# 🎥 YouTube Transcript Scraper (`ethereal_wool/youtube-transcript-scraper`) Actor Extract YouTube transcript data — name, and more. Scrape by keyword, URL or ID. Export to JSON, CSV & Excel, use the API, schedule runs and integrate. No code required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/ethereal\_wool/youtube-transcript-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Jackie Chen](https://apify.com/ethereal_wool) (community) - **Categories:** Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $3.00 / 1,000 results 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 ## YouTube Transcript & Subtitle Scraper ![youtube-transcript-scraper](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/48FFrfZnw5XqzUC1C/records/youtube-transcript-scraper__hero) Scrape **YouTube transcripts and subtitles** for any public video. Give one or more video IDs or URLs and get every available **caption track** — language, whether it is auto-generated (ASR) or human-authored, whether it is translatable, and the downloadable **timedtext URL** — together with the video's title, channel, length and view count. > **Unofficial.** This Actor is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by YouTube > or Google LLC. It is an independent tool that retrieves publicly available data via a > third-party API. Use it in compliance with YouTube's Terms of Service and all > applicable laws; you are responsible for how you use the retrieved data. ### What it does - **Caption discovery** — for each video, lists all caption tracks YouTube exposes (e.g. English, Spanish, auto-generated English), with the language code, a human-readable name, the `kind` (`asr` = auto-generated), `isTranslatable`, and the `transcriptUrl` (a YouTube `timedtext` URL). - **Video metadata** — every item also carries the parent video's `videoTitle`, `channel`, `channelId`, `lengthSeconds`, `viewCount` and `shortDescription`. - **Filtering** — keep only certain languages, or only auto-generated tracks. - **Transcript text (best effort)** — optionally tries to download and flatten the caption file into plain text. See the note below. ### Input | Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `videoIds` | string[] | `["dQw4w9WgXcQ"]` | Video IDs or full watch / `youtu.be` / `shorts` URLs. | | `languageCodes` | string[] | `[]` | Keep only tracks whose language code matches (e.g. `en`, `es`). Empty = all. | | `autoGeneratedOnly` | boolean | `false` | Keep only ASR (auto-generated) tracks. | | `fetchTranscriptText` | boolean | `false` | Attempt to download the transcript text (best effort, see note). | | `maxItems` | integer | `50` | Max total caption tracks across all videos. | #### Example input ```json { "videoIds": ["dQw4w9WgXcQ", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"], "languageCodes": ["en"], "autoGeneratedOnly": false, "fetchTranscriptText": true, "maxItems": 100 } ```` ### Output One dataset item per caption track: ```json { "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "videoTitle": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)", "channel": "Rick Astley", "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw", "lengthSeconds": 213, "viewCount": 1779355962, "languageCode": "en", "language": "English", "kind": "asr", "isAutoGenerated": true, "isTranslatable": true, "vssId": ".en", "transcriptUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&...", "source": "video:dQw4w9WgXcQ" } ``` ### Notes - **Transcript text is best-effort.** YouTube signs each `timedtext` URL against the IP that requested it, so a server-side download frequently returns an error. When `fetchTranscriptText` is enabled the Actor still tries, but `transcriptText` may come back empty. The `transcriptUrl` is always provided so you can fetch the caption file yourself (append `&fmt=json3`, `&fmt=srv3`, or `&fmt=vtt`) from the appropriate IP. - Data is sourced live; YouTube / the upstream edge occasionally rate-limits, so the Actor retries transient blocks with exponential backoff. - Video IDs are de-duplicated within a run. # Actor input Schema ## `videoIds` (type: `array`): YouTube video IDs (e.g. dQw4w9WgXcQ) or full watch / youtu.be / shorts URLs. Each video's available caption tracks are scraped. ## `languageCodes` (type: `array`): Only keep caption tracks whose language code matches one of these (e.g. en, es, fr). Leave empty to keep every track for each video. ## `autoGeneratedOnly` (type: `boolean`): Keep only ASR (auto-generated) caption tracks and drop human-authored ones. ## `fetchTranscriptText` (type: `boolean`): Also attempt to download and parse the timedtext caption file into plain transcript text. YouTube signed caption URLs are IP-locked and frequently reject server-side fetches, so this may be empty — the track URL is always returned regardless. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum total number of caption tracks to push across all videos. ## `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 { "videoIds": [ "dQw4w9WgXcQ" ], "languageCodes": [], "autoGeneratedOnly": false, "fetchTranscriptText": false, "maxItems": 50, "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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "videoIds": [ "dQw4w9WgXcQ" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("ethereal_wool/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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "videoIds": ["dQw4w9WgXcQ"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("ethereal_wool/youtube-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 '{ "videoIds": [ "dQw4w9WgXcQ" ] }' | apify call ethereal_wool/youtube-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ethereal_wool/youtube-transcript-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "🎥 YouTube Transcript Scraper", "description": "Extract YouTube transcript data — name, and more. Scrape by keyword, URL or ID. Export to JSON, CSV & Excel, use the API, schedule runs and integrate. No code required.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "35rd6fK7MEi5rgcNg" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/ethereal_wool~youtube-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-ethereal_wool-youtube-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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/ethereal_wool~youtube-transcript-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-ethereal_wool-youtube-transcript-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/ethereal_wool~youtube-transcript-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-ethereal_wool-youtube-transcript-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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", "properties": { "videoIds": { "title": "YouTube video IDs or URLs", "type": "array", "description": "YouTube video IDs (e.g. dQw4w9WgXcQ) or full watch / youtu.be / shorts URLs. Each video's available caption tracks are scraped.", "default": [ "dQw4w9WgXcQ" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "languageCodes": { "title": "Language filter (optional)", "type": "array", "description": "Only keep caption tracks whose language code matches one of these (e.g. en, es, fr). Leave empty to keep every track for each video.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "autoGeneratedOnly": { "title": "Auto-generated captions only", "type": "boolean", "description": "Keep only ASR (auto-generated) caption tracks and drop human-authored ones.", "default": false }, "fetchTranscriptText": { "title": "Fetch transcript text (best effort)", "type": "boolean", "description": "Also attempt to download and parse the timedtext caption file into plain transcript text. YouTube signed caption URLs are IP-locked and frequently reject server-side fetches, so this may be empty — the track URL is always returned regardless.", "default": false }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max caption tracks", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum total number of caption tracks to push across all videos.", "default": 50 }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```