# YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper (`fastcrawler/youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper`) Actor Extract complete transcripts and subtitles from any YouTube video or Shorts. Download clean, structured text (JSON/CSV) ready for LLMs, AI agents, or content analysis. Fast, reliable, and easy to integrate via API. Pay only for successful results. - **URL**: https://apify.com/fastcrawler/youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [fastcrawler](https://apify.com/fastcrawler) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Social media, Videos - **Stats:** 420 total users, 11 monthly users, 97.5% runs succeeded, 36 bookmarks - **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars ## Pricing from $2.50 / 1,000 youtuberesults This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. 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 ## πŸŽ₯ YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Extractor: Video Text to JSON **YouTube Transcript Extractor** is a high-performance Apify actor designed to effortlessly scrape complete transcripts and subtitles from any YouTube video. Whether a video has built-in closed captions (CC) or lacks them entirely, this tool uses advanced fallback techniques to guarantee accurate, readable text extraction. Enjoy enterprise-grade reliability at an indie-friendly price: **$3 per 1,000 results | Pay-Per-Result only**. --- ### πŸš€ Why use this Extractor? (Top Use Cases) This scraper outputs clean, highly structured data explicitly designed for seamless integration into modern workflows: - **πŸ€– AI Agents & LLMs:** Feed the unified `transcript_text` directly into Claude, OpenAI, or custom RAG pipelines without needing to parse complex timestamp arrays. - **πŸ“ Content Repurposing:** Instantly turn long-form YouTube videos or Shorts into blog posts, Twitter threads, or newsletters. - **πŸ“Š NLP & Sentiment Analysis:** Extract large-scale video text data for market research, trend spotting, and accessibility compliance. --- ### ✨ Key Features - **🎯 Universal Extraction:** Retrieves existing transcripts or automatically generates subtitles for videos without built-in captions. - **🧠 AI-Ready Data Structure:** Returns both granular, timestamped subtitle arrays (perfect for video players) and a concatenated, flat string (perfect for LLM prompts). - **🌍 Multi-Language Support:** Automatically handles diverse languages to meet global content needs. - **⚑️ Developer-Friendly & Cost-Effective:** Zero base fees. You only pay for successful extractions. Export your results seamlessly to JSON, CSV, or Excel. --- ### πŸ’‘ Related Scrapers Supercharge your data extraction arsenal with our other highly-rated tools: - **[Free Twitter API](https://twitterapi.cheap) ｜ [Track X Influencers Tweets in Real-time](https://influencerradar.online)** - [Tweet(X) Fast&Cheapest scraper | $0.35/1K | Pay-Per Result](https://apify.com/fastcrawler/tweet-x-fast-cheapest-scraper-0-35-1k-pay-per-result-2025) - [Twitter Reply Scraper | $0.4/1K Tweets | Pay-Per Result](https://apify.com/fastcrawler/twitter-reply-scraper-0-4-1k-tweets-pay-per-result-2025) - [Twitter KOL Discovery: Find Influencers Fast | $0.5/1k](https://apify.com/fastcrawler/twitter-kol-discovery-find-influencers-fast-0-5-1k-2025) - **[View all fastcrawler scrapers](https://apify.com/fastcrawler)** --- ### πŸ›  How it Works (Input Configuration) Simply provide an array of YouTube URLs. The actor processes them concurrently for maximum speed. **Example Input:** ```json { "url": [ "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH2f7cjXjKI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH2f7cjXjKI)" ] } ```` *** ### πŸ“Š Output Example The actor delivers deeply structured JSON. Notice the `transcript_text` field at the bottomβ€”it provides the fully assembled text, saving you hours of string-manipulation code! ```json { "videoId": "vH2f7cjXjKI", "videoTitle": "Claude | Computer use for coding", "videoDescription": "", "videoDuration": "183", "thumbnailUrl": { "hqdefault": "[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vH2f7cjXjKI/hqdefault.jpg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vH2f7cjXjKI/hqdefault.jpg)", "maxresdefault": "[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vH2f7cjXjKI/maxresdefault.jpg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vH2f7cjXjKI/maxresdefault.jpg)" }, "transcripts": { "en": { "auto": [ { "start": "00:00:00", "end": "00:00:07", "text": "I'm Alex, I lead developer relations at Anthropic, and today I'm gonna be showing you a coding task with computer use." } ] } }, "language": { "code": "en", "name": "English" }, "transcript_text": "I'm Alex, I lead developer relations at Anthropic, and today I'm gonna be showing you a coding task with computer use. So we're gonna be showing Claude doing a website coding task by actually controlling my laptop..." } ``` *(Note: The transcript arrays have been shortened in this example for brevity, but the actual output contains the full timestamped timeline).* *** ### πŸ“ž Contact and Feature Requests Need a custom solution or continuous monitoring? We've got you covered: - Support for second-level tweet monitoring - Real-time username change monitoring - Real-time follow activity monitoring Feel free to reach out for custom features or general support! πŸ“§ Email: fastcrawler9@gmail.com | πŸ’¬ [Telegram](https://t.me/+MUMR3PKOoVVjNzE9) | πŸ‘Ύ [Discord](https://discord.gg/s4jyupzaWu) ```` # Actor input Schema ## `urls` (type: `array`): Youtube URLs. Paste the URLs and get the results immediately. ## Actor input object example ```json { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCp1BmME6QA" ] } ```` # 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=PCp1BmME6QA" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("fastcrawler/youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper").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=PCp1BmME6QA"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("fastcrawler/youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper").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=PCp1BmME6QA" ] }' | apify call fastcrawler/youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fastcrawler/youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper", "description": "Extract complete transcripts and subtitles from any YouTube video or Shorts. Download clean, structured text (JSON/CSV) ready for LLMs, AI agents, or content analysis. Fast, reliable, and easy to integrate via API. Pay only for successful results.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "8w6kyDDkW98gtNavb" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/fastcrawler~youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-fastcrawler-youtube-transcript-subtitles-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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/fastcrawler~youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-fastcrawler-youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/fastcrawler~youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-fastcrawler-youtube-transcript-subtitles-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": [ "urls" ], "properties": { "urls": { "title": "URL of the youtube", "type": "array", "description": "Youtube URLs. Paste the URLs and get the results immediately. ", "items": { "type": "string" } } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```