# Video to Text | TikTok, Reels, Douyin, B站, RedNote Transcript (`ethereal_wool/any-url-transcript`) Actor

Paste any video link — TikTok, Instagram Reels, Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu (RedNote) — and get the spoken words back as text. Real AI speech recognition, no captions needed. Full transcript + timestamped sentences as clean JSON.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ethereal\_wool/any-url-transcript.md
- **Developed by:** [Jackie Chen](https://apify.com/ethereal_wool) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$25.00 / 1,000 transcript minutes

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/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

## Any URL Transcript — Video to Text for TikTok, Reels, Douyin, B站 & RedNote

**One Actor, every short-video platform.** Paste video links from **TikTok,
Instagram Reels, Douyin (抖音), Bilibili (B站), or Xiaohongshu (小红书 /
RedNote)** — in any mix — and get back the **full spoken transcript plus
timestamped sentences** as clean JSON. Real AI speech recognition, ready for
LLMs, RAG pipelines, content research, and subtitle workflows.

> **This is real ASR, not caption scraping.** Most "transcript" tools only
> download captions a creator happened to upload — and most short videos have
> none. This Actor runs industrial speech recognition on each video's audio
> track, so it works on **any video with speech**, captions or not. Chinese
> (Mandarin) recognition is best-in-class; English, Cantonese, Japanese, and
> Korean are supported too.

> **Unofficial.** This Actor is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by
> TikTok, ByteDance, Meta, Bilibili, or Xiaohongshu. It is an independent tool
> that processes publicly available content. Use it in compliance with each
> platform's terms and all applicable laws; you are responsible for how you use
> the retrieved data.

### Supported platforms

| Platform | Accepted links |
|---|---|
| **TikTok** | `tiktok.com/@user/video/…`, `vm.tiktok.com/…`, `vt.tiktok.com/…` |
| **Douyin 抖音** | `douyin.com/video/…`, `v.douyin.com/…`, pasted share text |
| **Instagram Reels** | `instagram.com/reel/…`, `/p/…`, `/tv/…` |
| **Bilibili B站** | `bilibili.com/video/BV…`, `b23.tv/…`, bare BV ids |
| **Xiaohongshu 小红书** | `xiaohongshu.com/explore/…`, `xhslink.com/…` |

The Actor auto-detects the platform per URL — mix them freely in one run.

### What you get per video

- **Full transcript** (`fullText`) — the complete spoken content as one string.
- **Timestamped sentences** (`sentences[]`) — each with `startMs` / `endMs`,
  ready for subtitles, deep links, and clip selection.
- **Platform + metadata** — `platform`, author, title/caption, duration,
  publish time, play / like / comment / share counts where the platform
  provides them.

### Quick start

1. Open the Actor and press **Run** — the default input works out of the box.
2. Replace the examples with your own links from any supported platform.
3. Language defaults to **Auto-detect**; set it explicitly for single-language
   batches to improve accuracy (Chinese is best-in-class).
4. Collect results from the **Dataset** tab as JSON / CSV / Excel, or pull them
   via the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) and MCP from your own code.

No proxies, no cookies, no login — everything runs server-side.

### Example output

```json
{
  "platform": "tiktok",
  "videoId": "7405073368414408965",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.tiktok.com/@khaby.lame/video/7405073368414408965",
  "author": "khaby.lame",
  "durationSec": 18.2,
  "playCount": 24500000,
  "likeCount": 2900000,
  "language": "auto",
  "detectedSpeech": true,
  "sentenceCount": 4,
  "fullText": "You don't need an expensive gadget for this…",
  "sentences": [
    { "text": "You don't need an expensive gadget for this.", "startMs": 410, "endMs": 2750 }
  ]
}
````

### What people build with it

- **Cross-platform content research** — compare what creators say about the
  same topic on TikTok, Reels, and the Chinese platforms, in one dataset.
- **Viral-hook mining** — transcribe the winners across platforms and study
  the exact opening lines that earn views everywhere.
- **Agent & workflow integration** — one endpoint for "video URL → text" means
  your agent doesn't need to care which platform a link came from.
- **LLM & RAG pipelines** — build multilingual short-video speech corpora with
  engagement scores attached.
- **Subtitles & translation** — timestamped sentences drop straight into
  SRT/VTT generation and dubbing workflows.

### Pricing & billing

Pay per started transcript minute (**$0.025/minute**, one-minute minimum) on
every supported platform. Failed fetches, deleted videos, image posts,
unsupported URLs, videos over your duration cap, and failed transcriptions are
**not charged**.

### Why this Actor

- **One input for five platforms** — no more wiring a separate scraper per
  platform into your pipeline.
- **Real speech recognition** — works without captions; Chinese (Mandarin)
  accuracy is best-in-class, where Western tools struggle most.
- **Cheapest stream selection** — smallest encode per platform, audio-only on
  Bilibili, so runs stay fast.
- **Direct API, no headless browser** — fast, stable runs with nothing to babysit.
- **No login, no cookies** — we never touch your accounts, so there's no ban risk.
- **Structured JSON** — export to CSV, Excel, or JSON, or pull straight from
  the API / MCP.

### Tips for better results

- Feed it the winners: find the top-performing videos in your niche first
  (search / profile scrapers), then transcribe just those.
- Single-language batch? Set the language explicitly — it noticeably improves
  accuracy over Auto.
- `detectedSpeech: false` flags music-only / no-speech videos so you can filter
  them out downstream.
- Long Bilibili videos: raise `maxDurationMinutes` (up to 240) for lectures —
  audio-only downloads keep even those runs quick.

### FAQ

**Do I need an account, cookies, or to log in anywhere?**
No. The Actor talks to fast, direct HTTP APIs server-side — you just provide
video links and run it.

**Does it work on videos without captions?**
Yes — that's the point. It runs real speech recognition on the audio, so
captions are never required.

**Which languages are supported?**
Auto-detect, Chinese (best-in-class), Cantonese, English, Japanese, and Korean.

**How am I billed?**
$0.025 per started transcript minute on every platform. Videos that can't be
fetched or transcribed are not charged.

**Can I run it on a schedule or call it from my app?**
Yes — use Apify Schedules, the REST API, the JavaScript / Python clients, or
the MCP server. See the **API** tab.

**Is this affiliated with the platforms?**
No. It's an independent tool that processes publicly available content. Use it
in line with each platform's terms and applicable law.

# Actor input Schema

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

Video links to transcribe, in any mix of platforms: TikTok, Douyin (抖音), Instagram Reels, Bilibili (B站), Xiaohongshu (小红书 / RedNote). Short share links (vm.tiktok.com, v.douyin.com, b23.tv, xhslink.com) work too. One transcript is produced per video.

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

Language spoken in the videos. Auto-detect works well for mixed batches; setting an explicit language noticeably improves accuracy for single-language content (Chinese accuracy is best-in-class).

## `maxDurationMinutes` (type: `integer`):

Videos longer than this are skipped (and not charged). Mostly relevant for Bilibili, which hosts multi-hour videos. Raise it up to 240 for long lectures.

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

Optional. Route the upstream API calls through an Apify Proxy to vary the source IP. Usually not needed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.tiktok.com/@khaby.lame/video/7405073368414408965",
    "https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1HjmrBzEDA/"
  ],
  "language": "auto",
  "maxDurationMinutes": 60,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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.tiktok.com/@khaby.lame/video/7405073368414408965",
        "https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1HjmrBzEDA/"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ethereal_wool/any-url-transcript").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.tiktok.com/@khaby.lame/video/7405073368414408965",
        "https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1HjmrBzEDA/",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ethereal_wool/any-url-transcript").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 '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.tiktok.com/@khaby.lame/video/7405073368414408965",
    "https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1HjmrBzEDA/"
  ]
}' |
apify call ethereal_wool/any-url-transcript --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ethereal_wool/any-url-transcript",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Video to Text | TikTok, Reels, Douyin, B站, RedNote Transcript",
        "description": "Paste any video link — TikTok, Instagram Reels, Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu (RedNote) — and get the spoken words back as text. Real AI speech recognition, no captions needed. Full transcript + timestamped sentences as clean JSON.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "kgbQDYvhGBE8hntSw"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/ethereal_wool~any-url-transcript/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-ethereal_wool-any-url-transcript",
                "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": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ethereal_wool~any-url-transcript/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-ethereal_wool-any-url-transcript",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ethereal_wool~any-url-transcript/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-ethereal_wool-any-url-transcript",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": [
                    "videoUrls"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "videoUrls": {
                        "title": "Video URLs (any supported platform)",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Video links to transcribe, in any mix of platforms: TikTok, Douyin (抖音), Instagram Reels, Bilibili (B站), Xiaohongshu (小红书 / RedNote). Short share links (vm.tiktok.com, v.douyin.com, b23.tv, xhslink.com) work too. One transcript is produced per video.",
                        "default": [
                            "https://www.tiktok.com/@khaby.lame/video/7405073368414408965",
                            "https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1HjmrBzEDA/"
                        ],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "language": {
                        "title": "Spoken language",
                        "enum": [
                            "auto",
                            "zh",
                            "yue",
                            "en",
                            "ja",
                            "ko"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Language spoken in the videos. Auto-detect works well for mixed batches; setting an explicit language noticeably improves accuracy for single-language content (Chinese accuracy is best-in-class).",
                        "default": "auto"
                    },
                    "maxDurationMinutes": {
                        "title": "Max video duration (minutes)",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 240,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Videos longer than this are skipped (and not charged). Mostly relevant for Bilibili, which hosts multi-hour videos. Raise it up to 240 for long lectures.",
                        "default": 60
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Optional. Route the upstream API calls through an Apify Proxy to vary the source IP. Usually not needed.",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": false
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "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
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```