle batch processing of thousands of videos via the Apify API — no daily quota
• Use residential proxy rotation to avoid YouTube IP blocks automatically
• Accept every YouTube URL format: youtube.com/watch, youtu.be, shorts/, live/, embed/, and bare video IDs

YouTube Data API Comparison

Capability	YouTube Transcript Extractor	YouTube Data API v3
API Key Required	No	Yes
Daily Quota	Unlimited	10,000 units/day
Auto-Generated Captions	Yes	No
Manual Captions	Yes	Limited
Setup Complexity	URL in → JSON out	OAuth + GCP project
Batch Processing	Unlimited	Quota-limited
Cost Model	Pay per transcript	Free quota + paid overflow

Bottom line: The YouTube Data API v3 doesn't expose auto-generated captions, restricts daily usage to 10,000 quota units, and requires OAuth setup. YouTube Transcript Extractor skips all of that and gives you clean transcript data for any video — at scale.

Supported Content Types

• Standard YouTube videos
• YouTube Shorts (youtube.com/shorts/)
• Premieres
• Completed live streams (VODs)
• Embedded videos (youtube.com/embed/)
• Auto-generated and manually created captions

Use Cases

• AI, ML & NLP pipelines — build LLM training corpora, chunk and embed transcripts into Pinecone, Weaviate, or Chroma for RAG and semantic search, run sentiment and topic analysis, or feed transcripts to LLMs for summarization, Q&A, and repurposing
• Content creation & marketing — convert videos into blog posts, newsletters, and social captions; surface keywords competitors rank for in video search; auto-generate descriptions and show notes
• Business & accessibility — produce ADA and WCAG 2.1 compliant transcripts, convert training videos and webinars into searchable documentation, analyze industry channels at scale
• Developers & automation — simple POST request with JSON response, connect with n8n, Make, Zapier, or Activepieces, push to Google Sheets, Airtable, Notion, or BigQuery, and schedule recurring extractions with webhooks and dataset storage

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
videoUrl	string	Yes	—	YouTube video URL or 11-character video ID

Supported YouTube URL Formats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
https://youtube.com/live/VIDEO_ID
https://youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID
VIDEO_ID  (bare 11-character ID)

Example Input

{
  "videoUrl": "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

Sample Output

The Actor returns a structured JSON object for each video with both plain text and timestamped transcripts:

{
  "success": true,
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "video_title": "Example Video Title",
  "transcript": "Full transcript text extracted from the video...",
  "transcript_segments": [
    {
      "start": "0.000",
      "dur": "4.640",
      "text": "Introduction text here"
    },
    {
      "start": "4.640",
      "dur": "3.200",
      "text": "Next segment text"
    }
  ]
}

Field	Type	Description
success	boolean	Whether transcript extraction was successful
video_id	string	Parsed YouTube video ID
video_url	string	Canonical YouTube watch URL
video_title	string	Full video title
transcript	string	Complete plain-text transcript
transcript_segments	array	Structured segments with start, duration, and text
error	string	Error message if extraction failed

How to Use

1. Open YouTube Transcript Extractor on Apify Store and click Try for free.
2. Paste your YouTube URL — any format (video, Short, Premiere, embed) — into the videoUrl field.
3. Click Start and get a clean JSON transcript within seconds. Export to CSV, JSON, or push directly to your pipeline.

No coding required. Run directly in the Apify Console UI. Use the API or SDK to automate at scale.

How to Use via API

cURL:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/akash9078/youtube-transcript-extractor/runs" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"videoUrl": "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"}'

Python:

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/akash9078/youtube-transcript-extractor/runs',
    headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN'},
    json={'videoUrl': 'https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ'}
)
print(response.json())

Node.js with Apify Client:

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

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('akash9078/youtube-transcript-extractor').call({
    videoUrl: 'https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ'
});
console.log(run.defaultDatasetId);

Pricing

YouTube Transcript Extractor uses pay-per-event pricing — you only pay for successful extractions.

Event	Price	When Charged
transcript	$0.01	Successfully extracted a YouTube video transcript
proxy-usage	$0.0005	Only when YouTube blocks the direct connection and an Apify residential proxy is used to recover it

Cost per video: $0.01 — the residential proxy fallback is rare, so most runs are exactly $0.01.

Volume	Estimated Cost
10 transcripts	~$0.10
100 transcripts	~$1.00
1,000 transcripts	~$10.00
10,000 transcripts	~$100

New Apify accounts receive free credits — test YouTube Transcript Extractor before you commit.

Limitations

• Videos must have captions enabled (manual or auto-generated). Videos with no captions at all cannot be extracted.
• Live streams currently in progress are not supported — completed VODs work correctly
• Private and age-restricted videos are not supported
• Unlisted videos are accessible if you have the direct URL

FAQ

Does YouTube Transcript Extractor support auto-generated captions?

Yes. Both manual (human-written) and YouTube's auto-generated captions are fully supported. Auto-generated captions are not accessible via the official YouTube Data API v3 — this Actor fills that gap.

Which languages are supported for transcript extraction?

All languages present in a video's caption tracks. The Actor auto-detects the best available language.

Can I extract YouTube transcripts in bulk?

Yes. Use the Apify API or SDK to submit multiple video URLs in sequence or in parallel. There are no daily quota limits — extract thousands of transcripts per day.

How fast is YouTube transcript extraction?

3–5 seconds per video on average, depending on transcript length and server load. Bulk runs benefit from Apify's parallel compute scaling.

Does YouTube Transcript Extractor work with YouTube Shorts?

Yes. All standard Shorts URLs (youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID) are fully supported.

Is this a free YouTube transcript scraper?

The Actor uses pay-per-event pricing at ~$0.01 per video. New Apify accounts get free platform credits, so you can extract transcripts for free to start.

Can I use this as a YouTube Transcript API without an API key?

Yes. YouTube Transcript Extractor requires only an Apify API token — no YouTube Data API key, no Google Cloud project, no OAuth flow.

How does this compare to other YouTube caption extractors?

YouTube Transcript Extractor uses Apify's residential proxy network with automatic session-based IP rotation, which makes it far more reliable than open-source scripts that break when YouTube changes its response format. It also runs in the cloud — no local setup needed.

Related Actors

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

• YouTube Transcript Scraper — extract transcripts and translate via AI
• 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 Playlist Scraper — full metadata for every video in a playlist
• 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. For issues and feedback, visit the Actor page on Apify Store or join the Apify Discord.