YouTube Transcript Turbo Saver — Extract YouTube Subtitles, Metadata & Full Transcripts at Scale

What is YouTube Transcript Turbo Saver?

YouTube Transcript Turbo Saver is the fastest and most cost-effective Apify Actor for extracting transcripts, subtitles, and full video metadata from any YouTube video — including regular videos, Shorts, and youtu.be links.

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Why Choose This Over Other YouTube Transcript Actors?

Feature	YouTube Transcript Turbo Saver	Competitors
Full video metadata	35+ fields (stats, tags, description, thumbnails…)	Title + transcript only
YouTube Shorts support	Yes	Often missing
Cost per video	Ultra-low	Higher
Timestamps	Optional (on/off)	Sometimes hardcoded
Clean merged text output	Deduplicated, punctuation-aware merging	Raw segments only

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Key Features

• Extract YouTube transcripts from any public video URL, Short, or youtu.be link
• 35+ metadata fields per video: title, description, views, likes, comments, subscribers, tags, thumbnails, duration, language, and much more
• Optional timestamps — get structured [{ timestamp, text }] or clean merged plain text
• Multi-language support — automatically fetches available subtitle language
• Batch processing — process hundreds of videos in a single run
• JSON output ready for downstream integrations (n8n, Make, Zapier, custom APIs)

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Use Cases

• AI Video Analysis — Feed transcripts into GPT, Claude, or Gemini via n8n/Make to summarize, classify, or extract insights from YouTube content
• Content Repurposing — Convert YouTube videos into blog posts, newsletters, social media threads, or podcast show notes
• SEO Research — Analyze competitor video transcripts for keyword research and content gap analysis
• Sentiment Analysis — Run NLP on video transcripts to gauge audience sentiment and brand mentions
• Market Research — Monitor industry channels and extract key talking points at scale
• Accessibility — Generate subtitles/captions for videos that lack them
• Academic Research — Collect and analyze large video transcript datasets for studies
• Lead Generation — Extract contact info, product mentions, and CTAs from video content
• Compliance Monitoring — Track what influencers/partners say about your brand in videos
• Training Data Collection — Build datasets from YouTube transcripts for fine-tuning AI models

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
videoUrls	array	Yes	—	One or more YouTube video URLs (youtube.com/watch, youtube.com/shorts, youtu.be)
includeTimestamps	boolean	No	true	If true, returns transcript as array of { timestamp, text } objects. If false, returns a single merged clean text string.
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Apify datacenter proxy	Proxy settings. Default uses Apify proxy. Set { "useApifyProxy": false } to disable.

Example Input

{
    "videoUrls": [
        { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SieELGaJV8k" },
        { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YWx4G5mHQ5k" },
        { "url": "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" }
    ],
    "includeTimestamps": true,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
}

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Output — Complete Field Reference

Every video processed produces a rich JSON object with 35+ fields. This goes far beyond a simple transcript — you get the full video intelligence package.

Core Fields

Field	Type	Description
videoUrl	string	The original YouTube URL provided as input
videoId	string	YouTube video ID (e.g., dQw4w9WgXcQ)
videoTitle	string	Full title of the video
channelName	string	Name of the YouTube channel
channelId	string	Unique YouTube channel ID
description	string	Full video description text
publishedAt	string	ISO 8601 publication date/time

Engagement Metrics

Field	Type	Description
views	string	Total view count
subscribers	string	Channel subscriber count
likeCount	string	Number of likes
commentCount	string	Number of comments
favoriteCount	string	Favorite count (legacy YouTube metric)

Content Details

Field	Type	Description
duration	string	Video duration (ISO 8601, e.g., PT10M30S)
dimension	string	Video dimension (2d or 3d)
definition	string	Video quality definition (hd or sd)
caption	string	Whether captions are available (true/false)
projection	string	Video projection type (e.g., rectangular, 360)
tags	array	Video tags/keywords set by the uploader
categoryId	string	YouTube category ID
topicCategories	array	Wikipedia URLs describing the video's topic categories
defaultLanguage	string	Original language of the video
defaultAudioLanguage	string	Language of the audio track

Thumbnails

Field	Type	Description
thumbnails	object	Nested object with thumbnail URLs at multiple resolutions (default, medium, high, standard, maxres), each with url, width, height

Status & Rights

Field	Type	Description
uploadStatus	string	Upload status (processed, uploaded, rejected, deleted, failed)
privacyStatus	string	Privacy setting (public, unlisted, private)
license	string	Video license (youtube or creativeCommon)
embeddable	boolean	Whether the video can be embedded on external sites
publicStatsViewable	boolean	Whether view stats are publicly visible
madeForKids	boolean	Whether the video is designated as child-directed
licensedContent	boolean	Whether the content is claimed by a YouTube content partner
hasPaidProductPlacement	boolean	Whether the video contains paid product placement
contentRating	object	Content rating information from various rating systems

Localization

Field	Type	Description
localized	object	Localized title and description for the video's default language
localizations	object	All available localizations (keyed by language code), each with title and description

Live & Recording

Field	Type	Description
liveBroadcastContent	string	Live status (none, upcoming, live)
liveStreamingDetails	object	For live/upcoming streams: scheduledStartTime, actualStartTime, actualEndTime, concurrentViewers
recordingDetails	object	Recording location and date when available

Embed

Field	Type	Description
playerEmbedHtml	string	HTML <iframe> embed code for the video player

Transcript

Field	Type	Description
transcript	array or string	With timestamps: array of { "text": "...", "timestamp": "0:05" } objects. Without timestamps: single clean merged text string with deduplicated, punctuation-aware formatting.

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Example Output — With Timestamps (includeTimestamps: true)

{
    "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SieELGaJV8k",
    "videoId": "SieELGaJV8k",
    "videoTitle": "La guerra più breve della storia",
    "channelName": "Nova Lectio",
    "channelId": "UCKLp5MQ89ChJ4M14hIFoWtQ",
    "publishedAt": "2024-03-15T14:00:00Z",
    "description": "La guerra anglo-zanzibariana del 1896...",
    "thumbnails": {
        "default": { "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SieELGaJV8k/default.jpg", "width": 120, "height": 90 },
        "high": { "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SieELGaJV8k/hqdefault.jpg", "width": 480, "height": 360 },
        "maxres": { "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SieELGaJV8k/maxresdefault.jpg", "width": 1280, "height": 720 }
    },
    "tags": ["storia", "guerra", "zanzibar", "documentario"],
    "categoryId": "27",
    "defaultLanguage": "it",
    "defaultAudioLanguage": "it",
    "duration": "PT12M45S",
    "definition": "hd",
    "views": "1250000",
    "subscribers": "2400000",
    "likeCount": "85000",
    "commentCount": "3200",
    "privacyStatus": "public",
    "license": "youtube",
    "embeddable": true,
    "madeForKids": false,
    "hasPaidProductPlacement": false,
    "transcript": [
        { "text": "La guerra più breve del mondo è durata", "timestamp": "0:00" },
        { "text": "meno del nostro documentario sull'Oman.", "timestamp": "0:01" },
        { "text": "38 minuti. Per secoli Zanzibar fu la", "timestamp": "0:03" },
        { "text": "capitale dell'Oman. Questo arcipelago di", "timestamp": "0:05" }
    ]
}

Example Output — Without Timestamps (includeTimestamps: false)

{
    "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SieELGaJV8k",
    "videoId": "SieELGaJV8k",
    "videoTitle": "La guerra più breve della storia",
    "channelName": "Nova Lectio",
    "views": "1250000",
    "subscribers": "2400000",
    "transcript": "La guerra più breve del mondo è durata meno del nostro documentario sull'Oman. 38 minuti. Per secoli Zanzibar fu la capitale dell'Oman. Questo arcipelago di"
}

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How to Use

Step 1 — Run on Apify

1. Sign up or log in to Apify (free tier available).
2. Go to the YouTube Transcript Turbo Saver Actor page.
3. Click "Try for free" and paste your YouTube URLs into the videoUrls field.
4. Toggle includeTimestamps on or off based on your needs.
5. Click Start and download your results as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Step 2 — Use the API

Call the Actor programmatically via the Apify API:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YOUR_ACTOR_ID/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "videoUrls": [
      { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }
    ],
    "includeTimestamps": false
  }'

Step 3 — Integrate with n8n, Make, or Zapier

Use the Apify integration node in your automation platform to trigger the Actor and process results downstream.

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n8n Integration — Analyze YouTube Videos with AI

One of the most powerful ways to use this Actor is to combine it with n8n (open-source workflow automation) and an AI model (OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini) to automatically analyze YouTube video content.

Workflow Architecture

YouTube URLs → Apify Actor → n8n → AI Analysis → Output (Google Sheets / Slack / Email / CRM)

Step-by-Step n8n Workflow

1. Trigger Node (Cron / Webhook / Manual)

Set up a schedule (e.g., daily), a webhook endpoint, or a manual trigger to start the workflow.

2. Apify Node — Run YouTube Transcript Turbo Saver

• Add the Apify node in n8n
• Select "Run Actor" operation
• Enter your Actor ID and Apify API token
• Pass input JSON:

{
    "videoUrls": [
        { "url": "{{ $json.youtubeUrl }}" }
    ],
    "includeTimestamps": false
}

• Enable "Wait for finish" so n8n waits for the transcript extraction to complete

3. HTTP Request Node — Fetch Dataset Results

• Use the Apify dataset API URL from the Actor output:

  https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{{datasetId}}/items?token=YOUR_TOKEN
  

• This returns the full array of video transcripts + metadata

4. AI Node — Analyze Transcripts with GPT / Claude / Gemini

Add an OpenAI, Anthropic, or HTTP Request node (for Gemini) with a prompt like:

You are a YouTube video analyst. Analyze the following YouTube video transcript and metadata, then provide:

1. **Summary** (3-5 sentences)
2. **Key Topics** (bullet list of main subjects discussed)
3. **Sentiment** (positive / negative / neutral with confidence score)
4. **Target Audience** (who is this video for?)
5. **Content Quality Score** (1-10 with justification)
6. **SEO Keywords** (top 10 keywords for this content)
7. **Actionable Insights** (what can a marketer/creator learn from this?)
8. **Competitor Comparison Notes** (if applicable)

VIDEO METADATA:
- Title: {{ $json.videoTitle }}
- Channel: {{ $json.channelName }}
- Views: {{ $json.views }}
- Likes: {{ $json.likeCount }}
- Comments: {{ $json.commentCount }}
- Subscribers: {{ $json.subscribers }}
- Tags: {{ $json.tags }}
- Published: {{ $json.publishedAt }}
- Duration: {{ $json.duration }}
- Description: {{ $json.description }}

TRANSCRIPT:
{{ $json.transcript }}

5. Output Node — Save or Notify

Route the AI analysis to one or more destinations:

• Google Sheets — Build a research database of analyzed videos
• Slack / Discord — Send AI summaries to your team channel
• Airtable / Notion — Organize insights in your knowledge base
• Email — Send daily digests of analyzed competitor content
• Webhook — Push results to your custom dashboard or CRM

Example n8n AI Analysis Outputs

With this workflow you can automatically generate:

AI Analysis Output	Description
Video Summary	Concise 3-5 sentence summary of the video content
Key Topics Extraction	Structured list of main subjects discussed in the video
Sentiment Analysis	Positive/negative/neutral classification with confidence score
Keyword Extraction	Top SEO keywords found in the transcript
Content Classification	Auto-categorize videos by industry, topic, or content type
Brand Mention Detection	Detect when specific brands or products are mentioned
Competitor Intelligence	Compare messaging across competitor channels
Lead Scoring	Score videos for sales relevance based on content signals
Translation	Auto-translate transcripts to any language
Blog Post Draft	Generate a blog article from the video transcript
Social Media Posts	Create Twitter threads, LinkedIn posts from video highlights
FAQ Generation	Extract frequently asked questions from tutorial videos
Fact-Checking Flags	Identify claims that need verification
Ad / Sponsorship Detection	Detect sponsored segments in transcripts

Advanced n8n Workflow Ideas

• Bulk Channel Monitor — Feed an entire channel's video list, extract all transcripts, and create a weekly AI-generated competitive brief
• YouTube → Blog Pipeline — Automatically convert new videos from your channel into SEO-optimized blog posts
• Brand Mention Alerts — Monitor industry YouTube channels for mentions of your brand, then alert your team via Slack
• Training Data Pipeline — Collect transcripts + metadata → clean with AI → export as JSONL for LLM fine-tuning
• Multilingual Content Repurposing — Extract transcript → translate to 5 languages → publish localized articles

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Possible Cause	Solution
Empty transcript	Video has no subtitles/captions	Not all videos have transcripts. Try another video.
Invalid URL error	URL is malformed or not a YouTube link	Ensure the URL is a valid youtube.com, youtu.be, or youtube.com/shorts link.
Rate limit warnings in logs	Too many requests in a short time	The Actor handles this automatically with backoff + retry. For large batches, add a RESIDENTIAL proxy.
Timeout on large batches	Platform memory/time limits	Split into smaller batches (50-100 URLs per run).

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FAQ

Does it work with YouTube Shorts?

Yes! Pass any youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID URL and it will extract the transcript and metadata just like a regular video.

Can I process hundreds of videos in one run?

Yes. The Actor processes videos sequentially with smart delays to avoid rate limiting. For very large batches (500+), consider splitting into multiple runs.

What if a video has no transcript?

The Actor still returns the full metadata (title, views, tags, etc.). The transcript field will be an empty string or empty array.

Can I use my own proxy?

Yes. Configure the proxyConfiguration input with your own proxy URLs, or use the default Apify datacenter proxy.

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Integrations

YouTube Transcript Turbo Saver works with any platform that supports REST APIs or the Apify ecosystem:

• n8n — Open-source workflow automation (see detailed guide above)
• Make (Integromat) — Visual automation platform with native Apify integration
• Zapier — Connect to 5,000+ apps
• LangChain / LlamaIndex — Feed transcripts directly into RAG pipelines
• Google Sheets — Export results directly to spreadsheets
• Python / Node.js / REST API — Use the Apify API client in any language
• Webhooks — Get notified when a run completes

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Resources

• Apify Platform
• Apify API Documentation
• n8n Apify Integration
• Discover other Scrapers

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Support

Found a bug or have a feature request? Visit my Apify profile or open an issue. I actively maintain this Actor and respond to feedback.