Dailymotion Download Video & Extract Transcriptions & Metadata

A powerful Apify Actor that automatically donwload video, extracts transcriptions, subtitles, auto-generated captions, and detailed metadata from Dailymotion videos. Process single videos by URL or search and scrape entire collections matching your criteria.

What This Actor Does

Core Capabilities

• Extract Video Transcriptions - Download manual subtitles and auto-generated captions from Dailymotion videos in multiple languages
• Bulk Video Search & Processing - Search Dailymotion by keywords and automatically process all matching results
• Multi-Language Subtitle Collection - Extract subtitles in all available languages with customizable priority ordering
• Video Metadata Extraction - Collect comprehensive video information including title, duration, view count, upload date, uploader details, and more
• Video Download - Optionally download video files in configurable quality levels (720p, 1024p, maximum) and store them in Apify's Key-Value store
• Clean Text Output - Convert SRT and VTT subtitle formats to readable plain text with timestamps and formatting removed
• Flexible Filtering - Filter search results by publication date (24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, or 1 year)
• Transcript Filtering - Optionally filter search results to include only videos with available transcriptions
• Scalable Processing - Process from 1 to 100+ videos in a single run with configurable limits

Use Cases

• Content Research - Extract transcriptions from educational, technical, or news videos for analysis
• SEO Content Analysis - Collect video metadata and transcriptions for competitor analysis
• Audio Content Processing - Export full video transcriptions for NLP, translation, or archival
• Quality Assurance - Verify subtitle availability and quality across video collections
• Data Collection - Build datasets of video transcriptions in multiple languages

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
urls	array	No	-	List of direct Dailymotion video URLs. Format: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xXXXXXX. Direct URLs are always processed regardless of other filters.
query	string	No	-	Search query to find Dailymotion videos. If provided, the actor searches for matching videos and processes them according to other parameters.
limit	integer	No	10	Maximum number of videos to retrieve from search results (1-100). Does not apply to direct URLs.
langs	array	Yes	["en", "it", "fr"]	Preferred language codes in priority order (e.g., ["en", "it", "fr"]). The primary transcription is selected from the first available language. All available languages are collected regardless.
output	string	Yes	"output.json"	Name of the JSON file to save results in the key-value store (e.g., results.json, transcripts.json).
metadata	string	No	"false"	Include full metadata from video analysis (true/false). When enabled, adds comprehensive metadata object to each video result.
onlyWithTranscription	string	No	"true"	In search mode, filter to only videos with transcriptions available (true/false). Ignored for direct URLs.
dateRange	string	No	(empty)	In search mode, filter search results by publication date. Options: last_daily (24 hours), last_week (7 days), last_month (30 days), last_year (365 days).
downloadVideo	string	No	"false"	Download video files along with transcriptions (true/false). Videos are saved to Apify's Key-Value store and can be retrieved via the videoKvKey field in the output.
quality	string	No	"720p"	Video quality when downloading. Options: 720p (up to 720p resolution), 1024 (up to 1024p resolution), maximum (best available quality). Only applies when downloadVideo is set to "true".

Input Examples

Extract from single video URL:

{
  "urls": ["https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a"],
  "langs": ["en", "it", "fr"],
  "output": "transcript.json"
}

Search and process videos:

{
  "query": "machine learning tutorial",
  "limit": 5,
  "langs": ["en"],
  "output": "ml_videos.json",
  "onlyWithTranscription": "true"
}

Combined: direct URLs + search:

{
  "urls": ["https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a"],
  "query": "python programming",
  "limit": 10,
  "langs": ["en", "it"],
  "output": "combined.json",
  "dateRange": "last_month"
}

Download videos with transcriptions:

{
  "urls": ["https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a"],
  "langs": ["en"],
  "output": "videos_and_transcripts.json",
  "downloadVideo": "true",
  "quality": "720p"
}

Search, filter, and download videos:

{
  "query": "educational documentary",
  "limit": 5,
  "langs": ["en", "it"],
  "output": "documentaries.json",
  "onlyWithTranscription": "true",
  "dateRange": "last_week",
  "downloadVideo": "true",
  "quality": "maximum"
}

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Output Format

The actor outputs a JSON array of video objects. Each object contains extracted transcriptions and metadata.

Output Without Metadata (metadata: false) and Without Video Download

[
  {
    "url": "https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a",
    "title": "States: Donald Trump affirms he 'loves inflation' as prices reach highest levels in three years",
    "videoId": "xaeie8a",
    "duration": 114,
    "views": 7896,
    "uploadDate": "20260723",
    "uploader": "News Channel",
    "availableSubtitleLanguages": ["en", "it", "fr"],
    "primaryLanguage": "en",
    "primaryTranscription": "Today in news, Donald Trump made controversial statements about inflation... [full transcription text]",
    "allTranscriptions": {
      "en": "Today in news, Donald Trump made controversial statements about inflation...",
      "it": "Oggi nelle notizie, Donald Trump ha fatto dichiarazioni controverse sull'inflazione...",
      "fr": "Aujourd'hui dans l'actualité, Donald Trump a fait des déclarations controversées sur l'inflation..."
    }
  }
]

Output With Video Download (downloadVideo: true)

[
  {
    "url": "https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a",
    "title": "States: Donald Trump affirms he 'loves inflation' as prices reach highest levels in three years",
    "videoId": "xaeie8a",
    "duration": 114,
    "views": 7896,
    "uploadDate": "20260723",
    "uploader": "News Channel",
    "availableSubtitleLanguages": ["en", "it", "fr"],
    "primaryLanguage": "en",
    "primaryTranscription": "Today in news, Donald Trump made controversial statements about inflation... [full transcription text]",
    "allTranscriptions": {
      "en": "Today in news, Donald Trump made controversial statements about inflation...",
      "it": "Oggi nelle notizie, Donald Trump ha fatto dichiarazioni controverse sull'inflazione...",
      "fr": "Aujourd'hui dans l'actualité, Donald Trump a fait des déclarations controversées sur l'inflation..."
    },
    "videoKvKey": "video_xaeie8a_720p.mp4",
    "videoQuality": "720p",
    "videoFormat": "mp4"
  }
]

Output With Metadata (metadata: true)

[
  {
    "url": "https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a",
    "title": "States: Donald Trump affirms he 'loves inflation' as prices reach highest levels in three years",
    "videoId": "xaeie8a",
    "duration": 114,
    "views": 7896,
    "uploadDate": "20260723",
    "uploader": "News Channel",
    "availableSubtitleLanguages": ["en", "it", "fr"],
    "primaryLanguage": "en",
    "primaryTranscription": "Today in news, Donald Trump made controversial statements about inflation... [full transcription text]",
    "allTranscriptions": {
      "en": "Today in news, Donald Trump made controversial statements about inflation...",
      "it": "Oggi nelle notizie, Donald Trump ha fatto dichiarazioni controverse sull'inflazione...",
      "fr": "Aujourd'hui nelle actualité, Donald Trump a fait des déclarations controversées sur l'inflation..."
    },
    "metadata": {
      "id": "xaeie8a",
      "ext": "mp4",
      "format": "247 - webm container vp9 vp09.00.51.08 [1920x1080]",
      "webpage_url": "https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a",
      "display_id": "xaeie8a",
      "title": "States: Donald Trump affirms he 'loves inflation' as prices reach highest levels in three years",
      "description": "Full video description here...",
      "duration": 114,
      "timestamp": 1721750595,
      "upload_date": "20260723",
      "uploader": "News Channel",
      "uploader_id": "news_channel_id",
      "like_count": 245,
      "comment_count": 87,
      "view_count": 7896,
      "tags": ["news", "trump", "inflation"],
      "categories": ["News & Politics"],
      "thumbnail": "https://...",
      "subtitles": {
        "en": [{"ext": "vtt", "url": "https://..."}],
        "it": [{"ext": "vtt", "url": "https://..."}],
        "fr": [{"ext": "vtt", "url": "https://..."}]
      },
      "automatic_captions": {},
      "formats": [...],
      "extractor": "dailymotion",
      "extractor_key": "Dailymotion"
    }
  }
]

Output Fields Explanation

Field	Type	Description
url	string	Direct URL of the Dailymotion video
title	string	Video title
videoId	string	Unique Dailymotion video ID
duration	integer	Video duration in seconds
views	integer	Total view count
uploadDate	string	Video publication date (format: YYYYMMDD)
uploader	string	Name of the channel/uploader
availableSubtitleLanguages	array	List of language codes for which subtitles/captions are available
primaryLanguage	string	Language code of the selected primary transcription (based on language preferences)
primaryTranscription	string	Full transcription text in the primary language
allTranscriptions	object	Dictionary with transcriptions for all available languages (key: language code, value: full text)
videoKvKey	string	(optional, only if downloadVideo: true) Key-Value store key for retrieving the downloaded video file (format: video_{videoId}_{quality}.{format})
videoQuality	string	(optional, only if downloadVideo: true) Quality level of the downloaded video (720p, 1024, or maximum)
videoFormat	string	(optional, only if downloadVideo: true) File format of the downloaded video (e.g., "mp4", "webm", "mkv")
metadata	object	(optional, only if metadata: true) Complete video metadata object with 50+ fields including formats, thumbnails, categories, and more

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How It Works

1. Input Validation - Accepts direct video URLs and/or search queries
2. Video Discovery - Searches Dailymotion and filters by date range and transcription availability
3. Concurrent Processing - Videos are processed efficiently in parallel:
   • Metadata Extraction - Downloads comprehensive video information
   • Subtitle Download - Retrieves all available manual subtitles and auto-generated captions
   • Text Processing - Converts subtitle formats (SRT/VTT) to clean readable text
   • Language Selection - Selects primary transcription based on language preferences
   • Optional Video Download - If enabled, downloads video file in specified quality and saves to Apify Key-Value store
4. Results Export - Saves complete results as JSON array to specified output file, with video references if downloaded

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Typical Results

Search Performance

Query Type	Videos Found	Processing Time	Typical Use
Specific keyword (e.g., "tutorial")	5-50	1-2 minutes	Quick research
Broad category (e.g., "news")	20-100	5-10 minutes	Content collection
Direct URLs only	Variable	10-30 sec per video	Focused analysis

Note: Times are approximate and depend on network speed, video file sizes, and transcription availability.

Transcription Availability

• Manual Subtitles: ~40-60% of videos
• Auto-Generated Captions: ~20-40% of videos (platform-dependent)
• Multiple Languages: 30-50% of videos with subtitles

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Supported Languages

The actor supports all ISO 639-1 language codes including (but not limited to):

• Major Languages: English (en), Italian (it), French (fr), Spanish (es), German (de), Portuguese (pt), Russian (ru), Chinese (zh), Japanese (ja), Arabic (ar), Hindi (hi)
• And 180+ additional languages

Specify language codes in the langs parameter in your preferred priority order.

See below table:

Supported languages (iso ISO 639-1)

Codice	Lingua	Codice	Lingua	Codice	Lingua	Codice	Lingua	Codice	Lingua	Codice	Lingua
aa	Afar	ab	Abkhaz	ae	Avestan	af	Afrikaans	ak	Akan	am	Amharic
ar	Arabic	as	Assamese	av	Avaric	ay	Aymara	az	Azerbaijani	ba	Bashkir
be	Belarusian	bg	Bulgarian	bi	Bislama	bm	Bambara	bn	Bengali	bo	Tibetan
br	Breton	bs	Bosnian	ca	Catalan	ce	Chechen	ch	Chamorro	co	Corsican
cr	Cree	cs	Czech	cu	Church Slavic	cv	Chuvash	cy	Welsh	da	Danish
de	German	dv	Divehi	dz	Dzongkha	ee	Ewe	el	Greek	en	English
eo	Esperanto	es	Spanish	et	Estonian	eu	Basque	fa	Persian	ff	Fulah
fi	Finnish	fj	Fijian	fo	Faroese	fr	French	fy	Western Frisian	ga	Irish
gd	Scottish Gaelic	gl	Galician	gn	Guarani	gu	Gujarati	gv	Manx	ha	Hausa
he	Hebrew	hi	Hindi	ho	Hiri Motu	hr	Croatian	ht	Haitian	hu	Hungarian
hy	Armenian	hz	Herero	ia	Interlingua	id	Indonesian	ie	Interlingue	ig	Igbo
ii	Sichuan Yi	ik	Inupiaq	io	Ido	is	Icelandic	it	Italian	iu	Inuktitut
ja	Japanese	jv	Javanese	ka	Georgian	kg	Kongo	ki	Kikuyu	kj	Kuanyama
kk	Kazakh	kl	Kalaallisut	km	Central Khmer	kn	Kannada	ko	Korean	kr	Kanuri
ks	Kashmiri	ku	Kurdish	kv	Komi	kw	Cornish	ky	Kirghiz	la	Latin
lb	Luxembourgish	lg	Ganda	li	Limburgan	ln	Lingala	lo	Lao	lt	Lithuanian
lu	Luba-Katanga	lv	Latvian	mg	Malagasy	mh	Marshallese	mi	Maori	mk	Macedonian
ml	Malayalam	mn	Mongolian	mr	Marathi	ms	Malay	mt	Maltese	my	Burmese
na	Nauru	nb	Norwegian Bokmål	nd	North Ndebele	ne	Nepali	ng	Ndonga	nl	Dutch
nn	Norwegian Nynorsk	no	Norwegian	nr	South Ndebele	nv	Navajo	ny	Chichewa	oc	Occitan
oj	Ojibwa	om	Oromo	or	Oriya	os	Ossetian	pa	Panjabi	pi	Pali
pl	Polish	ps	Pashto	pt	Portuguese	qu	Quechua	rm	Romansh	rn	Rundi
ro	Romanian	ru	Russian	rw	Kinyarwanda	sa	Sanskrit	sc	Sardinian	sd	Sindhi
se	Northern Sami	sg	Sango	sh	Serbo-Croatian	si	Sinhala	sk	Slovak	sl	Slovenian
sm	Samoan	sn	Shona	so	Somali	sq	Albanian	sr	Serbian	ss	Swati
st	Southern Sotho	su	Sundanese	sv	Swedish	sw	Swahili	ta	Tamil	te	Telugu
tg	Tajik	th	Thai	ti	Tigrinya	tk	Turkmen	tl	Tagalog	tn	Tswana
to	Tonga	tr	Turkish	ts	Tsonga	tt	Tatar	tw	Twi	ty	Tahitian
ug	Uighur	uk	Ukrainian	ur	Urdu	uz	Uzbek	ve	Venda	vi	Vietnamese
vo	Volapük	wa	Walloon	wo	Wolof	xh	Xhosa	yi	Yiddish	yo	Yoruba
za	Zhuang	zh	Chinese	zu	Zulu

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Common Applications

Content Research & Analysis

Extract transcriptions from competitors' videos or industry content for analysis and SEO optimization.

Educational Content Processing

Collect educational video transcriptions for creating study materials, documentation, or knowledge bases.

Multilingual Content Collection

Gather transcriptions in multiple languages for translation projects or multilingual dataset creation.

Quality Assurance Testing

Verify subtitle coverage, language availability, and transcription quality across video collections.

Archival & Preservation

Create searchable text archives of video content for long-term storage or accessibility.

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Video Download Details

How Video Download Works

When downloadVideo is set to "true":

1. Quality Selection - The actor attempts to download video at the specified quality level
2. Format Support - yt-dlp automatically selects the best available format at the requested quality
3. Filename Sanitization - Video titles are cleaned of special characters and spaces are replaced with underscores for safe storage
4. KV Store Storage - Downloaded videos are stored in Apify's Key-Value store with descriptive keys based on the video title and quality
5. File Retrieval - Use the videoKvKey value from the output to retrieve the video file from the KV store
6. Temp Cleanup - Temporary files are automatically cleaned up after storage

Filename Format

Video files are saved in Apify's Key-Value store with the following naming convention:

{sanitized_video_title}_{quality}.{format}

Examples:

• Original title: "Il fluoro nei dentifrici è pericoloso? Facciamo chiarezza!" (720p, MP4)

  • KV Key: il_fluoro_nei_dentifrici_pericoloso_facciamo_chiarezza_720p.mp4

• Original title: "Python's 101: Advanced Techniques & Tips!" (1024p, WebM)

  • KV Key: pythons_101_advanced_techniques_tips_1024.webm

• Original title: "Machine Learning (ML) - Complete Guide 2026" (maximum, MP4)

  • KV Key: machine_learning_ml_complete_guide_2026_maximum.mp4

Sanitization Rules:

• Removes all special characters (keeps only alphanumeric, spaces, hyphens)
• Replaces spaces with underscores
• Converts to lowercase
• Removes multiple consecutive underscores

Quality Options

Quality	Resolution	Use Case
720p	Up to 720p	Good quality, moderate file size
1024	Up to 1024p	Higher quality, larger file size
maximum	Best available	Highest quality available on Dailymotion

Key-Value Store Access

In Apify Platform:

1. Go to the actor's run results page
2. Navigate to the "Key-value store" tab
3. Search for your video key (e.g., il_fluoro_nei_dentifrici_pericoloso_facciamo_chiarezza_720p.mp4)
4. Click to download the video file

Via Apify API:

curl https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/{store-id}/records/{video-key} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -o downloaded_video.mp4

Performance Notes

• Video download adds 30-120 seconds per video depending on file size and quality
• Storage in Key-Value store is subject to Apify's storage limits and retention policies
• Large batch downloads may take significantly longer
• Descriptive filenames make it easy to identify and retrieve specific videos

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Limitations & Notes

• Search results depend on Dailymotion's search algorithm and availability
• Subtitle availability varies by video (manual subtitles must be created by uploader, auto-captions by platform)
• Processing time increases with number of videos and subtitle file sizes
• Very large transcriptions may take additional time to download and process
• Some videos may have regional restrictions affecting availability
• Video download availability depends on Dailymotion's content delivery network
• Downloaded videos are stored in Apify's Key-Value store and subject to retention policies

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Getting Started

1. Provide video URLs and/or a search query
2. Select preferred languages for transcription priority
3. Configure optional filters (date range, transcription requirement)
4. Enable metadata if you need comprehensive video information
5. Enable video download if you need to store the video files (optional)
6. Run the actor and retrieve results from the output JSON file

CLI Usage Examples

Single video:

$python dailymotion_actor.py --urls "https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeie8a" --output transcript.json

Multiple videos:

$python dailymotion_actor.py --urls "url1" "url2" "url3" "url4" --output results.json

Search with results limit:

$python dailymotion_actor.py --query "machine learning" --limit 10 --output ml_videos.json

Search with video download:

$python dailymotion_actor.py --query "tutorial" --limit 5 --download-video true --quality 720p --output tutorials.json

Combined with all options:

python dailymotion_actor.py \
  --urls "url1" "url2" \
  --query "python" \
  --limit 10 \
  --langs en it fr \
  --download-video true \
  --quality maximum \
  --metadata true \
  --output comprehensive_results.json

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Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, please contact the actor maintainers or consult the documentation.

Performance Tips

• Enable downloadVideo only when needed (adds 30-120 seconds per video)
• Use quality: "720p" instead of "maximum" for faster downloads
• Filter by date range to reduce search scope: dateRange: "last_week"
• For large batch operations, consider splitting searches into multiple runs

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Last Updated: 2026-07-29