YouTube Transcript Scraper: Videos, Channels & Playlists

Get the transcript of any YouTube video as clean text, timestamped segments or an SRT subtitle file. Paste video links, Shorts, a playlist or a whole channel, and get one row per video with the transcript plus title, channel, duration, views and description.

No browser and no YouTube API key. The Actor talks to YouTube directly, so it is fast and cheap, and residential proxies are included in the price, so blocks are handled for you.

What can you use it for?

• AI & RAG pipelines: feed video content into ChatGPT, Claude, embeddings or a vector database.
• Summaries & notes: summarize lectures, podcasts, interviews and tutorials.
• Content repurposing: turn videos into blog posts, newsletters, threads or show notes.
• Research & monitoring: track what competitors, creators or experts say across a whole channel.
• Subtitles: download captions as SRT files.
• SEO & keyword research: see which words and topics top videos in your niche actually use.

Features

Inputs	Video URLs, video IDs, Shorts, live replays, playlists, channels (@handle or URL)
Formats	Plain text, text with [m:ss] timestamps, segments (start + duration), SRT
Languages	Pick preferred languages; falls back to the video's own transcript
Caption type	Human-made, auto-generated, or either (human-made first)
Video details	Title, channel, channel ID, duration, views, description, tags, thumbnail, available languages
Bulk	Whole channels and playlists, several videos in parallel

How to use

1. Add videos, playlists or channels to Videos, channels or playlists, one per line.
2. Optionally set preferred languages (e.g. en, es) and the output format.
3. For channels and playlists, set max videos per channel or playlist (latest first).
4. Click Start and download results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or use the API.

Input example

{
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown",
        "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDNU6R1_67000Dx_ZCJB-3pi"
    ],
    "maxVideosPerSource": 20,
    "languages": ["en"],
    "includeTimestamps": false,
    "includeSegments": true
}

Output example

{
    "videoId": "aircAruvnKk",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk",
    "title": "But what is a neural network? | Deep learning chapter 1",
    "channelName": "3Blue1Brown",
    "channelId": "UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw",
    "durationSeconds": 1120,
    "viewCount": 24976939,
    "language": "en",
    "languageName": "English",
    "isAutoGenerated": false,
    "availableLanguages": [{ "code": "en", "name": "English", "isAutoGenerated": false }, { "code": "de", "name": "German", "isAutoGenerated": false }],
    "transcript": "This is a 3. It's sloppily written and rendered at an extremely low resolution...",
    "wordCount": 3357,
    "segments": [{ "start": 4.22, "duration": 1.18, "text": "This is a 3." }],
    "status": "ok",
    "error": null
}

Videos without a transcript still get a row, with status: "no_transcript" (captions turned off) or status: "unavailable" (private, removed, wrong ID) and the reason in error, so you know what happened. A run summary is saved to the key-value store as SUMMARY.

Pricing

You pay only for transcripts you get. Videos without a transcript are free. Proxies and compute are included. Set a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

FAQ

Does it work for videos without captions? YouTube auto-generates captions for most videos in common languages. If a video has no captions at all (the creator turned them off, or it is too new), there is no transcript to get, and that row is free.

Can I get a channel's videos? Yes. Paste the channel URL or @handle. The Actor takes the channel's latest uploads (including Shorts and live replays), up to your max videos setting.

Which language do I get? The first of your preferred languages that the video has, otherwise the video's own transcript. availableLanguages lists every language the video has, so you can run again for another one.

Is this legal? The Actor only reads captions that YouTube shows publicly on the video page. It does not log in or download the video itself. Check that your use of the text respects the creator's rights.

Can I call it from code or an AI agent? Yes, via the Apify API, the official JS/Python clients, or Apify's MCP server.