# Snapchat Transcript Scraper (`crawlerbros/snapchat-transcript-scraper`) Actor Extract transcripts from Snapchat Spotlight videos. Uses native WebVTT captions when available, with Whisper AI speech recognition as fallback. No login or cookies required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-transcript-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Social media, Videos - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 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 ## Snapchat Transcript Scraper Extract transcripts from any Snapchat Spotlight video — no login, no API key, no browser required. Automatically retrieves native WebVTT captions when Snapchat provides them, and falls back to Whisper AI speech recognition for videos without captions. Perfect for content repurposing, accessibility workflows, market research, brand monitoring, and building subtitle databases from Snapchat Spotlight content. --- ### What You Get - Native WebVTT transcript segments from Snapchat's embedded caption system (fast, zero AI cost) - Whisper AI fallback using OpenAI's speech recognition model when no native captions exist - Timestamps for every segment (`startTime`, `endTime`, `text`) in VTT format - Full concatenated transcript as a single string (`fullText`) - Video metadata: creator username, caption, duration, upload date, thumbnail URL - Language detection with confidence score (Whisper mode) - Works on public Spotlight videos — no Snapchat account required --- ### Input | Field | Type | Required | Default | Description | |-------|------|----------|---------|-------------| | `spotlightUrls` | string[] | Yes | — | One or more Snapchat Spotlight URLs. Supports `snapchat.com/spotlight/...`, profile-scoped `snapchat.com/@user/spotlight/...`, and short links `t.snapchat.com/...` | | `transcriptionMethod` | select | No | `auto` | `auto` — native WebVTT first, Whisper fallback; `native` — native captions only (fast, no AI); `whisper` — always use Whisper AI | | `whisperModel` | select | No | `base` | Whisper model size: `tiny` (~30s/video), `base` (~60s/video, recommended), `small` (~120s/video, best for non-English) | | `language` | string | No | — | Optional ISO 639-1 language hint for Whisper (e.g. `en`, `ur`, `es`, `ar`). Leave empty for auto-detection. Only applies when Whisper is used | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | No | — | Optional Apify proxy configuration | --- ### Output Each input URL produces one dataset record. Fields are omitted when not available. | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `snapId` | string | Spotlight snap ID | | `inputUrl` | string | Original URL supplied as input | | `videoUrl` | string | Direct CDN video URL (time-limited) | | `thumbnailUrl` | string | Video thumbnail URL | | `username` | string | Creator Snapchat username | | `caption` | string | Video caption or description | | `durationSeconds` | number | Video duration in seconds | | `uploadedAt` | string | Upload timestamp (ISO 8601 UTC) | | `transcriptSource` | string | `"native"` or `"whisper"` | | `transcriptAvailable` | boolean | Whether a usable transcript was extracted | | `transcriptUrl` | string | URL of the original WebVTT file (native only) | | `language` | string | Language code (e.g. `"en"`, `"ur"`) | | `languageProbability` | number | Whisper language confidence 0–1 (Whisper only) | | `whisperModel` | string | Model used: `"tiny"`, `"base"`, or `"small"` (Whisper only) | | `segments` | array | Timed segments: `[{startTime, endTime, text}]` | | `segmentCount` | integer | Number of transcript segments | | `fullText` | string | Full transcript as a single string | | `scrapedAt` | string | Scrape timestamp (ISO 8601 UTC) | | `error` | string | Error message if the URL failed | #### Example Output ```json { "snapId": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYaXFxdmVobmp6AZ499vl-AZ499rsXAAAAAQ", "inputUrl": "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYaXFxdmVobmp6AZ499vl-AZ499rsXAAAAAQ", "username": "brentrivera", "durationSeconds": 60.0, "transcriptSource": "native", "transcriptAvailable": true, "language": "en", "segmentCount": 8, "fullText": "Baby, I'm going to need 10 more minutes. Baby, it's been an hour...", "segments": [ {"startTime": "00:00:00.000", "endTime": "00:00:02.500", "text": "Baby, I'm going to need 10 more minutes."}, {"startTime": "00:00:02.500", "endTime": "00:00:04.000", "text": "Baby, it's been an hour."} ], "videoUrl": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/...", "thumbnailUrl": "https://bolt-gcdn.sc-cdn.net/...", "uploadedAt": "2025-10-01T14:22:00+00:00", "scrapedAt": "2026-06-28T09:45:00+00:00" } ```` *** ### How Transcription Works #### Native (fast, free) Snapchat embeds WebVTT captions in the `__NEXT_DATA__` JSON of most Spotlight pages. The scraper extracts them directly — no audio download, no AI processing, typically < 5 seconds per video. #### Whisper AI (universal fallback) When no native captions exist, the scraper: 1. Downloads the video from Snapchat's CDN 2. Extracts the audio track with ffmpeg (16 kHz mono MP3) 3. Runs the audio through faster-whisper (CTranslate2 backend, CPU, int8) 4. Returns timestamped segments with language detection Whisper hallucination detection automatically discards output where language confidence is below 40% or the output is repetitive — the record will have `transcriptAvailable: false` with an explanatory `error` field. #### Model Comparison | Model | Speed | Quality | Best For | |-------|-------|---------|----------| | `tiny` | ~30s/video | Lower | Quick drafts, high-volume batch | | `base` | ~60s/video | Good | General use (recommended) | | `small` | ~120s/video | Better | Non-English, accented speech | *** ### FAQ **Does this require a Snapchat account or login?** No. All data is extracted from public Spotlight pages without authentication. **Will every video have a transcript?** Most popular Spotlight videos have native WebVTT captions. For videos without them, Whisper AI can transcribe the audio. Videos that are silent, mostly music, or very short may return `transcriptAvailable: false`. **How accurate are the transcripts?** Native transcripts are Snapchat's own captions — very accurate for English speech. Whisper base model achieves ~95% word error rate for clear English audio. Use `small` for non-English or heavily accented content. **Can I get transcripts in other languages?** Yes. Native transcripts are language-specific (Snapchat generates them per language). For Whisper, set `language` to the ISO 639-1 code (e.g. `ur` for Urdu, `es` for Spanish) for better accuracy, or leave it empty for auto-detection. **How do I handle rate limits?** The scraper retries automatically on 429 and 5xx responses with exponential backoff. For large batches, Apify proxy is recommended. **What video formats does Whisper support?** The scraper downloads the native Snapchat CDN video (typically H.264 MP4) and converts it to 16 kHz mono MP3 before transcription. Any video with an audio track will work. **How long does Whisper transcription take?** Roughly 0.5–2× the video duration on CPU (the `base` model on a typical Snapchat Spotlight video of 15–60 seconds takes 15–60 seconds of processing time). Cloud actors run on 2–4 vCPU machines. *** ### Other Snapchat Scrapers Explore the full Snapchat scraper suite on Apify: - [Snapchat Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-profile-scraper) — Full public profile data, highlights, lenses, story snaps - [Snapchat Hashtag Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-hashtag-scraper) — Spotlight videos by hashtag or topic - [Snapchat User Stories Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-user-stories-scraper) — Curated highlights and active story snaps - [Snapchat Video Downloader](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-video-downloader) — Direct CDN URLs for Spotlight videos - [Snapchat Search Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-search-scraper) — Unified search across videos, lenses, users, topics, and places - [Snapchat Lens Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-lens-scraper) — AR lens details, trending lenses, lens search - [Snapchat Publisher Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-publisher-scraper) — Publisher/show pages with premium episodes and seasons - [Snapchat Ads Gallery Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-ads-gallery-scraper) — EU/UK Snapchat ad library with impressions data - [Snapchat Spotlight Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-spotlight-comments-scraper) — Comment threads from Spotlight videos and creator profiles - [Snapchat Topic Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-topic-scraper) — Topic page spotlight videos with related tags and hierarchy - [Snapchat Snapcode Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-snapcode-scraper) — Snapcode images (SVG/PNG) for any username - [Snapchat Snap Map Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-snap-map-scraper) — Public Snap Map stories by location - [Snapchat Discover Scraper](https://apify.com/crawlerbros/snapchat-discover-scraper) — Discover page premium publisher stories and episodes # Actor input Schema ## `spotlightUrls` (type: `array`): One or more Snapchat Spotlight video URLs to transcribe. Supports standard URLs (snapchat.com/spotlight/...), profile-scoped URLs (snapchat.com/@user/spotlight/...), and short links (t.snapchat.com/...). ## `transcriptionMethod` (type: `string`): How to extract the transcript. 'auto' tries native WebVTT first and falls back to Whisper AI if none is found. 'native' only uses Snapchat's embedded captions. 'whisper' always uses Whisper AI speech recognition. ## `whisperModel` (type: `string`): Whisper AI model to use when transcribing. Larger models are slower but more accurate — especially for non-English content. ## `language` (type: `string`): Optional ISO 639-1 language code to hint Whisper (e.g. en, ur, es, fr, ar). Leave empty for automatic language detection. Only applies when Whisper is used. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Optional Apify proxy configuration. Snapchat Spotlight pages are publicly accessible without a proxy in most regions. ## Actor input object example ```json { "spotlightUrls": [ "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYaXFxdmVobmp6AZ499vl-AZ499rsXAAAAAQ" ], "transcriptionMethod": "auto", "whisperModel": "base" } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Dataset containing transcript records # 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 = { "spotlightUrls": [ "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYaXFxdmVobmp6AZ499vl-AZ499rsXAAAAAQ" ], "transcriptionMethod": "auto", "whisperModel": "base" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/snapchat-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "spotlightUrls": ["https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYaXFxdmVobmp6AZ499vl-AZ499rsXAAAAAQ"], "transcriptionMethod": "auto", "whisperModel": "base", } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/snapchat-transcript-scraper").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 '{ "spotlightUrls": [ "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYaXFxdmVobmp6AZ499vl-AZ499rsXAAAAAQ" ], "transcriptionMethod": "auto", "whisperModel": "base" }' | apify call crawlerbros/snapchat-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/snapchat-transcript-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Snapchat Transcript Scraper", "description": "Extract transcripts from Snapchat Spotlight videos. Uses native WebVTT captions when available, with Whisper AI speech recognition as fallback. No login or cookies required.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "ZH4EgeLdYMRfEE2NV" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~snapchat-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-snapchat-transcript-scraper", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~snapchat-transcript-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-snapchat-transcript-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~snapchat-transcript-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-snapchat-transcript-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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", "required": [ "spotlightUrls" ], "properties": { "spotlightUrls": { "title": "Spotlight URLs", "type": "array", "description": "One or more Snapchat Spotlight video URLs to transcribe. Supports standard URLs (snapchat.com/spotlight/...), profile-scoped URLs (snapchat.com/@user/spotlight/...), and short links (t.snapchat.com/...).", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "transcriptionMethod": { "title": "Transcription Method", "enum": [ "auto", "native", "whisper" ], "type": "string", "description": "How to extract the transcript. 'auto' tries native WebVTT first and falls back to Whisper AI if none is found. 'native' only uses Snapchat's embedded captions. 'whisper' always uses Whisper AI speech recognition.", "default": "auto" }, "whisperModel": { "title": "Whisper Model Size", "enum": [ "tiny", "base", "small" ], "type": "string", "description": "Whisper AI model to use when transcribing. Larger models are slower but more accurate — especially for non-English content.", "default": "base" }, "language": { "title": "Language Hint", "type": "string", "description": "Optional ISO 639-1 language code to hint Whisper (e.g. en, ur, es, fr, ar). Leave empty for automatic language detection. Only applies when Whisper is used." }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Optional Apify proxy configuration. Snapchat Spotlight pages are publicly accessible without a proxy in most regions." } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```