Video Transcript Extractor: One API for Every Video Platform

Most transcript tools only work with YouTube. This one works everywhere.

Extract clean, structured transcripts from YouTube, X (Twitter), TikTok, Facebook, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Loom and more through a single, unified API. No switching between tools, no per-platform headaches.

Send a URL. Get back timestamped transcript + rich metadata in seconds. That's it.

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Why Teams Choose This Over YouTube-Only Tools

	This Actor	Typical Competitor
Platforms supported	7+ (YouTube, X, TikTok, Facebook, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Loom...)	YouTube only
Output format	Timestamped segments + LLM-ready plain text	Segments only
Video metadata	Title, description, thumbnail, duration, views, likes, channel, publish date	Transcript only
Speed	Fast async processing, high concurrency, no rate limits	Sequential or rate-limited
Language support	Multi-language with auto-detection	Limited
Proxy handling	Built-in residential proxies with smart fallback	Manual or none

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What You Get Back

Every request returns two transcript formats plus rich metadata:

• text: the full transcript as a single plain string, ready to feed into any LLM or NLP pipeline
• transcript: timestamped segments with precise start/end times, ideal for indexing, search, and UI display
• Video metadata: title, description, thumbnail, duration, view count, like count, channel info, publish date
• Language info: available languages and which one was selected

{
  "title": "How to Build a Startup in 2026",
  "description": "In this video we break down...",
  "duration": 847,
  "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/abc123/maxresdefault.jpg",
  "view_count": 284000,
  "like_count": 12400,
  "published_date": "2026-03-10",
  "channel": "TechFounders",
  "channel_url": "https://youtube.com/@TechFounders",
  "channel_id": "UC1234567890",
  "available_languages": ["English", "French", "Spanish"],
  "selected_language": "English",
  "text": "Welcome back to the channel. Today we're going to talk about...",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "Welcome back to the channel.", "start": 0.0, "end": 1.8 },
    { "text": "Today we're going to talk about...", "start": 1.8, "end": 4.2 }
  ]
}

Note: like_count, channel, channel_url, available_languages, and selected_language are currently available for YouTube videos only.

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Supported Platforms

Tested and production-ready:

Platform	Notes
YouTube	Long-form videos, Shorts, auto-generated and manual captions
X (Twitter)	Paste the tweet URL containing the video
TikTok	Public videos with available captions
Facebook	Public videos
Dailymotion	Full support
Vimeo	Full support
Loom	Full support

Also works on many other video hosting sites and media platforms. If it has embedded subtitles, this actor can probably extract them.

Need to transcribe videos that don't have captions (e.g. Instagram, or videos without any subtitle track)? Use our speech-to-text companion actor: Video Transcriber.

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Use Cases

• RAG pipelines & AI agents: Feed video transcripts into your retrieval-augmented generation system. One API call gives you LLM-ready text.
• Content repurposing: Turn YouTube videos, tweets, and TikToks into blog posts, newsletters, or social media threads.
• Market research: Monitor what competitors, influencers, or thought leaders say across platforms. Batch-process hundreds of URLs.
• Accessibility & compliance: Generate text versions of video content for accessibility requirements.
• Media monitoring: Track brand mentions across video platforms at scale.
• Dataset building: Build training datasets from video content across multiple platforms.

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Inputs

Parameter	Required	Description
video_urls	Yes	Array of video URLs. Mix platforms freely in a single request
language	No	Language code ("en", "fr", "de", etc.). Leave empty for default language
best_effort	No	If true, returns metadata even when no transcript is available

Example Input

{
  "video_urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1234567890",
    "https://www.tiktok.com/@user/video/1234567890"
  ],
  "language": "en"
}

Yes, you can mix platforms in a single batch. They all come back in the same format.

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Quick Start: Code Examples

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/invideoiq~video-transcript-extractor/run-sync?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"video_urls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl6jn-DdafM", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg"]}'

Python

import requests
import json

url = "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/invideoiq~video-transcript-extractor/run-sync?token=YOUR_TOKEN"
data = {
    "video_urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl6jn-DdafM",
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg"
    ]
}
response = requests.post(url, json=data, headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"})
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4, ensure_ascii=False))

JavaScript

const response = await fetch(
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/invideoiq~video-transcript-extractor/run-sync?token=YOUR_TOKEN",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      video_urls: [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl6jn-DdafM",
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg",
      ],
    }),
  }
);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

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FAQ

Q: What if a video has no subtitles/captions? The actor relies on embedded subtitle tracks (manual or auto-generated). If none exist, it returns an error, or metadata-only if best_effort is enabled. For videos without any captions, use our Video Transcriber which uses speech-to-text.

Q: Can I specify a transcript language? Yes. Pass a language code like "en" or "fr" in the language field. If that language isn't available for a given video, you'll get a clear message. When in doubt, leave it empty and the actor returns the default language. For YouTube, check the available_languages field in the output to see what's available.

Q: How many videos can I process at once? As many as you need. Pass all your URLs in the video_urls array and the actor processes them concurrently, no rate limiting applied.

Q: I'm getting an error for my URL. What's wrong? Make sure the URL is a complete, direct link to the video (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..., not a shortened or embedded URL). The actor supports direct links from YouTube, X (tweet URLs), TikTok, Facebook, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and Loom.

Q: Does it work with private or age-restricted videos? No. The actor can only access publicly available videos with public subtitle tracks.

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Start Extracting. It Takes 30 Seconds.

Every minute, thousands of videos are published across platforms. The insights inside them, what people say, how they say it, what topics trend, are locked behind play buttons.

This actor gives you the key. One API, every platform, structured data out.

Try it now, paste a URL and see the result in seconds.

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Need Help?

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