# YouTube Transcript Scraper (`cirkit/youtube-transcript-scraper`) Actor

Extract YouTube transcripts and captions from videos, playlists or whole channels. Get full transcript text, timestamped segments, language and auto-generated flag, plus title, channel, views and duration. Any language, bulk, no API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-transcript-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crikit](https://apify.com/cirkit) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, AI, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 transcripts

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What is YouTube Transcript Scraper?

**YouTube Transcript Scraper** lets you extract the full transcript of any YouTube video, playlist or channel, in any language, helping you feed videos into ChatGPT and other LLMs, research what creators actually say, and turn talks and tutorials into searchable text. Paste a video URL, a playlist link or a channel handle like `@3blue1brown`, and get one clean row per video with the **full transcript text, timestamped segments, language, an auto-generated flag**, and the video's title, channel, views and duration.

- 🤖 **Feed videos to AI:** plain-text transcripts ready for summarisation, RAG pipelines, embeddings and LLM fine-tuning datasets
- 📚 **Transcribe a whole channel or playlist in one run:** give it `@veritasium` or a playlist URL and it walks every video, newest first
- 🌍 **Any language, with a smart fallback:** ask for `en`, `es`, `de`, `pt-BR` or `ja`; if a video has no transcript in that language you get its original-language transcript, clearly flagged, instead of nothing
- ⏱ **Timestamps for clips and subtitles:** every caption line with start, end and duration in seconds
- ✍️ **Creator captions first:** when a video has both creator-uploaded and auto-generated captions, you get the cleaner human ones (switchable)
- ⚡ **Fast and cheap:** about 150 transcripts a minute, no headless browser, no API key, no YouTube quota

The official YouTube Data API only lets you download captions for videos **you own**, and costs 200 quota units per download even then. YouTube Transcript Scraper reads the same transcripts YouTube shows under "Show transcript" for **any public video**, at $1 per 1,000 videos.

### What data does YouTube Transcript Scraper extract?

- 📝 Full transcript as plain text (`transcript`)
- ⏱ Timestamped segments with start, end and duration in seconds (`segments`)
- 🌐 Transcript language code and name (`language`, `languageName`)
- 🤖 Whether the transcript is auto-generated or creator-uploaded (`isAutoGenerated`)
- 🔁 Whether a fallback language was used (`isFallbackLanguage`)
- 🗂 Every caption language available on the video (`availableLanguages`)
- 🔢 Word, character and segment counts (`wordCount`, `characterCount`, `segmentCount`)
- 🎬 Video ID, URL, title, full description and tags (`videoId`, `url`, `title`, `description`, `keywords`)
- 📺 Channel name, ID and URL (`channelName`, `channelId`, `channelUrl`)
- 👀 Exact view count and duration in seconds (`viewCount`, `durationSeconds`)
- 🖼 Thumbnail URL and a live-content flag (`thumbnailUrl`, `isLive`)
- 📍 Which input produced the row, plus a status and message for anything that could not be transcribed (`sourceType`, `sourceInput`, `status`, `message`)

### How to scrape YouTube transcripts

1. Click **Try for free** and open the Input tab.
2. Paste **video URLs** (watch, youtu.be, Shorts or bare IDs), **playlist URLs**, or **channels** (`@handle`, channel URL or `UC...` ID). Mix them freely.
3. Set the **transcript language** (default `en`) and the **max videos per playlist or channel**.
4. Click **Start**. Each video is one row, written as soon as it is done.
5. Download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or pull them through the Apify API.

### Input

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
    "https://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc"
  ],
  "playlistUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab"],
  "channels": ["@veritasium"],
  "language": "en",
  "fallbackToAnyLanguage": true,
  "preferManualCaptions": true,
  "includeTimestamps": true,
  "maxVideosPerSource": 50,
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

Leave the proxy on its default. YouTube sometimes asks a cloud IP to sign in before it will hand over a transcript; when that happens the actor retries on a fresh connection, and a video that is refused three times is retried automatically on Apify **RESIDENTIAL** proxy. Residential traffic is included in the price. In a 1,000-video test run, 0 videos were lost to blocking.

### Output

One row per video. A real record, trimmed:

```json
{
  "videoId": "aircAruvnKk",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
  "title": "But what is a neural network? | Deep learning chapter 1",
  "channelName": "3Blue1Brown",
  "channelId": "UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw",
  "durationSeconds": 1120,
  "viewCount": 24685088,
  "language": "en",
  "languageName": "English",
  "isAutoGenerated": false,
  "isFallbackLanguage": false,
  "availableLanguages": [{ "code": "ar", "name": "Arabic", "isAutoGenerated": false }, "..."],
  "transcript": "This is a 3. It's sloppily written and rendered at an extremely low resolution of 28x28 pixels, but your brain has no trouble recognizing it as a 3. ...",
  "segments": [
    { "start": 4.22, "end": 5.4, "duration": 1.18, "text": "This is a 3." },
    { "start": 6.06, "end": 10.713, "duration": 4.653, "text": "It's sloppily written and rendered at an extremely low resolution of 28x28 pixels," }
  ],
  "segmentCount": 286,
  "wordCount": 3357,
  "status": "ok",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-07T13:23:45Z"
}
```

The **Overview** table shows thumbnail, title, channel, language, auto-generated flag, word count and the transcript side by side. A **Timestamped segments** view and a **Video details** view are one click away.

#### Status values

| status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `ok` | Transcript returned |
| `no_captions` | The video has no captions or auto-generated transcript on YouTube |
| `language_unavailable` | Your language is missing and fallback is off; `message` lists the languages that exist |
| `unavailable` | Deleted, private or region-blocked video |
| `age_restricted` | YouTube only shows this video to signed-in adults |
| `error` | YouTube refused the request on six fresh connections, including residential; re-run the video |

### How much does it cost to scrape YouTube transcripts?

YouTube Transcript Scraper uses flat pay-per-result pricing: **$1.00 per 1,000 videos** ($0.001 per row). Proxy and compute are included. There is no monthly rental.

| Videos | Cost |
|---|---|
| 100 | $0.10 |
| 1,000 | $1.00 |
| 10,000 | $10.00 |
| 100,000 | $100.00 |

Every row in the dataset is charged once, including a row that explains why a video could not be transcribed, so `maxItems` is your exact spend cap. The most-used transcript actors on the Store charge $5 to $10 per 1,000.

### Measured coverage

From cloud QA runs on 2026-10-07, about 2,100 videos across single videos, playlists and 9 channels:

- **1,000-video run across 5 channels:** 953 transcripts, 46 videos with no captions on YouTube (mostly short animations and music), 1 age-restricted, **0 errors**, 6.6 minutes
- `transcript`, `segments`, `language`, `isAutoGenerated`: 100% of videos that have captions
- `title`, `channelName`, `channelId`, `viewCount`, `durationSeconds`: 100% of available videos
- `description`: 98% (some creators leave it empty)
- Playlist and channel expansion: 100 videos per page, tested past the page boundary and up to 600 videos from one channel
- `maxItems` is exact at 0, 1, 100 and above the number of videos available

### Limits

- **Transcripts only exist when YouTube has them.** Very new uploads, music without lyrics and some live streams have no captions, and you get a `no_captions` row.
- **No machine translation.** You get the languages YouTube actually holds for the video (often dozens for popular videos). If your language is missing, the fallback returns the original language instead.
- **Age-restricted and private videos** need a signed-in account and are returned as `age_restricted` or `unavailable` rows. This actor never uses logins.
- **Publish date is not included.** Use [YouTube Channel Scraper](https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-channel-scraper) if you need it alongside the transcript.

### FAQ

#### Is it legal to scrape YouTube transcripts?

YouTube Transcript Scraper only reads publicly available transcripts that YouTube shows to any visitor, with no login. It does not collect personal data about viewers. Transcripts are the creators' content, so respect copyright when you republish them, and check YouTube's Terms of Service and the laws that apply to your use case. You are responsible for how you use the data.

#### Can I get transcripts for a whole YouTube channel?

Yes. Add the channel to **Channels** as `@handle`, a channel URL or a `UC...` ID, and set **Max videos per playlist or channel**. Videos are taken from the channel's uploads, newest first.

#### What languages are supported?

Any language YouTube has a caption track for. Set **Transcript language** to a code like `en`, `es`, `fr`, `de`, `pt-BR`, `hi`, `ja` or `ko`. Every row also lists all the languages available on that video in `availableLanguages`.

#### What is the difference between auto-generated and creator captions?

Creator-uploaded captions are written by a person and are usually punctuated and accurate. Auto-generated ones come from YouTube's speech recognition. By default you get creator captions when both exist; `isAutoGenerated` tells you which one you got.

#### How much does it cost?

$1.00 per 1,000 videos, flat. 100 videos cost $0.10. See the pricing table above.

#### Can I use YouTube Transcript Scraper as an API?

Yes. Every Apify actor is an API. Start runs and fetch results with the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2), or call it synchronously and get the transcripts back in one HTTP request.

#### Can I use this in Python?

Yes, with the `apify-client` package:

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("cirkit/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(run_input={"videoUrls": ["aircAruvnKk"]})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row["title"], row["wordCount"])
```

#### Can I connect it to ChatGPT, Zapier, Make or Google Sheets?

Yes. Use the Apify integrations for Zapier, Make, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack and webhooks, or the Apify MCP server to give an AI agent YouTube transcripts as a tool.

#### How do I run it on a schedule?

Create a Schedule in Apify Console (for example daily at 06:00) and point it at a saved task with your channels. Combined with `maxVideosPerSource`, this picks up each channel's newest uploads.

#### Why did I get fewer transcripts than videos?

Check the `status` and `message` on each row. The usual reasons are videos with no captions, age-restricted or private videos, and channels that have fewer public uploads than your limit. Invalid URLs are reported in the run log.

#### Can I get a field that is not listed?

Open an issue on the actor's Issues tab and describe what you need. Fields that YouTube exposes publicly can usually be added.

### You might also like

- [YouTube Channel Scraper](https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-channel-scraper): channel stats, subscribers and every video with views and dates
- [YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-comments-scraper): every comment and reply on any video
- [YouTube Search Scraper](https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-search-scraper): videos for any keyword with views, dates and channels
- [YouTube Shorts Scraper](https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-shorts-scraper): Shorts from any channel or hashtag with exact views and likes

### Changelog

- **0.1** (2026-10-07): first release. Videos, playlists and channels; language selection with fallback; timestamped segments.

# Actor input Schema

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

YouTube videos to get transcripts for. Accepts watch URLs, youtu.be links, Shorts URLs, embed and live URLs, or bare 11-character video IDs. One row per video.

## `playlistUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube playlists to transcribe, as https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=... links (or any URL with a list= parameter) or bare playlist IDs. Videos are taken in playlist order, up to the per-source limit.

## `channels` (type: `array`):

YouTube channels to transcribe, newest uploads first. Accepts a handle (@3blue1brown), a channel URL, or a channel ID (UC...). Up to the per-source limit of videos per channel.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language code of the transcript you want, for example en, es, de, pt-BR or ja. A regional code also matches its base language (en matches en-US and en-GB). If the video has no transcript in this language, see the fallback option below.

## `fallbackToAnyLanguage` (type: `boolean`):

When the requested language is not available, return the video's own transcript instead (usually its auto-generated track, which is in the spoken language) and flag it with isFallbackLanguage. Turn off to get a language_unavailable row with the list of available languages instead.

## `preferManualCaptions` (type: `boolean`):

When both creator-uploaded and auto-generated captions exist in the chosen language, return the creator-uploaded ones (better punctuation and accuracy). Turn off to prefer the auto-generated track.

## `includeTimestamps` (type: `boolean`):

Add the segments array: every caption line with its start time, end time and duration in seconds. Turn off if you only need the plain transcript text, which keeps the output smaller.

## `maxVideosPerSource` (type: `integer`):

Upper limit of videos taken from each playlist and each channel. Video URLs you list directly are not affected.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on the number of rows written to the dataset across all inputs. You are charged per row, so this is your spend limit. Leave empty for no total cap.

## `residentialFallback` (type: `boolean`):

When YouTube refuses a video three times on the proxy above, retry it on Apify RESIDENTIAL proxy (US). This keeps the success rate near 100% at no extra cost to you. Only turn it off if your account cannot use residential proxy.

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

Apify Proxy is used by default. YouTube occasionally asks datacenter IPs to sign in, so videos that keep hitting that wall are retried automatically on Apify RESIDENTIAL proxy (see the option below). You rarely need to change this.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
    "https://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "fallbackToAnyLanguage": true,
  "preferManualCaptions": true,
  "includeTimestamps": true,
  "maxVideosPerSource": 10,
  "residentialFallback": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per video with the full transcript text, language, word count and video details.

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same rows as a downloadable CSV file.

## `segments` (type: `string`):

Every caption line with start, end and duration in seconds.

## `full` (type: `string`):

Every field on every row, including description, tags and available languages.

# 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=aircAruvnKk",
        "https://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc"
    ],
    "language": "en",
    "maxVideosPerSource": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("cirkit/youtube-transcript-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=aircAruvnKk",
        "https://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc",
    ],
    "language": "en",
    "maxVideosPerSource": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("cirkit/youtube-transcript-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=aircAruvnKk",
    "https://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "maxVideosPerSource": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call cirkit/youtube-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,cirkit/youtube-transcript-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/IPy571ctMf0VaCydI/builds/U4kfSJt16SPFOHTGg/openapi.json