# YouTube Metadata & Thumbnail Downloader (`express_kingfisher/youtube-metadata-downloader`) Actor Extract YouTube video metadata and thumbnails without downloading the video. Uses oEmbed API and page scraping - no API key required. Bulk process multiple URLs. - **URL**: https://apify.com/express\_kingfisher/youtube-metadata-downloader.md - **Developed by:** [Prince Raj](https://apify.com/express_kingfisher) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Videos, Automation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.01 / 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 Metadata Downloader The **YouTube Metadata Downloader** is a specialized Apify Actor for extracting deep, structured metadata from YouTube videos at scale. Whether you need to analyze video trends, gather creator statistics, or perform SEO research, this scraper efficiently collects all necessary public information. ### Key Features - **Comprehensive Data Extraction:** Scrapes video title, description, keywords/tags, categories, and duration. - **Engagement Metrics:** Extracts views, likes, and detailed comment counts to gauge video performance. - **Channel Information:** Captures channel name, subscriber count, and verified status. - **Fast & Lightweight:** Optimized to quickly grab metadata without downloading video or audio streams. - **Search Capabilities:** Input search queries directly, and the actor will gather metadata for the top matching videos. - **No API Key Required:** Runs independently of the YouTube Data API limits and quotas. ### Use Cases - **SEO & Keyword Research:** Discover which tags and descriptions top-ranking videos use. - **Competitor Analysis:** Track the performance (views, likes) of competitors' channels. - **Trend Spotting:** Collect metadata on trending topics to understand viewer engagement. - **Content Aggregation:** Build a structured database of YouTube videos for your platform. ### Input Configuration The Actor accepts the following parameters: - **urls (Array):** List of YouTube video URLs to extract metadata from. - **searchQueries (Array):** List of search terms to find videos. - **maxResultsPerQuery (Number):** Maximum number of videos to scrape per search query (Default: 10). - **proxyConfiguration (Object):** Apify Proxy settings for seamless scraping. ### Output Structure The output dataset will contain structured JSON items like the following: ```json { "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Music Video)", "channelName": "Rick Astley", "subscriberCount": 3500000, "views": 1500000000, "likes": 16000000, "uploadDate": "2009-10-25T00:00:00.000Z", "durationSeconds": 212, "description": "The official video for β€œNever Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.", "tags": ["Rick Astley", "Never Gonna Give You Up", "Pop"], "category": "Music" } ```` ### Setup & Support No special setup is required. The actor handles proxy rotation automatically via Apify's infrastructure to prevent blocking. *Disclaimer: This tool is for data extraction and research. Please respect YouTube's Terms of Service when utilizing scraped metadata.* # Actor input Schema ## `urls` (type: `array`): YouTube video URLs to extract metadata from ## `includeThumbnails` (type: `boolean`): Include thumbnail URLs in all available resolutions ## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`): Scrape the approximate comment count from the page ## Actor input object example ```json { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ], "includeThumbnails": true, "includeComments": 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 = { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("express_kingfisher/youtube-metadata-downloader").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`πŸ’Ύ 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); }); // πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ 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 = { "urls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("express_kingfisher/youtube-metadata-downloader").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("πŸ’Ύ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ] }' | apify call express_kingfisher/youtube-metadata-downloader --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=express_kingfisher/youtube-metadata-downloader", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Metadata & Thumbnail Downloader", "description": "Extract YouTube video metadata and thumbnails without downloading the video. Uses oEmbed API and page scraping - no API key required. Bulk process multiple URLs.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "K5Ik93uDBvXtGag6M" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/express_kingfisher~youtube-metadata-downloader/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-express_kingfisher-youtube-metadata-downloader", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/express_kingfisher~youtube-metadata-downloader/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-express_kingfisher-youtube-metadata-downloader", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/express_kingfisher~youtube-metadata-downloader/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-express_kingfisher-youtube-metadata-downloader", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": [ "urls" ], "properties": { "urls": { "title": "YouTube URLs", "type": "array", "description": "YouTube video URLs to extract metadata from", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "includeThumbnails": { "title": "Include Thumbnails", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include thumbnail URLs in all available resolutions", "default": true }, "includeComments": { "title": "Include Comment Count", "type": "boolean", "description": "Scrape the approximate comment count from the page", "default": 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 } } } } } } } } } } ```