YouTube Subtitles Extractor

Extract subtitles from YouTube videos in multiple formats with advanced features.

Features

• 🎯 Multiple Input Types: Single videos, playlists, or channel videos
• 🌍 Multi-language Support: Extract subtitles in any available language
• 📝 Multiple Formats: JSON, SRT, VTT, or plain text output
• 🤖 Smart Selection: Prioritize manual subtitles over auto-generated
• 🧹 Text Cleaning: Remove [Music], [Applause] annotations
• 📊 Rich Metadata: Video title, channel, duration, and more
• ⚡ Batch Processing: Process up to 100 videos efficiently
• 🔒 Proxy Support: Access geo-restricted content

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
urls	Array	Yes	-	YouTube video/playlist/channel URLs
languages	Array	No	["en", "auto"]	Preferred subtitle languages
format	String	No	json	Output format: json, srt, vtt, txt
includeMetadata	Boolean	No	true	Include video metadata
cleanText	Boolean	No	false	Remove annotations from text
quality	String	No	best	Subtitle preference: best, manual, auto, all
includeTimestamps	Boolean	No	true	Include timestamps (txt format)
maxResults	Integer	No	20	Max videos to process (playlists)

Language Codes

• en - English
• es - Spanish
• fr - French
• de - German
• it - Italian
• pt - Portuguese
• ru - Russian
• ja - Japanese
• ko - Korean
• auto - Auto-generated in video's language
• all - All available languages

Output Example

JSON Format

{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "success": true,
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Video Title",
    "channel": "Channel Name",
    "duration": 212,
    "upload_date": "20240115"
  },
  "subtitles": {
    "en": {
      "language": "en",
      "is_auto_generated": false,
      "segments": [
        {
          "start": "00:00:00.000",
          "end": "00:00:02.500",
          "text": "Hello world"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

SRT Format

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,500
Hello world

2
00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:05,000
This is a subtitle

Use Cases

• 📚 Content Analysis: Analyze video transcripts at scale
• 🌐 Translation: Extract subtitles for translation workflows
• ♿ Accessibility: Convert videos to text for hearing-impaired users
• 📈 SEO: Repurpose video content for blog posts
• 🔍 Research: Study language patterns and speech analysis
• 🤖 AI Training: Create datasets from video transcripts

Pricing

• Pay per Result: $3.00 per 1,000 videos processed
• No monthly fees
• Free platform resources during processing

Error Handling

The actor handles various error scenarios:

• Videos without subtitles
• Private or deleted videos
• Age-restricted content
• Invalid URLs
• Network errors
• Bot detection challenges

Failed videos will have success: false with an error message.

Common Errors and Solutions

Error	Solution
"Sign in to confirm you're not a bot"	Enable proxy configuration or use browser cookies
"Video is private"	Video requires authentication, cannot be accessed
"Video is unavailable"	Video may be deleted or region-restricted
"No subtitles found"	Video doesn't have subtitles in requested languages

Proxy Configuration

Important: YouTube may require proxy usage to avoid bot detection. Configure proxy in your input:

Using Apify Proxy (Recommended)

{
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Using Custom Proxy

{
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false,
    "proxyUrls": ["http://proxy.example.com:8080"]
  }
}

Bot Detection & Cookie Authentication

If you see "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" errors, you have two options:

Option 1: Use Proxy (Recommended)

Enable proxy configuration as shown above. YouTube actively detects automated access and proxies help avoid detection.

Option 2: Use Browser Cookies

For persistent bot detection issues, you can export cookies from your browser:

1. Install a cookie extension for your browser:

   • Chrome: EditThisCookie
   • Firefox: Cookie Quick Manager
   • Chrome/Edge: Get cookies.txt

2. Export YouTube cookies:

   • Sign in to YouTube in your browser
   • Navigate to youtube.com
   • Use your cookie extension to export cookies in Netscape/cookies.txt format
   • Save the cookies to a file

3. Configure the actor (Note: This feature requires custom implementation):

   • Upload cookies.txt to your Apify storage
   • Reference the cookies file in your actor configuration

Important: Cookies expire and need to be refreshed periodically. Using proxy is more reliable for production use.

Limitations

• Maximum 1,000 URLs per run
• Maximum 100 videos from playlists/channels
• Some videos may not have subtitles available
• Auto-generated subtitles may have lower accuracy

Support

For issues or feature requests, please use the feedback button in the Apify Console.