# Youtube Transcript (`alexist/youtube-transcript`) Actor Automates extraction of YouTube video transcripts across multiple languages — useful for content analysis, SEO research, accessibility, academic research, and competitive intelligence. - **URL**: https://apify.com/alexist/youtube-transcript.md - **Developed by:** [Alex](https://apify.com/alexist) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Videos - **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.00 / 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. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ### Overview Automates extraction of YouTube video transcripts across multiple languages — useful for content analysis, SEO research, accessibility, academic research, and competitive intelligence. --- ### Input Format ```json { "urls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPKSEEbwO9A"], "language": "en" } ```` - **`urls`**: Standard (`youtube.com/watch?v=...`) YouTube URLs. - **`language`**: ISO language code (`en`, `es`, `fr`, `de`, `ja`, `zh`, `th`, etc.). Falls back to English if the requested language isn't available. Default: `en`. *** ### Output Format ```json { "video_id": ["qPKSEEbwO9A"], "language": ["English (auto-generated)"], "language_code": ["en"], "is_generated": [true], "transcript": [ { "text": "Hello everybody.", "start": 6.24, "duration": 4.16 }, { "text": "My name is Luke Moore", "start": 10.4, "duration": 3.2 } ] } ``` | Field | Description | |---|---| | `video_id` | Unique YouTube video identifier | | `language` | Human-readable language name | | `language_code` | ISO language code | | `is_generated` | `true` = auto-generated (may have errors); `false` = manually created | | `transcript` | Full text with `start` time and `duration` per segment | *** ### Usage 1. **Collect video URLs** from your browser or YouTube's share button. 2. **Set language** using the appropriate ISO code. 3. **Run extraction** — set `ignore_url_failures: true` for batch jobs to skip inaccessible videos. 4. **Check `is_generated`** to assess transcript quality; manual transcripts are more accurate. *** ### Common Issues | Problem | Solution | |---|---| | No transcript returned | Video may lack captions entirely (older/private/age-restricted videos) | | Wrong language returned | Fallback to English is automatic — verify availability on YouTube first | | Invalid URL | Ensure URL is complete and video is public | *** ### Use Cases - **SEO / Marketing**: Keyword research from competitor videos, content gap analysis - **Research**: Build text corpora, analyze lectures and presentations - **Accessibility**: Edit auto-generated transcripts into accurate subtitles - **Journalism**: Transcribe interviews, verify quotes - **Content repurposing**: Convert videos into articles, summaries, or social posts # Actor input Schema ## `urls` (type: `array`): Add the URLs of the Specific video urls you want to scrape. You can paste URLs one by one, or use the Bulk edit section to add a prepared list. ## `language` (type: `string`): Target transcript language. Defaults to English ('en') if the selected language is not found. ## `proxy` (type: `object`): Choose proxy settings for the scraper to use. If you don't want to use a proxy, leave the settings blank. ## Actor input object example ```json { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPKSEEbwO9A" ], "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPKSEEbwO9A" ], "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("alexist/youtube-transcript").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "urls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPKSEEbwO9A"], "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], "apifyProxyCountry": "US", }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("alexist/youtube-transcript").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).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=qPKSEEbwO9A" ], "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } }' | apify call alexist/youtube-transcript --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=alexist/youtube-transcript", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Youtube Transcript", "description": "Automates extraction of YouTube video transcripts across multiple languages — useful for content analysis, SEO research, accessibility, academic research, and competitive intelligence.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "aVK9sdu59QJ7lUJc7" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/alexist~youtube-transcript/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-alexist-youtube-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/alexist~youtube-transcript/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-alexist-youtube-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/alexist~youtube-transcript/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-alexist-youtube-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "urls": { "title": "Specific video urls", "type": "array", "description": "Add the URLs of the Specific video urls you want to scrape. You can paste URLs one by one, or use the Bulk edit section to add a prepared list.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "language": { "title": "Target Language (default: en)", "enum": [ "af", "ak", "sq", "am", "ar", "hy", "as", "ay", "az", "bn", "eu", "be", "bho", "bs", "bg", "my", "ca", "ceb", "zh", "zh-HK", "zh-CN", "zh-SG", "zh-TW", "zh-Hans", "zh-Hant", "hak-TW", "nan-TW", "co", "hr", "cs", "da", "dv", "nl", "en", "en-US", "eo", "et", "ee", "fil", "fi", "fr", "gl", "lg", "ka", "de", "el", "gn", "gu", "ht", "ha", "haw", "iw", "hi", "hmn", "hu", "is", "ig", "id", "ga", "it", "ja", "jv", "kn", "kk", "km", "rw", "ko", "kri", "ku", "ky", "lo", "la", "lv", "ln", "lt", "lb", "mk", "mg", "ms", "ml", "mt", "mi", "mr", "mn", "ne", "nso", "no", "ny", "or", "om", "ps", "fa", "pl", "pt", "pa", "qu", "ro", "ru", "sm", "sa", "gd", "sr", "sn", "sd", "si", "sk", "sl", "so", "st", "es", "su", "sw", "sv", "tg", "ta", "tt", "te", "th", "ti", "ts", "tr", "tk", "uk", "ur", "ug", "uz", "vi", "cy", "fy", "xh", "yi", "yo", "zu" ], "type": "string", "description": "Target transcript language. Defaults to English ('en') if the selected language is not found." }, "proxy": { "title": "Proxy settings", "type": "object", "description": "Choose proxy settings for the scraper to use. If you don't want to use a proxy, leave the settings blank." } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```