YouTube Transcript Scraper

A powerful actor that extracts transcripts/captions from YouTube videos with built-in translation support for 100+ languages.

🌟 Features

• Extract YouTube Transcripts: Get captions/subtitles from any YouTube video
• Multi-Language Translation: Translate transcripts to 100+ languages using free Google Translate
• Batch Processing: Process multiple videos in a single run
• Smart Caption Selection: Automatically finds the best available captions
• Multiple Output Formats: Get results in JSON or plain text format
• Proxy Support: Built-in Apify proxy support to avoid IP blocking
• Fast Translation: Optimized batch translation for speed (5-10x faster than individual translation)
• Progress Tracking: Clean progress indicators to monitor translation status

📋 Input

The actor accepts the following input parameters:

Required Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
videos	Array of strings	List of YouTube video URLs or video IDs

Optional Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
translate_to	String	"" (none)	Target language code for translation (e.g., "en", "es", "hi"). Leave empty for original language
output_format	String	"json"	Output format: "json" (structured) or "txt" (plain text)
proxyConfiguration	Object	Residential proxy enabled	Proxy settings for YouTube requests
delay_seconds	Integer	2	Delay in seconds between processing videos (0-60)

🚀 Usage

Input Example

{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw",
    "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "translate_to": "en",
  "output_format": "json",
  "delay_seconds": 2
}

Output Example (JSON Format)

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "video_url": "https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "transcript": [
    {
      "text": "We're no strangers to love",
      "start": 0.0,
      "duration": 3.5
    },
    {
      "text": "You know the rules and so do I",
      "start": 3.5,
      "duration": 4.2
    }
  ],
  "output_format": "json",
  "metadata": {
    "available_languages": [
      {
        "language": "English",
        "code": "en",
        "type": "auto-generated"
      }
    ],
    "selected_language": "en",
    "translated_to": "es",
    "translation_attempted": true,
    "translation_success": true,
    "translation_method": "Google Translate (deep-translator)"
  },
  "status": "success"
}

Output Example (Text Format)

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "video_url": "https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "transcript": "We're no strangers to love\nYou know the rules and so do I\nA full commitment's what I'm thinking of...",
  "output_format": "txt",
  "metadata": { ... },
  "status": "success"
}

And 80+ more languages!

[See full language list in the input schema]

🔧 How It Works

1. Video Processing: The actor extracts video IDs from URLs or accepts direct video IDs
2. Caption Discovery: Searches for available captions/transcripts in the video
3. Caption Retrieval: Fetches the best available caption (auto-generated or manual)
4. Translation (if enabled): Translates captions using Google Translate API
   • Uses batch translation for speed (20 segments per batch)
   • Progress tracking at 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%
   • Fallback to individual translation if batch fails
5. Output Formatting: Returns data in JSON or text format

⚡ Performance

• Without Translation: ~1-2 seconds per video
• With Translation:
  • Small videos (50-100 segments): ~5-10 seconds
  • Medium videos (500-1000 segments): ~30-60 seconds
  • Large videos (2000+ segments): ~2-3 minutes

Optimization: Batch translation makes it 5-10x faster than translating individual segments!

🛡️ Proxy Configuration

Recommended Settings (Default)

{
  "useApifyProxy": true,
  "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
  "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
}

Why use proxies?

• YouTube may block IP addresses making too many requests
• Residential proxies are recommended to avoid detection
• The actor rotates proxies between videos automatically

📊 Use Cases

• Content Analysis: Analyze video content at scale
• Accessibility: Create captions for videos that don't have them
• Translation: Translate video content to reach global audiences
• Research: Extract data from educational or documentary videos
• SEO: Generate text content from video for search optimization
• Subtitles: Create subtitle files for videos
• Data Mining: Extract information from video tutorials or courses

⚠️ Limitations

1. Caption Availability: Videos must have captions/subtitles available (auto-generated or manual)
2. Translation Quality: Uses Google Translate - quality varies by language pair
3. Rate Limiting: Free Google Translate may have rate limits for heavy usage
4. Video Access: Cannot access private or age-restricted videos
5. Disabled Captions: Some videos have captions disabled by the creator

🐛 Error Handling

The actor handles various error cases:

Error	Reason	Solution
"Transcripts disabled"	Video creator disabled captions	Try another video
"Video unavailable"	Video is private/deleted	Check video URL
"No transcripts available"	No captions exist for this video	YouTube may add auto-captions later
"Translation failed"	Translation service error	Original captions will be returned

💡 Tips for Best Results

1. Use Residential Proxies: Prevents IP blocking from YouTube
2. Add Delay Between Videos: Set delay_seconds to 2-5 for better reliability
3. Batch Processing: Process multiple videos in one run for efficiency
4. Check Metadata: The output includes info about available languages and translation status
5. JSON Format: Use JSON format if you need timestamps and structured data
6. Text Format: Use text format for simple transcript reading