🎬 YouTube Scraper Pro — YouTube Scrape Videos, Channels, Playlists & Search Results

The most powerful YouTube scrape tool on Apify. Extract video metadata, download URLs, subtitles, channel stats, and full playlist data — no login, no browser, no bot detection. Powered by yt.

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📌 Table of Contents

• What Is This Actor?
• Why Use This YouTube Scrape Tool?
• Use Cases
• Supported Input Types
• Output Fields (Full Reference)
• Input Parameters
• Example Inputs & Outputs
• Download URLs Explained
• Proxy Configuration
• Video Quality Options
• Subtitles & Captions
• Chapters Support
• Channel Scraping
• Playlist Scraping
• YouTube Search Scraping
• Performance & Rate Limits
• FAQ
• Changelog
• Legal & Terms of Use

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🔍 What Is This Actor?

YouTube Scraper Pro is a production-grade Apify actor that performs a complete YouTube scrape of any public YouTube content — including individual videos, full channels, playlists, and keyword search results — without requiring any Google login, API keys, or browser automation.

It is built on top of yt, the industry-standard open-source YouTube extraction engine trusted by millions of developers and researchers worldwide. Unlike browser-based scrapers that simulate a user clicking through YouTube, this actor communicates directly with YouTube's internal endpoints, bypassing bot detection entirely and delivering results in seconds.

Whether you need to YouTube scrape a single video for metadata and download URLs, extract every video from a creator's channel, or pull the top 50 results for a keyword search — this actor handles all of it through one clean, unified interface.

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🚀 Why Use This YouTube Scrape Tool?

Feature	YouTube Scraper Pro	Browser-Based Scrapers	YouTube Data API v3
No login required	✅	✅	❌ API key required
Bot detection triggered	❌ Never	⚠️ Frequently	❌ N/A
Download URLs	✅ All resolutions	❌ No	❌ No
Subtitle extraction	✅	⚠️ Partial	⚠️ Partial
Channel scrape	✅ Unlimited	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Quota limited
Playlist scrape	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial	✅
Residential proxy	✅ Built-in	⚠️ Extra setup	❌ N/A
Speed	⚡ Fast	🐢 Slow	⚡ Fast
Daily quota	✅ Unlimited	✅ Unlimited	❌ 10,000 units/day
4K download URL	✅	❌	❌

Bottom line: If you need to YouTube scrape at scale, with download URLs, zero quotas, and no API key — this is the tool for you.

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🎯 Use Cases

This actor is used by developers, marketers, researchers, and data scientists to:

📊 Market Research & Competitive Intelligence

• YouTube scrape a competitor's channel to analyze their top-performing videos, view counts, like ratios, and publishing frequency
• Track trending topics in a niche by scraping YouTube search results for target keywords weekly
• Monitor subscriber growth and engagement metrics across multiple channels

🎓 Content Research & SEO

• YouTube scrape search results to discover what content ranks for your target keywords
• Analyze video titles, descriptions, and tags to identify SEO patterns that drive views
• Extract chapter structures from long-form videos to understand content depth and user engagement hooks

📥 Content Archiving & Backup

• Scrape and archive download URLs for entire YouTube playlists or channels before content is deleted
• Extract video transcripts and subtitles at scale for research datasets or accessibility tools
• Download metadata for thousands of videos for academic research or journalism

🤖 AI & Machine Learning Datasets

• YouTube scrape thousands of videos to build training datasets for NLP, sentiment analysis, or video classification models
• Extract auto-generated captions across languages for multilingual AI training
• Collect structured video metadata (duration, views, likes, categories, tags) for recommendation system research

📱 App Development & Integration

• Build a YouTube client app that pulls metadata and streams content via direct download URLs
• Integrate YouTube search results into your own platform without hitting YouTube API quotas
• Create automated content pipelines that monitor channels and alert on new uploads

📰 Journalism & Fact-Checking

• YouTube scrape specific channels or accounts to preserve evidence of public statements
• Extract engagement statistics for viral videos during news events
• Archive entire playlists of public interest content with timestamped metadata

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🔗 Supported Input Types

This actor supports four distinct YouTube scrape modes, all through the same interface:

📺 Single Video Scrape

Provide any YouTube video URL and receive the complete metadata record including all download URLs, subtitles, chapters, and format options.

Supported URL formats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID&list=PLAYLIST_ID   ← extracts the video, not the playlist

📢 Channel Scrape

Provide any YouTube channel URL and scrape all (or the top N) videos from that channel, complete with full metadata and download URLs for each.

Supported channel URL formats:

https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelHandle
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChannelName
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://www.youtube.com/user/LegacyUsername

📋 Playlist Scrape

Provide a YouTube playlist URL to scrape all videos in the playlist, in order, with position numbers.

Supported playlist URL formats:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

🔍 YouTube Search Scrape

Provide a keyword or phrase and scrape the top N YouTube search results, complete with view counts, ranks, and download URLs.

Example search queries:

Python programming tutorial 2024
best lo-fi music for studying
how to make sourdough bread

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📋 Output Fields (Full Reference)

Every YouTube scrape result record contains the following fields:

🎥 Core Video Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
video_id	string	YouTube video ID	"dQw4w9WgXcQ"
title	string	Full video title (max 300 chars)	"Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up"
video_url	string	Canonical YouTube watch URL	"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..."
duration_seconds	integer	Duration in seconds	212
duration	string	Human-readable duration	"03:32"
published_date	string	ISO date of upload	"2009-10-25"
is_live	boolean	Whether video is a live stream	false
age_restricted	boolean	Whether 18+ age gate applies	false
category	string	YouTube content category	"Music"

👤 Channel & Creator Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
channel_name	string	Creator's channel name	"RickAstleyVEVO"
channel_url	string	Full URL to channel	"https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstleyVEVO"
channel_id	string	Internal YouTube channel ID	"UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw"
subscriber_count	integer	Raw subscriber count	1300000
subscriber_count_text	string	Formatted subscriber count	"1.3M subscribers"

📈 Engagement Metrics

Field	Type	Description	Example
views	integer	Total view count	1400000000
views_text	string	Formatted view count	"1.4B views"
likes	integer	Total like count	15000000

🖼️ Media Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
thumbnail	string	URL to max-resolution thumbnail	"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/.../maxresdefault.jpg"
description	string	Video description (max 1000 chars)	"The official video..."
tags	array	Video tags (max 20)	["rick astley", "80s", "pop"]

⬇️ Download URL Fields

Field	Type	Description
download_url_best	string	Best available combined video+audio stream URL
download_url_best_quality	string	Resolution label of the best stream (e.g. "1080p")
download_url_video_only	string	Best video-only stream URL (no audio, for merging)
download_url_audio_only	string	Best audio-only stream URL (m4a/webm/opus)
all_formats	array	All available formats (see below)

🎞️ Format Object (inside all_formats)

{
  "format_id": "137",
  "ext": "mp4",
  "resolution": "1080p",
  "height": 1080,
  "fps": 30,
  "has_video": true,
  "has_audio": false,
  "filesize_mb": 245.8,
  "bitrate_kbps": 3200.0,
  "url": "https://..."
}

📝 Subtitles & Captions Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
subtitles_languages	array	Languages with manual subtitles	["en", "es", "fr"]
auto_captions_languages	array	Languages with auto-generated captions	["en", "de"]

📑 Chapters Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
chapters_count	integer	Number of chapters	8
chapters	array	List of chapter objects	[{"title": "Intro", "start": 0}]

🔧 Meta Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
url_type	string	Source type of this result	"video", "channel_video", "playlist_video", "search_result"
fetched_at	string	ISO timestamp of scrape	"2024-11-01T12:34:56Z"
search_query	string	(Search mode only) Query used	"python tutorial"
search_rank	integer	(Search mode only) Position in results	1
playlist_title	string	(Playlist/Channel mode) Parent playlist name	"My Favorites"
playlist_id	string	(Playlist/Channel mode) Playlist ID	"PLxxx..."
position	integer	(Playlist/Channel mode) Position in list	3

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⚙️ Input Parameters

Configure your YouTube scrape job with the following input fields:

{
  "video_url":           "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "channel_url":         "",
  "playlist_url":        "",
  "search_query":        "",
  "max_results":         20,
  "quality":             "best",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy":     true,
    "apifyProxyGroups":  ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
video_url	string	""	URL of a single YouTube video to scrape
channel_url	string	""	URL of a YouTube channel to scrape
playlist_url	string	""	URL of a YouTube playlist to scrape
search_query	string	""	Keyword or phrase to search YouTube and scrape results
max_results	integer	20	Maximum number of videos to return (for channel/playlist/search modes)
quality	string	"best"	Preferred quality level for download URLs: "best", "1080p", "720p", "480p", "360", "audio"
proxyConfiguration	object	Residential	Apify proxy config. Recommended to keep RESIDENTIAL enabled.

Note: Only one of video_url, channel_url, playlist_url, or search_query should be provided per run. If multiple are provided, priority is: video_url → channel_url → playlist_url → search_query.

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📦 Example Inputs & Outputs

Example 1: YouTube Scrape — Single Video

Input:

{
  "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "quality": "best"
}

Output:

[
  {
    "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Music Video)",
    "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "channel_name": "Rick Astley",
    "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstleyVEVO",
    "subscriber_count": 4200000,
    "subscriber_count_text": "4.2M subscribers",
    "views": 1450000000,
    "views_text": "1.5B views",
    "likes": 16000000,
    "duration_seconds": 212,
    "duration": "03:32",
    "published_date": "2009-10-25",
    "description": "The official video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley...",
    "tags": ["Rick Astley", "Never Gonna Give You Up", "OfficialVideoMusic"],
    "category": "Music",
    "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg",
    "is_live": false,
    "age_restricted": false,
    "download_url_best": "https://rr3---sn-xxxx.googlevideo.com/...",
    "download_url_best_quality": "1080p",
    "download_url_video_only": "https://rr3---sn-xxxx.googlevideo.com/...",
    "download_url_audio_only": "https://rr3---sn-xxxx.googlevideo.com/...",
    "all_formats": [
      {
        "format_id": "137",
        "ext": "mp4",
        "resolution": "1080p",
        "height": 1080,
        "fps": 30,
        "has_video": true,
        "has_audio": false,
        "filesize_mb": 89.3,
        "bitrate_kbps": 3120.0,
        "url": "https://..."
      },
      {
        "format_id": "22",
        "ext": "mp4",
        "resolution": "720p",
        "height": 720,
        "fps": 30,
        "has_video": true,
        "has_audio": true,
        "filesize_mb": 45.1,
        "bitrate_kbps": 1800.0,
        "url": "https://..."
      }
    ],
    "subtitles_languages": ["en", "es", "pt", "fr", "de"],
    "auto_captions_languages": ["en", "ja"],
    "chapters_count": 0,
    "chapters": [],
    "url_type": "video",
    "fetched_at": "2024-11-01T10:30:00Z"
  }
]

---

Example 2: YouTube Scrape — Channel Videos

Input:

{
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
  "max_results": 5,
  "quality": "best"
}

Output (abbreviated):

[
  {
    "video_id": "abc123",
    "title": "The Best Smartphones of 2024",
    "channel_name": "Marques Brownlee",
    "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    "subscriber_count": 18500000,
    "views": 4800000,
    "views_text": "4.8M views",
    "duration": "18:42",
    "published_date": "2024-12-01",
    "download_url_best": "https://...",
    "download_url_best_quality": "4K",
    "url_type": "channel_video",
    "position": 1,
    "fetched_at": "2024-12-10T08:00:00Z"
  }
]

---

Example 3: YouTube Scrape — Search Results

Input:

{
  "search_query": "YouTube scrape tutorial python",
  "max_results": 10
}

Output (abbreviated):

[
  {
    "video_id": "xyz789",
    "title": "How to YouTube Scrape with Python in 2024",
    "views": 120000,
    "views_text": "120K views",
    "search_query": "YouTube scrape tutorial python",
    "search_rank": 1,
    "url_type": "search_result",
    "download_url_best": "https://...",
    "fetched_at": "2024-12-10T09:00:00Z"
  }
]

---

Example 4: YouTube Scrape — Playlist

Input:

{
  "playlist_url": "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbpi6ZahtOH6Ar_3GPy3workS_ij8",
  "max_results": 50
}

Output: Returns up to 50 video objects, each with url_type: "playlist_video" and position number.

---

⬇️ Download URLs Explained

One of the most powerful features of this YouTube scrape actor is the ability to extract direct, signed, time-limited download URLs for every video. Here's what each field means:

download_url_best

The highest-quality combined stream containing both video and audio in a single file. This is ideal for direct playback or download via tools like curl or wget. For older/shorter videos this is often a 720p MP4 with both streams. For longer or newer videos, YouTube separates video and audio tracks.

download_url_video_only

The highest-quality video stream without audio. This is typically 1080p, 1440p (2K), or 2160p (4K) in VP9 or AVC format. To use this with audio, merge it with download_url_audio_only using FFmpeg:

$ffmpeg -i video_only.mp4 -i audio_only.m4a -c:v copy -c:a aac merged_output.mp4

download_url_audio_only

Audio-only stream in M4A, WebM, or Opus format. Ideal for podcasts, music extraction, or transcription pipelines.

all_formats

A complete list of every format available for that video (up to 20), sorted by resolution descending. Use this to select a specific quality level programmatically.

⚠️ Important: Download URLs are signed and time-limited by Google (typically valid for 6–12 hours). They are meant for immediate use and should not be stored long-term. Re-run the actor to refresh URLs.

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🌐 Proxy Configuration

For maximum reliability when performing a YouTube scrape, especially at high volume, a residential proxy is strongly recommended.

Recommended Setup (Apify Residential Proxy)

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

Why Residential Proxy?

• YouTube detects and rate-limits datacenter IPs at high volume
• Residential IPs appear as normal user traffic
• Essential for scraping region-restricted content
• Reduces HTTP 429 Too Many Requests errors significantly

No Proxy (Default)

For low-volume scraping (under ~50 videos/run), typically works without any proxy. YouTube has not blocked yt-'s request pattern as aggressively as browser-based scrapers.

{
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Custom Proxy

You can also provide your own proxy URL by passing it through Apify's proxy configuration system.

---

🎬 Video Quality Options

Control the quality of download_url_best using the quality parameter:

Value	Description	Typical Use Case
"best"	Highest available combined stream	General purpose, recommended
"1080p"	Full HD (1920×1080)	HD video archiving
"720p"	HD (1280×720)	Balanced quality/size
"480p"	SD (854×480)	Mobile-friendly size
"360p"	Low resolution (640×360)	Bandwidth-limited environments
"audio"	Audio only (best audio stream)	Podcast/music extraction

Note: The all_formats array always contains all available resolutions regardless of the quality setting. The quality parameter only affects which URL is returned in download_url_best.

Available resolutions per video depend on the original upload. Most modern YouTube videos support up to 4K (2160p), while older content may max out at 720p.

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📝 Subtitles & Captions

Every YouTube scrape result includes subtitle availability data:

subtitles_languages

Languages for which the creator has manually uploaded subtitles (closed captions). These are the highest accuracy captions. Example: ["en", "es", "pt-BR", "fr", "de", "ja", "ko"]

auto_captions_languages

Languages for which YouTube has auto-generated captions using speech recognition. Available for most videos in major languages. Example: ["en", "hi", "ar"]

Fetching Subtitle Content

This actor returns the availability of subtitles. To download the actual subtitle text (SRT/VTT format), use yt-dlp locally with the video URL:

$yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-lang en --skip-download "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

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📑 Chapters Support

If a video has chapters (timestamps in the description), the actor returns structured chapter data:

{
  "chapters_count": 5,
  "chapters": [
    {"title": "Introduction", "start": 0},
    {"title": "Setting Up Your Environment", "start": 120},
    {"title": "Writing the Code", "start": 480},
    {"title": "Testing & Debugging", "start": 900},
    {"title": "Conclusion", "start": 1320}
  ]
}

This is extremely useful for:

• Extracting specific segments from long-form videos
• Building educational content navigation interfaces
• Analyzing how creators structure their content

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📢 Channel Scraping

When performing a YouTube channel scrape, the actor uses a two-phase approach for maximum speed and accuracy:

Phase 1: Fast Flat Extraction

The actor first fetches a flat list of all video IDs in the channel using yt-dlp's extract_flat mode. This is extremely fast and gives us the complete video inventory.

Phase 2: Detailed Metadata Fetch

For each video (up to max_results), the actor fetches full metadata including download URLs, views, likes, chapters, and subtitle info. A small random delay (0.5–1.5s) between requests prevents rate limiting.

Channel Output Extras

In addition to all standard video fields, channel scrape results include:

• url_type: "channel_video" — identifies the source
• position — video's position in the channel (1 = most recent)
• playlist_title — usually the channel's uploads playlist name

Tip: Large Channels

For channels with thousands of videos, set max_results to the number you need. The actor fetches in chronological order from newest to oldest.

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📋 Playlist Scraping

Playlist scraping is ideal for structured content sets like course series, documentary collections, or music albums.

Playlist Output Extras

• url_type: "playlist_video" — identifies the source
• position — video's position in the playlist (1 = first)
• playlist_title — name of the playlist
• playlist_id — YouTube playlist ID

Mixed Playlists

If a playlist mixes videos from multiple channels, each video's channel_name and channel_url will correctly reflect the original uploader.

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🔍 YouTube Search Scraping

The search scraping mode uses yt-dlp's built-in ytsearch protocol to query YouTube and return the top N results. This is equivalent to what a user would see on YouTube's search results page.

Search Output Extras

• url_type: "search_result" — identifies results from search mode
• search_query — the exact query used
• search_rank — 1-based position in search results (1 = top result)

Search Tips

• Use specific, long-tail keywords for niche research
• Search results reflect YouTube's own algorithm (views, recency, relevance)
• For trending content, run searches daily and compare rank changes
• Use max_results up to 50 for comprehensive keyword analysis

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⚡ Performance & Rate Limits

Speed Benchmarks (approximate, with residential proxy)

Mode	Videos	Estimated Time
Single video	1	~5–10 seconds
Search results	10	~30–60 seconds
Search results	50	~3–5 minutes
Channel (small, <100 videos)	20	~1–2 minutes
Channel (large, 500+ videos)	50	~4–7 minutes
Playlist	50	~4–7 minutes

Rate Limiting Strategy

The actor implements smart rate limiting with:

• 0.5–1.5 second random delay between consecutive video fetches in channel/playlist mode
• 3 automatic retries with exponential backoff on failed requests
• 30-second socket timeout to prevent hanging on slow connections
• Graceful error handling — failed videos return partial records instead of crashing the run

Concurrent Runs

You can run multiple instances of this actor simultaneously (e.g., one per channel) for parallel scraping without conflicts.

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❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need a YouTube API key or Google account? A: No. This actor requires zero authentication. No API keys, no cookies, no login.

Q: Are the download URLs direct links I can use in a browser? A: Yes. download_url_best is a direct signed URL to the video file hosted on Google's CDN. You can paste it in a browser, curl it, or stream it directly. They expire in ~6–12 hours.

Q: Why does download_url_best sometimes return a video-only stream? A: For high-resolution videos (1080p+), YouTube serves video and audio as separate streams. In that case, download_url_best returns the highest-quality video-only stream. Use download_url_audio_only alongside it with FFmpeg to merge.

Q: How many videos can I scrape from a channel? A: There is no hard limit. Set max_results to however many you need. Very large channels (10,000+ videos) may require long run times; consider splitting into multiple runs.

Q: Can I scrape private or unlisted videos? A: No. This actor can only access publicly accessible YouTube content. Private videos require authenticated cookies.

Q: Why are some videos missing views or likes? A: Some YouTube videos have these metrics hidden by the creator. In those cases the fields will be null.

Q: Can I use this for shorts? A: Yes. YouTube Shorts are treated as regular short-duration videos and can be scraped with all standard fields including download URLs.

Q: What happens if a video is age-restricted? A: Age-restricted videos will have age_restricted: true. Metadata extraction typically still works, but download URLs may not be available without authentication.

Q: How fresh is the data? A: Completely fresh. Every run performs a live YouTube scrape in real time. There is no caching.

Q: Does this work for YouTube Music content? A: YouTube Music videos are hosted on YouTube and can be scraped like regular videos.

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📜 Changelog

v2.0.0 (Current)

• ✅ Full yt-dlp engine integration replacing legacy extraction
• ✅ Added all_formats array with up to 20 quality levels
• ✅ Residential proxy auto-configuration
• ✅ Chapter extraction support
• ✅ Subtitle language detection (manual + auto-captions)
• ✅ Formatted view/subscriber count fields
• ✅ search_rank and position fields for ordered results
• ✅ Graceful error handling with partial records on failure
• ✅ Smart rate limiting with jitter delay

v1.5.0

• ✅ Added YouTube search scraping mode
• ✅ Added download_url_video_only and download_url_audio_only
• ✅ Channel subscriber count extraction
• ✅ Tags extraction (up to 20)

v1.0.0

• ✅ Initial release: single video + playlist scraping
• ✅ Basic metadata: title, views, description, thumbnail

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⚖️ Legal & Terms of Use

This actor extracts publicly available data from YouTube in the same way a regular user browses the site. All data collected is publicly accessible without any login.

Please note:

• This actor is intended for research, education, journalism, and personal use
• Respect YouTube's Terms of Service and do not use scraped data for unauthorized commercial redistribution of video content
• Signed download URLs are for personal use only; redistributing copyrighted video content may violate copyright law
• Do not use this tool to scrape private, unlisted, or age-gated content without authorization
• The actor developer is not responsible for how users choose to use the scraped data

Fair Use: Metadata scraping (titles, views, descriptions, channel stats) is generally considered fair use for research and analytical purposes. Always consult a legal professional for your specific use case.

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🤝 Support & Feedback

• Issues? Open a GitHub issue or contact us via the Apify actor page
• Feature request? Drop a message in the Apify Community forum
• Rating: If this actor helped you, please leave a ⭐ review on the Apify Store — it helps others discover it!

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The most complete YouTube scrape solution on the Apify platform