Bulk Audio & Video Transcriber with Subtitles

Transcribe audio and video from direct links, uploads, YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram in bulk, with timestamped text plus SRT and VTT subtitle files for every item.

Best for: audio transcription, video to text, bulk transcription.
Input and output: Start with any public audio or video URL the Actor can fetch.

What can Bulk Media Transcriber do?

Add direct media links, supported social links, or public file URLs. The Actor processes distinct items in parallel, saves one result row per item, and charges only for successful transcriptions.

What you get	Features
📝 Text and timestamped segments for each successful item	📦 Batch input with a set concurrency limit
🎞️ Optional TXT, SRT, and VTT files	🔁 One residential proxy retry for eligible social download blocks

Who this is for

• Transcribe an audio or video archive
• Create subtitle files for public media
• Turn a media list into searchable text

What you get back

Field	Type	What you get	Example
index	integer	Position of this item in the input list.	1
status	string	Whether this item completed its requested analysis.	succeeded
source_type	string	Kind of source that was processed.	youtube
source_url	string	Public source page for this record.	https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fwBIZRq-vzY
language	string	Language detected or supplied for transcription.	en
duration_seconds	number	Length of the media in seconds.	45.8026875
word_count	integer	Number of words in the transcript.	186
text	string	Complete transcript text for the media item.	This cooking trick recently changed my life. If you just drop an egg to crack it, instead of tapping it while holding it, you'll never get shells in the resu...
segments	array	Timestamped pieces of the transcript.	[{"start":0,"end":3.58,"text":"This cooking trick recently changed my life. If you just drop an egg to crack it,"},{"start":3.66,"end":6.52,"text":"instead o...
error	null	Problem details when this item does not complete.	null
processing_seconds	number	Time spent processing this item.	23.444
acquisition_attempts	integer	Number of attempts to fetch the media.	2
acquisition_retry	string	Fallback used after an initial fetch failure.	residential_proxy
failure_stage	null	Step that failed when the item did not complete.	null
billing_event	string	Pay per event charge recorded for this item.	media-transcribed
billing_event_count	integer	Number of charged successful events for this item.	1
billing_status	string	Whether the successful item was charged.	charged
title	string	Title reported for the source item.	5 life-changing Linux tips
creator	string	Creator name reported by the media source.	Fireship
resolved_url	string	Final public media page used after source resolution.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwBIZRq-vzY
bytes	integer	Downloaded media size in bytes.	2632183
media_filename	string	Temporary media filename used during processing.	media.mp4

The run also links to its dataset and any files named in the Actor output.

What you need to provide

Field	Type	Required	What it does	Example
urls	array	No	Instagram reel/post, TikTok, YouTube, or direct downloadable audio/video URLs. Each successful URL costs $0.0025.	[]
mediaUrls	array	No	Direct public HTTP(S) links to audio or video files.	["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/927cfce34f31707e17f2bff35c349...
uploadedFiles	array	No	Public or signed URLs for files uploaded to an Apify key-value store or another object store. API callers may also send objects with url and name.	``
language	string	No	Optional ISO-639-1 code such as en, es, or hi. Leave blank for automatic detection.	``
prompt	string	No	Optional names, acronyms, spellings, or context that may improve transcription.	``
transcription	object	No	Optional override for the built-in GPU Whisper service. Most users should leave this unchanged. To bring your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint, supply model, baseUrl, and apiKey; omitted values use the Actor's secure defaults.	{"model":"whisper-1"}
includeSubtitles	boolean	No	Save timestamped SRT and WebVTT subtitle files for every successful item.	true
concurrency	integer	No	Number of media items processed concurrently. Lower this if source sites throttle downloads.	3
maxItems	integer	No	Safety limit for the total number of URLs accepted in one run.	100
maxFileSizeMb	integer	No	Reject direct or uploaded media larger than this many megabytes before transcription.	24

Quick start

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Click Try for free or Create a task.
3. Replace the sample values with your own input.
4. Click Start.
5. Open the dataset and the named output files when the run ends.

Pricing

• media-transcribed: $0.0025 per media item transcribed.
• Example: 100 short clips cost $0.25. Files that cannot be downloaded or have no speech are not charged. Files that cannot be downloaded or have no speech are not charged.
• You pay only for successful results. Failed or skipped items are not charged.
• Normal Apify compute and proxy costs may also apply.

Limits and honest notes

• Direct and uploaded files over maxFileSizeMb are rejected before transcription.
• A social platform may block a download. Eligible blocks get one residential proxy retry.
• A mixed batch ends with partial status. An all failed batch raises an error after it saves the failed rows and summary.

Code and API

The examples below use the same values as the Apify Console sample.

Input JSON

{
  "urls": [],
  "mediaUrls": [
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/927cfce34f31707e17f2bff35c349632fb9e2c3a/samples/jfk.wav"
  ],
  "transcription": {
    "model": "whisper-1"
  },
  "includeSubtitles": true,
  "concurrency": 3,
  "maxItems": 100,
  "maxFileSizeMb": 24
}

curl

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/physealabs~bulk-media-transcriber/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @input.json

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("physealabs/bulk-media-transcriber").call(run_input={'urls': [], 'mediaUrls': ['https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/927cfce34f31707e17f2bff35c349632fb9e2c3a/samples/jfk.wav'], 'transcription': {'model': 'whisper-1'}, 'includeSubtitles': True, 'concurrency': 3, 'maxItems': 100, 'maxFileSizeMb': 24})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('physealabs/bulk-media-transcriber').call({"urls": [], "mediaUrls": ["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/927cfce34f31707e17f2bff35c349632fb9e2c3a/samples/jfk.wav"], "transcription": {"model": "whisper-1"}, "includeSubtitles": true, "concurrency": 3, "maxItems": 100, "maxFileSizeMb": 24});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

You can call this Actor from an agent or LLM tool that can send HTTP requests to the Apify API. Keep the Apify token in a secret store.

FAQ

Do I need a transcription API key?

No. The Actor has a default Whisper service. You can supply another compatible endpoint in transcription.

Do failed items cost money?

No. The media-transcribed event is charged only after a successful transcription.

Can it make subtitles?

Yes. Keep includeSubtitles set to true to save SRT and VTT files.