Youtube Metadata Scraper

Youtube Metadata Scraper

The Youtube Metadata Scraper is a fast, developer-friendly YouTube metadata extractor that collects rich, publicly available video details at scale — titles, descriptions, tags, views, likes, transcripts, comments, and channel attributes — all in one run. Built for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers, this YouTube video metadata scraper solves the manual effort of gathering SEO and analytics signals by turning any list of video URLs or keyword searches into structured, exportable datasets. With keyword search, per-keyword limits, transcript options, and resilient proxy fallback, it enables automation-ready pipelines for SEO, content research, and analytics.

What data / output can you get?

Below are the exact fields the actor saves to the Apify dataset for each video. Values shown are concrete examples.

Data type	Description	Example value
id	YouTube video ID	dQw4w9WgXcQ
url	Video URL	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
title	Video title	Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)
description	Video description	The official video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley...
lengthInSeconds	Video length in seconds	213
uploadDatetime	Upload date/time	2009-10-24T23:57:33-07:00
publish_date_since	Relative publish date	16 years ago
category	Video category	Music
tags	Video tags	["rick astley", "Never Gonna Give You Up", "rick roll", ...]
thumbnail	Thumbnail URL	https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg
thumbnails_urls	All thumbnail URLs	["https://i.ytimg.../hqdefault.jpg?...","https://i.ytimg.../maxresdefault.webp"]
channelID	Channel ID	UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw
channelURL	Channel URL	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw
channelUsername	Channel username/handle	rickastley
channelDisplayName	Channel display name	Rick Astley
channelSubscribers	Subscriber count (approx.)	4.44M
author_avatar_url	Channel avatar URL	https://yt3.ggpht.com/...=s176-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj
is_verified	Channel verification flag	true
viewCount	View count	1726805028
likeCount	Like count	18702878
commentCount	Comment count	2400000
is_live_now	Whether video is live	false
description_links	Links found in description	["https://linktr.ee/rickastleynever", "..."]
is_comments_off	Whether comments are disabled	false
is_members_only	Whether video is members-only	false
is_paid_content	Whether video is paid content	false
transcripts	Transcripts/captions (text or timestamps)	[{"language": "EN", "content": "We're no strangers to love..."}]
comments	Top-level comments (limited by max_comments)	[{"id":"Ugzge34...","text":"can confirm: he never gave us up",...}]

Notes:

• Results are available from the Apify dataset and can be downloaded as JSON, CSV, or Excel.
• Transcript objects return either plain text or arrays of timestamped segments based on transcript_format.
• Some fields may be empty or “Unknown” if YouTube does not provide the data for a given video.

Key features

• ⚡ Robust metadata & engagement extraction: Titles, descriptions, tags, views, likes, comment totals, and more — ideal to scrape YouTube video details for SEO and analytics.
• 🔎 Keyword search to video IDs: Use Search Keywords with sort/filter (relevance, upload_date, view_count, rating) and a configurable Max Videos per Keyword.
• 💬 Transcript options (yt-dlp powered): Include Transcripts with format control (text or timestamps), plus toggles for Include English Auto-generated and Include Non-English.
• 🧵 Comment harvesting: Collect top-level comments with author, likeCount, publishedTime, and replyCount up to your Maximum Comments limit.
• 🛡️ Smart proxy escalation: Automatic fallback across modes (none → datacenter → residential) to reduce blocks and keep your bulk YouTube metadata scraper runs moving.
• 🔌 Developer-friendly on Apify: Use the YouTube metadata scraper API via Apify, integrate with Python (apify SDK), and embed results into data pipelines.
• 📦 Export & automate: Export YouTube metadata to CSV/JSON/Excel from the dataset and connect to your analytics or BI tools.
• 📈 Scalable batching: Provide URL lists and/or keyword queries; concurrency and per-keyword limits help you run multi-video jobs reliably.

How to use Youtube Metadata Scraper - step by step

1. Sign in to Apify

   • Create a free account or log in to run the actor.

2. Open the actor

   • Find “Youtube Metadata Scraper” in the Apify Store and click Try for free.

3. Add input data

   • Paste Video URLs or IDs into urls, or provide Search Keywords to discover videos automatically. You can combine both approaches.

4. Configure options

   • Set sort_order for keyword results (relevance, upload_date, view_count, rating).
   • Adjust max_results_per_keyword to cap videos per keyword (1–100).
   • Choose Maximum Comments per video and transcript options (include_transcripts, transcript_format, include_english_auto, include_non_english).

5. (Optional) Configure proxies

   • Leave Proxy Configuration as default to start without a proxy and let the actor manage fallback automatically if needed.

6. Run the scraper

   • Click Start. The run will resolve video IDs (from URLs and/or keywords), extract metadata, transcripts, and comments, and push each result to the dataset in real time.

7. Download your data

   • Open the run’s Dataset and export to JSON, CSV, or Excel for analysis or ingestion.

Pro Tip: Orchestrate this YouTube metadata downloader as part of a workflow using the Apify API and Python SDK. Schedule runs, pull datasets programmatically, and feed a YouTube SEO metadata tool or dashboard.

Use cases

Use case name	Description
SEO audits & keyword research	Extract YouTube title and description, tags, and view metrics to benchmark content and power a YouTube tags extractor workflow.
Competitor monitoring	Track engagement (views, likes, comments) and channel display names/subscribers to compare performance over time.
Content research & ideation	Use keyword search sorting (e.g., view_count, rating) to discover high-performing videos and extract YouTube video metadata at scale.
Data enrichment for analytics	Pipe structured outputs (JSON/CSV) into BI tools to analyze trends, categories, and publish cadences.
Academic & ML datasets	Collect transcripts (text or timestamps) and comments to build supervised datasets for NLP and research.
Automation pipelines	Use the YouTube metadata scraper API on Apify to schedule runs and export YouTube metadata to CSV or JSON for downstream systems.

Why choose Youtube Metadata Scraper?

• 🎯 Precision-first extraction: Focused on accurate, structured YouTube video info scraper outputs — from metadata to comments and transcripts.
• 🌍 Multilingual transcript support: Include English auto-generated captions or capture non-English tracks when available.
• 📦 Built for scale: Batch process URL lists and keyword searches with per-keyword limits; resilient proxy fallback reduces downtime.
• 👩‍💻 Developer-ready: Integrate via Apify’s API and Python SDK for a YouTube metadata scraper API workflow you can automate end-to-end.
• 🔒 Ethical collection: Extracts only publicly available metadata; no login or private data scraping.
• 💰 Cost-effective: Export clean, ready-to-use data without writing your own scraper or maintaining headless browsers.

Compared to browser extensions and unstable scripts, this production-grade YouTube video info scraper runs reliably in the cloud with structured, consistent output.

Is it legal / ethical to use Youtube Metadata Scraper?

Yes — when used responsibly. This actor collects publicly available YouTube data (e.g., titles, descriptions, tags, views, captions, comments) and does not access private or authenticated content. Always:

• Use the tool in line with YouTube’s Terms of Service.
• Collect only public metadata and respect platform changes.
• Ensure compliance with your organization’s legal guidance (e.g., GDPR/CCPA implications for storage and processing).

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "include_english_auto": false,
  "include_non_english": false,
  "include_transcripts": true,
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "max_comments": 20,
  "transcript_format": "text",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

All input fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
urls	array of strings	No	—	Provide YouTube video URLs or IDs. You can mix URLs and plain keywords; each entry is one target.
keywords	array of strings	No	—	Search YouTube by keyword(s). Results can be sorted and paged.
sort_order	string (relevance, upload_date, view_count, rating)	No	relevance	Sort keyword search results: relevance, upload date, view count, or rating.
max_results_per_keyword	integer (1–100)	No	20	Maximum number of videos to fetch per keyword (with paging).
max_comments	integer (0–5000)	No	20	Maximum number of top-level comments to retrieve per video.
include_transcripts	boolean	No	true	Toggle to download closed captions and transcripts when available.
transcript_format	string (text, timestamps)	No	text	Choose whether transcripts are returned as plain text or with timestamps.
include_english_auto	boolean	No	false	Enable to include YouTube's auto-generated English captions.
include_non_english	boolean	No	false	Enable to include transcripts in non-English languages.
proxyConfiguration	object	No	{"useApifyProxy": false}	Configure Apify proxies. Leave as default to start without a proxy and allow automatic fallback management.

Example JSON output

{
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)",
  "description": "The official video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley...",
  "lengthInSeconds": 213,
  "uploadDatetime": "2009-10-24T23:57:33-07:00",
  "publish_date_since": "16 years ago",
  "category": "Music",
  "tags": ["rick astley","Never Gonna Give You Up","rickroll"],
  "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg",
  "thumbnails_urls": [
    "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=...",
    "https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.webp"
  ],
  "channelID": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
  "channelURL": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
  "channelUsername": "rickastley",
  "channelDisplayName": "Rick Astley",
  "channelSubscribers": "4.44M",
  "author_avatar_url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/vewxKdtll-rntHAMDPY_Qa6hPac3-J2sCFFUwvGSSR0i7hB4g5rNfF39lCEcjGvsYI0RWx7V1A=s176-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "is_verified": true,
  "viewCount": 1726805028,
  "likeCount": 18702878,
  "commentCount": 2400000,
  "is_live_now": false,
  "description_links": [
    "https://linktr.ee/rickastleynever",
    "https://RickAstley.lnk.to/YTSubID"
  ],
  "is_comments_off": false,
  "is_members_only": false,
  "is_paid_content": false,
  "transcripts": [
    {
      "language": "EN",
      "content": "We're no strangers to love ... Never gonna give you up ..."
    }
  ],
  "comments": [
    {
      "id": "Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg",
      "text": "can confirm: he never gave us up",
      "author": "@YouTube",
      "authorChannelId": "UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ",
      "likeCount": 153000,
      "publishedTime": "8 months ago",
      "replyCount": 960
    }
  ]
}

Notes:

• channelSubscribers may be “Unknown” when subscriber text isn’t present on the page.
• transcripts content format depends on transcript_format (“text” vs “timestamps” arrays).

FAQ

What types of YouTube data does this extract?

It collects video metadata (title, description, tags, category, length, uploadDatetime, thumbnails), engagement (viewCount, likeCount, commentCount), transcript text or timestamps, top-level comments, and channel attributes (ID, display name, subscribers, avatar, verification). It’s a complete YouTube video metadata scraper for SEO and research.

Can I search by keywords instead of pasting URLs?

Yes. Use the keywords array to search YouTube, then control sort_order and max_results_per_keyword to retrieve relevant video IDs automatically before extraction.

Does it capture auto-generated captions and other languages?

Yes. Set include_english_auto to include English auto-captions and include_non_english to fetch non-English tracks. Choose transcript_format as text or timestamps.

How many comments can it fetch per video?

You control this with max_comments (0–5000). The actor retrieves top-level comments until the limit is reached or no further continuation is available.

Is there an API for automation?

Yes. Run the actor via the Apify API as a YouTube metadata scraper API, and pull datasets as JSON or CSV. This makes it ideal for pipelines that need to extract YouTube video metadata in bulk.

Can I export to CSV?

Yes. Open the run’s Dataset and export results as JSON, CSV, or Excel — perfect for “export YouTube metadata to CSV” workflows.

Does it handle blocking or captchas?

It includes a smart proxy fallback. If requests are blocked, the actor escalates from no proxy to datacenter and then to residential proxies to improve reliability for bulk runs.

Is this the same as a YouTube channel metadata scraper or playlist scraper?

This actor focuses on videos. It extracts channel-related fields for each video (e.g., channelDisplayName, channelSubscribers), but it does not crawl entire channels or playlists directly.

Is it legal to use this?

Yes, when scraping publicly available data and complying with YouTube’s Terms of Service and applicable regulations. It does not access private or authenticated content.

Final thoughts

Youtube Metadata Scraper is built to turn YouTube videos into structured, analytics-ready data for SEO, research, and automation. With keyword discovery, rich metadata, transcripts, and comments — plus reliable proxy fallback — it’s a powerful YouTube metadata downloader for marketers, developers, and analysts. Integrate via the Apify API or Python SDK to automate a YouTube video tags and keywords extractor pipeline at scale. Start extracting smarter insights from YouTube today.