Youtube Scraper

Scrape YouTube search results, video metadata, channel info, transcripts, and more — all from a simple search term or direct URL. Built for the Apify platform with robust proxy fallback and anti-blocking.

Why Choose This Scraper?

• No YouTube API key required — Scrapes directly from YouTube's internal endpoints.
• Comprehensive data — Titles, views, likes, comments, subscribers, descriptions, hashtags, thumbnails, transcripts.
• Smart proxy fallback — Automatically escalates from no proxy → datacenter → residential if YouTube blocks requests.
• Browser impersonation — Uses impit to bypass TLS/HTTP fingerprinting detection.
• Fast & concurrent — Batch-fetches video metadata concurrently for maximum speed.
• Flexible filters — Filter by HD, 4K, HDR, Live, 360°, 3D, VR180, CC, location, and more.
• Transcript download — SRT, plain text, or timestamped JSON formats.

Key Features

Feature	Description
Search scraping	Scrape videos from any YouTube search term
Direct URL support	Scrape individual video, channel, or playlist URLs
Video metadata	Title, views, likes, comments, subscribers, duration, date
Transcripts/Subtitles	Download in SRT, text, or timestamped JSON format
Channel info	Channel name, URL, username, subscriber count
Smart filtering	HD, 4K, HDR, Live, 360°, 3D, VR180, CC, location filters
Pagination	Automatically follows pagination to collect all results
Proxy escalation	No proxy → Datacenter → Residential (3 retries)
Date filtering	Filter videos by publish date (absolute or relative)

Input

{
  "searchTerms": ["Crawlee"],
  "maxVideos": 10,
  "maxShorts": 0,
  "maxStreams": 0,
  "downloadSubtitles": false,
  "subtitlesLanguage": "en",
  "subtitlesFormat": "srt",
  "isHD": false,
  "is4K": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }
}

Field	Type	Description
searchTerms	array	YouTube search queries
maxVideos	integer	Max regular videos per query (0 = skip)
maxShorts	integer	Max Shorts per query (0 = skip)
maxStreams	integer	Max live streams per query (0 = skip)
startUrls	array	Direct video/channel URLs
downloadSubtitles	boolean	Enable transcript download
subtitlesLanguage	string	Language code (en, es, fr, etc.)
subtitlesFormat	string	srt, text, or timestamp
isHD, is4K, etc.	boolean	Feature filters
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings

Output

{
  "title": "Video Title",
  "translatedTitle": null,
  "type": "video",
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hq720.jpg",
  "viewCount": 1500000,
  "date": "2025-01-15T00:00:00.000Z",
  "likes": 50000,
  "location": null,
  "channelName": "Channel Name",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@channelname",
  "channelUsername": "channelname",
  "collaborators": null,
  "channelId": "UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "numberOfSubscribers": 1000000,
  "duration": "00:03:33",
  "commentsCount": 12000,
  "text": "Video description...",
  "translatedText": null,
  "descriptionLinks": [{"url": "https://example.com", "text": "https://example.com"}],
  "subtitles": null,
  "order": 0,
  "commentsTurnedOff": false,
  "fromYTUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=example",
  "isMonetized": null,
  "hashtags": ["#example"]
}

How to Use the Actor (via Apify Console)

1. Log in at https://console.apify.com and go to Actors.
2. Find YouTube Scraper and click it.
3. Enter your search terms or direct YouTube URLs.
4. Configure video limits, filters, and transcript settings.
5. Optionally adjust proxy settings (auto-fallback is built in).
6. Click Start to run the actor.
7. Monitor real-time logs in the Log tab.
8. Access results in the Dataset tab.
9. Export results to JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Best Use Cases

• Market research — Analyze trending videos and competitor content.
• Content discovery — Find relevant videos by keyword with full metadata.
• Academic research — Collect video transcripts for NLP analysis.
• SEO analysis — Track video performance metrics across channels.
• Social listening — Monitor brand mentions and sentiment on YouTube.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need a YouTube API key? A: No. This scraper works without any API key by using YouTube's internal web endpoints.

Q: What happens if YouTube blocks the request? A: The actor automatically escalates through proxy levels (no proxy → datacenter → residential) with up to 3 retries on residential.

Q: Can I scrape video transcripts? A: Yes. Enable "Download subtitles" and choose your preferred language and format (SRT, text, or timestamped JSON).

Q: How many videos can I scrape? A: There's no hard limit. Set maxVideos and maxShorts to control how many results you collect per search term.

Support and Feedback

If you have any issues or suggestions, please open an issue on the actor's GitHub repository or contact us through the Apify platform.

Cautions

• Data is collected only from publicly available sources.
• No data is taken from private accounts or password-protected content.
• The end user is responsible for ensuring legal compliance (copyright, privacy, data protection, etc.).