YouTube Transcript Extractor

Extract transcripts from any YouTube video, Short, or live stream. Paste a URL, get back timestamped text -- ready for repurposing, analysis, or translation.

Works with any public video. No login required.

What it does

1. You provide a YouTube video URL.
2. The actor extracts the transcript.
3. You get back structured text with timestamps -- in JSON, plain text, or SRT.

Key features

• Multi-language -- supports any language YouTube provides captions for. See supported languages for speech-to-text fallback.
• 3 output formats -- JSON with timestamps, plain text, or SRT subtitles.
• Video metadata -- title, author, duration, thumbnail, and upload date.
• Shorts & live streams -- works with standard videos, Shorts, and completed live streams.
• No login required.

Supported languages

When captions are available, the actor supports any language YouTube provides. When captions aren't available, the speech-to-text fallback supports:

Code	Language
en	English
es	Spanish
fr	French
de	German
pt	Portuguese
it	Italian
nl	Dutch
ja	Japanese
ko	Korean
zh	Chinese
ar	Arabic
ru	Russian
tr	Turkish
hi	Hindi

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
url	string	(required)	YouTube video URL
language	string	"en"	Preferred language (ISO 639-1)
format	string	"json"	"json", "text", or "srt"
includeMetadata	boolean	true	Include video metadata in output

Supported URLs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
https://www.youtube.com/live/VIDEO_ID
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID

Output example

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "platform": "youtube",
    "metadata": {
        "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Music Video)",
        "author": "Rick Astley",
        "duration_seconds": 212,
        "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg",
        "upload_date": "20091025"
    },
    "transcript": {
        "language": "en",
        "segments": [
            { "start": 0.0, "end": 3.5, "text": "We're no strangers to love" },
            { "start": 3.5, "end": 7.2, "text": "You know the rules and so do I" }
        ],
        "full_text": "We're no strangers to love You know the rules and so do I ..."
    }
}

When extraction fails, you get a clear error:

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
    "error": "NO_TRANSCRIPT",
    "message": "No transcript available for this video."
}

Error codes

Code	Meaning
INVALID_URL	Not a valid YouTube URL
VIDEO_NOT_FOUND	Video is private, removed, or doesn't exist
NO_TRANSCRIPT	No transcript could be extracted
RATE_LIMITED	Too many requests -- retry after a short delay
PLATFORM_ERROR	Unexpected error during extraction

Use cases

• Content repurposing -- turn YouTube videos into blog posts, articles, or social media content.
• Accessibility -- generate transcripts for hearing-impaired audiences.
• Research & analysis -- build datasets of video content for market research.
• SEO -- extract text content from videos for search engine optimization.
• Translation -- get transcripts as a starting point for multilingual subtitles.
• Education -- create study materials from lecture videos.

Integrations

Use this actor with the Apify API or connect it to your workflow:

• Python -- apify_client.actor("your-actor-id").call(run_input={"url": "..."})
• JavaScript -- await client.actor("your-actor-id").call({url: "..."})
• Zapier / Make / n8n -- trigger on new videos and get transcripts automatically.
• Webhooks -- get notified when a transcript is ready.

FAQ

Does this need a YouTube account? No. Works with any public video, no login needed.

What if a video has no subtitles? The actor will still extract a transcript using speech-to-text.

Does it work with YouTube Shorts? Yes. Shorts URLs (youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID) are fully supported.

Does it work with live streams? Yes, for completed live streams with replay available.

Which languages work? Any language YouTube provides captions for. See the supported languages table for speech-to-text fallback.

Can I process multiple videos? Yes. Call the actor via the Apify API or use integrations (Zapier, Make, n8n) to process videos in a loop.

What does it cost? The actor runs on the Apify platform. Cost depends on video length and processing needed.