YouTube Metadata Scraper

YouTube Metadata Scraper

The YouTube Metadata Scraper is a fast, reliable YouTube video metadata scraper that extracts structured details from public videos — titles, descriptions, tags, channel info, views/likes/comments, transcripts, and more — in one run. It solves the pain of manual copy-paste and API limitations by delivering clean, standardized data for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers. Use this YouTube metadata extractor to scale SEO audits, competitor tracking, and content research — and export results for analysis or automation. 🚀

What data / output can you get?

Below are the actual fields produced by the scraper and saved to the dataset. You can export results to CSV, JSON, or Excel.

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”..."
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", ...]
thumbnail	Thumbnail URL	"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg"
thumbnails_urls	All available thumbnail URLs	["https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg?..."]
channelID	Channel ID	"UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw"
channelURL	Channel URL	"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw"
channelUsername	Channel username	"rickastley"
channelDisplayName	Channel display name	"Rick Astley"
channelSubscribers	Subscriber count	"4.44M"
author_avatar_url	Channel avatar URL	"https://yt3.ggpht.com/...=s176..."
is_verified	Whether the channel is verified	true
viewCount	View count	1726805028
likeCount	Like count	18702878
commentCount	Comment count (approx.)	2400000
is_live_now	Whether the video is live	false
description_links	Links extracted from description	["https://linktr.ee/rickastleynever", ...]
is_comments_off	Whether comments are disabled	false
is_members_only	Whether the video is members-only	false
is_paid_content	Whether the video is paid content	false
transcripts	Transcripts/captions	[{"language": "EN", "content": "..."}]
comments	Comments	[{"id": "...", "text": "...", "author": "...", ...}]

Tip: Many teams use this YouTube title and description scraper and YouTube tags scraper to power SEO workflows, then export YouTube metadata to JSON or scrape YouTube metadata to CSV for analysis.

Key features

• 🔎 Keyword search with sorting Search YouTube by keywords and control sorting via sort_order (relevance, upload_date, view_count, rating). Combine with max_results_per_keyword for paged collection — ideal for bulk YouTube metadata scraper workflows.

• 🗣️ Transcript & captions extraction Include transcripts with include_transcripts. Choose transcript_format ("text" or "timestamps") and toggle include_english_auto and include_non_english to capture auto-generated or non-English captions when available.

• 💬 Comment retrieval at scale Collect top-level comments per video up to max_comments. Useful for sentiment snapshots and engagement research with a YouTube video details scraper tool.

• 🛡️ Smart proxy fallback Built-in connection fallback escalates from none → datacenter → residential proxies on block statuses or errors, improving stability for an online YouTube metadata scraper at scale.

• ⚙️ Developer-friendly and Python-based Built on the Apify Python SDK and yt-dlp under the hood. Easy to integrate into pipelines as a YouTube Data API metadata extractor alternative or Python YouTube metadata scraper.

• 📦 Structured exports Export datasets as JSON, CSV, or Excel for direct use in BI tools, dashboards, and SEO audits. Perfect to download YouTube video metadata for analysis.

• ⚡ Concurrent processing Processes multiple videos concurrently for faster runs, making it ideal for bulk and recurring jobs.

• 🧭 Channel details included Captures channelID, channelURL, channelDisplayName, channelSubscribers, and verification status alongside each video — valuable for a YouTube channel metadata scraper workflow.

How to use YouTube Metadata Scraper - step by step

1. Sign in to Apify Create a free Apify account or log in.

2. Open the actor Find “YouTube Metadata Scraper” in the Apify Store and open it.

3. Add input targets

   • Paste video URLs or IDs in urls, and/or
   • Provide keywords in keywords to search YouTube by term.

4. Configure options

   • sort_order: relevance, upload_date, view_count, or rating.
   • max_results_per_keyword: number of videos to fetch per keyword (with paging).
   • max_comments: limit top-level comments per video.
   • include_transcripts + transcript_format: choose "text" or "timestamps".
   • include_english_auto / include_non_english: include auto-generated or non-English captions when needed.
   • proxyConfiguration: leave default or configure Apify proxies (automatic fallback supported).

5. Start the run Click “Start.” The actor will gather video IDs (from URLs and/or keyword search), fetch each watch page, and push structured results to the dataset as they complete.

6. Monitor progress The run logs summarize collected fields per video and note any skipped items (e.g., due to blocking).

7. Download results Go to the dataset tab to export in JSON, CSV, or Excel. Use these files in SEO audits, analytics, or automation workflows.

Pro tip: Schedule the actor on Apify to track ongoing trends, or connect the dataset feed to your stack to export YouTube metadata to JSON for downstream processing.

Use cases

Use case name	Description
SEO metadata extraction	Extract titles, descriptions, tags, and engagement stats to optimize content — a practical YouTube SEO metadata extractor workflow.
Competitor analysis	Track channel verification, subscribers, engagement, and topics to benchmark performance.
Keyword research	Use keyword search plus sorting to discover relevant videos and tags with a YouTube tags scraper approach.
Content strategy	Analyze transcripts and comments to uncover themes, audience language, and content gaps.
Trend monitoring	Schedule runs to watch viewCount/likeCount/commentCount changes over time on target topics.
Research & datasets	Export structured outputs to CSV/JSON/Excel for machine learning and academic studies.
API pipelines	Treat it as an online YouTube metadata scraper and plug the dataset into internal APIs and dashboards.

Why choose YouTube Metadata Scraper?

• 🎯 Precision, structure, and speed: Purpose-built to extract clean video and channel fields at scale.
• 🌍 Multilingual transcripts: Include English auto-generated and non-English captions when available.
• 📈 Scalable by design: Concurrent processing and proxy fallback make large jobs more reliable.
• 💻 Developer-ready: Python-based, Apify SDK-powered — simple to automate or integrate.
• 🔒 Public data only: Designed for responsible collection of publicly available information.
• 💰 Efficient operations: Export-ready output reduces time-to-value vs. stitching together multiple tools.
• 🧩 Platform native: Works seamlessly with Apify’s scheduling, storage, and exports.

Compared to browser extensions and unstable scripts, this YouTube video metadata scraper prioritizes reliability, proxy resilience, and structured outputs for production workflows.

Is it legal / ethical to use YouTube Metadata Scraper?

Yes — when used responsibly. This actor extracts public video and channel metadata, transcripts (when available), and top-level comments from publicly accessible pages. It does not access private data.

Guidelines:

• Scrape only publicly available information.
• Respect YouTube’s Terms of Service and applicable laws (e.g., GDPR/CCPA).
• Avoid collecting or using data in ways that violate platform rules.
• Consult your legal team for edge cases or regulated industries.

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "keywords": ["never gonna give you up"],
  "sort_order": "relevance",
  "max_results_per_keyword": 20,
  "max_comments": 20,
  "include_transcripts": true,
  "transcript_format": "text",
  "include_english_auto": false,
  "include_non_english": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Parameter reference:

• urls (array[string]) — Provide YouTube video URLs or IDs. You can mix URLs and plain keywords; each entry is one target. Default: none. Required: no.
• keywords (array[string]) — Search YouTube by keyword(s). Results can be sorted and paged. Default: none. Required: no.
• sort_order (string; one of: relevance, upload_date, view_count, rating) — Sort keyword search results. Default: "relevance". Required: no.
• max_results_per_keyword (integer; min 1, max 100) — Maximum number of videos to fetch per keyword (with paging). Default: 20. Required: no.
• max_comments (integer; min 0, max 5000) — Maximum number of top-level comments to retrieve per video. Default: 20. Required: no.
• include_transcripts (boolean) — Toggle to download closed captions and transcripts when available. Default: true. Required: no.
• transcript_format (string; one of: text, timestamps) — Return transcripts as plain text or with timestamps. Default: "text". Required: no.
• include_english_auto (boolean) — Include YouTube’s auto-generated English captions. Default: false. Required: no.
• include_non_english (boolean) — Include transcripts in non-English languages. Default: false. Required: no.
• proxyConfiguration (object) — Configure Apify proxies. Leave default to start without a proxy and allow automatic fallback management. Default: {"useApifyProxy": false}. Required: no.

Note: While no single field is strictly required, you must provide at least one target via urls or keywords for the run to proceed.

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", "rick roll"],
  "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg",
  "thumbnails_urls": [
    "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEbCKgBEF5I...",
    "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/...=s176...",
  "is_verified": true,
  "viewCount": 1726805028,
  "likeCount": 18702878,
  "commentCount": 2400000,
  "is_live_now": false,
  "description_links": ["https://linktr.ee/rickastleynever"],
  "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
    },
    {
      "id": "UgyEnXfdC-umwvTt8JF4AaABAg",
      "text": "Gonna flag this for nudity so I can rick roll the YouTube staff",
      "author": "@Oatman69",
      "authorChannelId": "UCWf34D_s8K_m2vwBISIDWtg",
      "likeCount": 538000,
      "publishedTime": "6 years ago",
      "replyCount": 492
    }
  ]
}

Notes:

• channelSubscribers may be "Unknown" when subscriber text is not available on the page.
• transcripts appear only when available and based on input flags.

FAQ

Does this require a YouTube API key?

No. The actor uses web extraction (and yt-dlp for transcript info) and does not require a YouTube Data API key. You can still integrate the output with your own APIs to automate workflows.

Can I download YouTube video metadata to CSV or JSON?

Yes. After the run, open the dataset and export to CSV, JSON, or Excel. This makes it easy to scrape YouTube metadata to CSV or export YouTube metadata to JSON for BI tools.

How many results can I get per keyword?

You control this with max_results_per_keyword (1–100). The actor pages search results and respects your sort_order, so it works well as a bulk YouTube metadata scraper when combined with multiple keywords.

What about transcripts — which formats are supported?

Set include_transcripts to true and choose transcript_format as "text" or "timestamps". You can also enable include_english_auto and include_non_english to include auto-generated or non-English captions when available.

Can it fetch comments?

Yes. Set max_comments to the number of top-level comments you need per video. The actor will collect comments until that limit or until no more comments are available.

Does it handle channel metadata?

Yes. For each video it extracts channelID, channelURL, channelUsername, channelDisplayName, channelSubscribers (when available), author_avatar_url, and is_verified — making it a practical YouTube channel metadata scraper for per-video context.

Is this a Python YouTube metadata scraper I can extend?

Yes. It’s built in Python on the Apify platform. You can orchestrate runs via the Apify API/SDK and plug the outputs into your pipelines as a YouTube video details scraper tool.

How does it deal with blocks or rate limits?

It automatically escalates connection modes: none → datacenter → residential. This proxy fallback improves reliability for large runs of this online YouTube metadata scraper.

Final thoughts

The YouTube Metadata Scraper is built to extract, enrich, and export YouTube video intelligence at scale — from titles, tags, and descriptions to transcripts, comments, and channel details. Marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers can quickly turn public video pages into structured datasets and automate downstream analysis. Use the Apify platform to schedule runs, export to JSON/CSV/Excel, or pipe results into your own API for continuous insights. Start extracting smarter YouTube metadata today. 💡