# YouTube Transcript & Subtitle Scraper (`chirpy_polygon/youtube-transcript-subtitle-scraper`) Actor

Extract complete YouTube transcripts as plain text, timestamped segments, and SRT with language selection, fallback, and translation. Failed videos are not charged.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/chirpy\_polygon/youtube-transcript-subtitle-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Bhojraj Pilaniya](https://apify.com/chirpy_polygon) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.50 / 1,000 successful transcripts

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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 & Subtitle Scraper

Extract complete public YouTube captions from video URLs or IDs. Get clean plain text, timestamped segments, language metadata, and optional SRT subtitles in one dataset row per video.

Use the Actor for AI and RAG pipelines, research, accessibility workflows, content analysis, subtitle editing, video search, and knowledge-base ingestion.

### Features

- Batch up to 50 unique YouTube videos per run
- Watch, Shorts, youtu.be, embed, live URLs, and bare video IDs
- Ordered preferred languages and configurable fallback behavior
- Manual-first, auto-generated-first, either, or strict caption-type selection
- Optional translation through YouTube's available translation tracks
- Plain text, timestamped segments, and valid SRT output
- No YouTube API key, account cookies, or login required
- Failed, unavailable, and no-caption videos are saved as error rows but do not trigger the transcript result charge

### Example input

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7lc1UVf-VE",
    "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "preferredLanguages": ["en", "hi"],
  "captionPreference": "MANUAL_FIRST",
  "languageFallback": "FIRST_AVAILABLE",
  "translateTo": "",
  "includeText": true,
  "includeSegments": true,
  "includeSrt": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

### Output

Successful rows contain the normalized video URL, selected and original language codes, caption type, translation status, available public tracks, full text, segment count, optional timing segments, and optional SRT.

Error rows include a stable video ID when available plus a readable error. Only rows with `status` equal to `ok` trigger the paid `transcript-result` event.

### Caption selection

The Actor checks preferred language codes from left to right. `MANUAL_FIRST` favors creator-provided captions, while `AUTO_FIRST` favors YouTube-generated captions. `FIRST_AVAILABLE` returns another public track when the requested languages are unavailable. Choose `NONE` when language matching must be strict.

### Proxy reliability

YouTube frequently blocks public cloud IPs. The default residential proxy improves reliability and rotates requests. The successful-transcript event price is set to cover normal platform and proxy usage. For small tests you can disable the proxy, but direct cloud requests may fail.

### Pricing behavior

The Actor charges only after a complete, non-empty transcript is successfully saved. Invalid URLs, unavailable videos, disabled captions, language mismatches, blocks, and other failures do not trigger the transcript result event.

### Responsible use

This Actor reads captions that YouTube makes publicly accessible. It does not download video or audio and does not bypass private, paid, age-restricted, or members-only access. Follow YouTube's terms, copyright rules, and applicable law when storing or reusing transcript content. This Actor is independent of YouTube and Google.

# Actor input Schema

## `dryRun` (type: `boolean`):

Return one sample transcript without contacting YouTube or charging a transcript event.

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube watch, Shorts, youtu.be, embed, or live URLs, or bare 11-character video IDs.

## `preferredLanguages` (type: `array`):

Language codes in priority order, for example en, en-US, hi, es, or de.

## `captionPreference` (type: `string`):

Choose manual captions, auto-generated captions, or either type.

## `languageFallback` (type: `string`):

What to do when no requested language track is available.

## `translateTo` (type: `string`):

Optional YouTube translation language code, for example en, hi, es, or de.

## `includeText` (type: `boolean`):

Include the complete transcript joined into one plain-text string.

## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`):

Include every caption segment with start, end, and duration values in seconds.

## `includeSrt` (type: `boolean`):

Generate a ready-to-save SubRip subtitle string from the transcript segments.

## `preserveFormatting` (type: `boolean`):

Keep supported HTML-style formatting tags returned by YouTube captions.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Residential proxy is recommended because YouTube frequently blocks cloud data-center IPs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "dryRun": false,
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7lc1UVf-VE"
  ],
  "preferredLanguages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "captionPreference": "MANUAL_FIRST",
  "languageFallback": "FIRST_AVAILABLE",
  "translateTo": "",
  "includeText": true,
  "includeSegments": true,
  "includeSrt": false,
  "preserveFormatting": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7lc1UVf-VE"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("chirpy_polygon/youtube-transcript-subtitle-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 = { "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7lc1UVf-VE"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("chirpy_polygon/youtube-transcript-subtitle-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 '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7lc1UVf-VE"
  ]
}' |
apify call chirpy_polygon/youtube-transcript-subtitle-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,chirpy_polygon/youtube-transcript-subtitle-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/ClUb8ezj5WM2kLuDs/builds/lfqHWKUboI55HuDND/openapi.json