Facebook Video Transcript Extractor

Create a Facebook video transcript from public videos and Reels as searchable text, timestamped segments, SRT subtitles, and WebVTT captions. This Facebook video transcription workflow also turns Facebook video to text for API, MCP, and automation use. Use the results for research, accessibility, content analysis, archives, or downstream AI workflows.

Input example

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155529876156509/"
  ],
  "maxVideoDurationSeconds": 900,
  "language": "en"
}

Output example

{
  "status": "succeeded",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155529876156509/",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155529876156509/",
  "videoId": "10155529876156509",
  "videoTitle": "Holocaust survivor becomes US citizen",
  "durationSeconds": 44.181,
  "uploaderName": "CNN",
  "transcript": "Timestamped transcript text...",
  "language": "en",
  "segments": [{ "text": "Timestamped transcript text...", "startSeconds": 0, "endSeconds": 4.2 }],
  "srtSubtitles": "1\n00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,200\nTimestamped transcript text...",
  "vttSubtitles": "WEBVTT\n\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200\nTimestamped transcript text..."
}

Input settings

Field	Type	Description
videoUrls	array	One to 20 public Facebook video or Reel URLs. Strings and { "url": "..." } objects are accepted.
maxVideoDurationSeconds	integer	Reject videos longer than this limit. Defaults to 900 seconds.
language	string	Optional expected spoken/caption language code, such as en or es. Automatic detection is used when omitted.

Output fields

Each successful video produces one dataset row.

Field	Description
status	Processing status.
sourceUrl, canonicalUrl	Submitted and normalized Facebook URLs.
videoId, videoTitle, description	Public video identity and text metadata.
durationSeconds	Video duration.
uploaderName, uploaderId, publishedAt	Public uploader and publication metadata when available.
thumbnailUrl	Public preview image URL when available.
mediaFormat	Selected public media format when available.
transcript, language	Full transcript and detected/requested language.
segments	Timestamped objects with text, startSeconds, and endSeconds.
srtSubtitles, vttSubtitles	Ready-to-save subtitle documents.

Input recipes

• One short Reel: submit one URL and set maxVideoDurationSeconds to 120.
• Small research batch: submit up to 20 public URLs and omit language for automatic detection.
• Known-language captions: set language to the source language for more predictable transcription.

Pricing

The Actor uses pay per event: one start event per run and one result event for each transcript successfully saved. Failed targets do not incur the result event. See the live Pricing tab for current rates and plan-based volume discounts.

Tips and limits

• Only public, directly addressable Facebook videos and Reels are supported; login-only, deleted, private, geo-restricted, or rights-restricted media may fail.
• Clear speech produces better results than music, overlapping speakers, or loud background noise.
• A batch preserves successful rows when another URL fails. RUN_SUMMARY and STATE in the key-value store describe failures and unfinished targets.
• Process only content you are authorized to access and follow applicable privacy, copyright, and platform rules.

Who is it for?

• Researchers and journalists who need searchable quotations and timestamps from public videos.
• Accessibility teams preparing subtitle drafts for authorized content.
• Content and social teams indexing spoken material across a small URL batch.
• Developers and AI builders feeding structured transcripts into search, summarization, or retrieval pipelines.

API usage

Start a run with cURL:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fetch_cat~facebook-ai-transcript-extractor/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videoUrls":["https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155529876156509/"]}'

JavaScript with apify-client:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('fetch_cat/facebook-ai-transcript-extractor').call({
  videoUrls: ['https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155529876156509/'],
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python with apify-client:

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('fetch_cat/facebook-ai-transcript-extractor').call(run_input={
    'videoUrls': ['https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155529876156509/'],
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

MCP and AI agents

Connect through Apify MCP so an AI assistant can request transcripts and analyze the returned dataset.

$claude mcp add --transport http apify https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch_cat/facebook-ai-transcript-extractor

Or add the server to an MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch_cat/facebook-ai-transcript-extractor"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• “Transcribe this public Facebook Reel and return the timestamps for every mention of the product name.”
• “Create an SRT subtitle draft for these public Facebook video URLs.”
• “Compare the themes in these transcripts and cite the relevant time ranges.”

Keep URL validation and human review in sensitive workflows.

FAQ

Does it work without a Facebook login?

It processes public URLs that Facebook exposes anonymously. It does not bypass login, privacy, or access restrictions.

Can I export Facebook video transcripts as SRT or WebVTT?

Yes. Save the srtSubtitles or vttSubtitles field from each dataset item as an .srt or .vtt file.

Why did a public URL fail?

The media may have no audible speech, may be temporarily unavailable, or may be restricted by location, rights, age, or Facebook delivery changes. Review the run log and RUN_SUMMARY.

Can I run Facebook video transcription through an API or MCP client?

Yes. Use the Apify API, official clients, webhooks, integrations, or the MCP endpoint above.

Is this an alternative to manual transcription?

It automates first-pass transcription at scale. Review important names, numbers, and low-quality audio before publication or compliance use.

Related Actors

Continue a Facebook content workflow with:

• Facebook Pages Scraper
• Facebook Ads Library Scraper
• Facebook Comments Scraper
• Facebook Events Scraper
• Facebook Reels Scraper

Support

For reproducible problems, open an issue on the Actor page with the public URL, run ID, expected result, and observed error. Do not include private media, credentials, or personal access tokens.