🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper

🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper

The 🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper is a fast, reliable YouTube video metadata scraper that extracts structured video and channel information at scale — title, description, tags, views, likes, comments count, thumbnails, transcripts, and more. Built for marketers, developers, analysts, and researchers, this YouTube video details extractor automates “scrape YouTube video tags and description” workflows and enables consistent reporting without manual copy-paste. With proxy support and robust error handling, it’s a production-ready YouTube video information extractor that helps you download YouTube video metadata at volume.

What data / output can you get?

Below are the exact fields this actor writes to the Apify dataset for each input video URL. These are the real JSON keys returned by the scraper.

Data type	Description	Example value
type	Record type	"video"
video_id	Unique YouTube video ID	"dQw4w9WgXcQ"
title	Video title	"Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up"
description	Full description text	"The official video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley..."
channel_id	Uploader/channel identifier	"UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw"
channel_name	Uploader/channel display name	"Rick Astley"
published_date	ISO date derived from upload_date (YYYY-MM-DD)	"2009-10-25"
duration_seconds	Video duration in seconds	212
views	View count	1234567890
likes	Like count	15000000
comment_count	Total comments count	500000
tags	Array of video tags	["rick astley","never gonna give you up","music video"]
thumbnails	Thumbnail URLs by resolution	{"default":".../default.jpg","medium":".../mqdefault.jpg","high":".../hqdefault.jpg"}
channel	Structured channel object (see below)	{"id":"UCuAX...","name":"Rick Astley","handle":"rickastley","url":"https://www.youtube.com/@rickastley","subscriberCount":"2.5M subscribers","logo":"https://yt3.ggpht.com/...","badges":["Verified"]}
transcript	Caption segments with timecodes	[{"start":"0.000","dur":"3.500","text":"We're no strangers to love"}]
category	First detected category	"Music"
language	Detected/returned language code	"en"
live_status	Live state	"none"
engagement_rate	(likes + comment_count) / views	0.0162
hashtags	Hashtags parsed from description (without #)	["rickastley","nevergonnagiveyouup"]
upload_type	Upload type flag	"normal"
resolution	Reported resolution when available	"1080p"
success	Scrape status	true
inputUrl	The input video URL	"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

Notes:

• channel.logo is enriched by fetching the channel’s About page and extracting avatar thumbnails.
• transcript is populated when captions or auto-captions are available; otherwise it may be an empty array.
• On errors, success is false and an additional error field is included in the record.
• You can export results from the Apify dataset to JSON, CSV, or Excel for downstream use.

Key features

• ⚡ Accurate metadata extraction Extracts titles, descriptions, tags, views, likes, comment counts, thumbnails, categories, language, and more — a complete YouTube video statistics scraper for reliable analytics.

• 🧠 Transcript retrieval with timecodes Works as a YouTube transcript scraper by pulling subtitles or auto-captions when available, returning start/duration/text segments for analysis and NLP workflows.

• 🧩 Channel data enrichment Augments each record with a channel object (id, name, handle, URL, subscriberCount, badges) and logo sourced from the channel’s About page — a focused YouTube channel data scraper capability.

• 📈 Engagement rate calculation Automatically computes engagement_rate as (likes + comment_count) / views to benchmark content performance out of the box.

• 🌐 Resilient proxy handling Built-in proxy configuration with fallback from direct → datacenter → residential, helping you scrape YouTube video data without API disruptions at scale.

• 🧪 Developer-friendly (Python-based) Implemented in Python with yt-dlp and Apify SDK — ideal for teams looking for a YouTube metadata scraper Python workflow or a YouTube video details scraper tool that plugs into existing pipelines.

• 💾 Easy exports Download datasets as JSON, CSV, or Excel from Apify for dashboards, SEO audits, and reporting — perfect for a YouTube video metadata scraper use case.

• 🔒 No login or cookies required Extracts only public YouTube metadata. No account authentication is needed.

How to use 🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper - step by step

1. Sign in to Apify
   Create or log in to your Apify account to run the actor and manage datasets.

2. Open the actor
   Find “🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper” in the Apify Store and click Try for free.

3. Add input video URLs
   Paste one or more public YouTube video URLs into startUrls (string list). You can mix full and short links:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID

4. (Optional) Configure proxy
   Set proxyConfiguration.useApifyProxy to true for larger runs. The actor supports automatic fallback to more robust proxies when needed.

5. Start the run
   Click Start. The scraper will fetch video info, enrich channel fields, and download transcripts when available. Progress logs show which URL is being processed.

6. Monitor results
   As each video completes, a structured record is written to the run’s dataset with fields like title, tags, views, likes, comment_count, channel, transcript, and thumbnails.

7. Export your data
   Open the Dataset tab to export in JSON, CSV, or Excel. Use the dataset API or Apify integrations for automation.

Pro tip: Chain this YouTube video information extractor with your analytics stack (e.g., BI tools, notebooks) to power SEO research, content audits, and competitor monitoring.

Use cases

Use case name	Description
SEO teams – keyword & tag analysis	Extract titles, descriptions, tags, and hashtags to identify ranking patterns and optimize metadata with a repeatable YouTube video tags extractor workflow.
Content researchers – performance benchmarking	Compare views, likes, comment_count, and engagement_rate across topics and creators using a robust YouTube video statistics scraper.
Brand monitoring – public mentions	Scan descriptions and tags for brand keywords and pull transcripts to track narrative themes at scale.
Academic & media research – discourse analysis	Export transcripts and metadata for NLP, topic modeling, and longitudinal content studies.
Data engineering – API pipeline	Use the Apify dataset API to feed structured video and channel objects into data warehouses or enrichment pipelines.
Competitive intelligence – channel tracking	Monitor channel fields (subscriberCount, badges, handle) and video outputs for publishing cadence and growth signals.

Why choose 🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper?

The scraper is built for precision, automation, and reliability — a production-ready YouTube video metadata scraper that outperforms fragile one-off scripts.

• ✅ High-accuracy fields from public pages using yt-dlp and resilient parsing
• 📝 Transcript support for deeper analysis beyond surface-level metrics
• 📦 Scales across batches of input URLs with proxy fallback logic
• 🧑‍💻 Developer-ready: Python-based and compatible with the Apify API for automation
• 🛡️ Ethical-by-design: collects public metadata only, no login required
• 💰 Cost-effective: avoids maintenance overhead of DIY setups
• 🔗 Integrations-friendly: export datasets to JSON/CSV/Excel for BI tools and workflows

Unlike browser extensions or unstable alternatives, this YouTube video details extractor delivers consistent, structured outputs and is designed for repeatable, large-scale runs.

Is it legal / ethical to use 🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper?

Yes — when used responsibly. This actor collects only publicly available YouTube metadata (e.g., titles, descriptions, views, likes, tags, thumbnails, transcripts when publicly accessible). It does not access private videos, authenticated endpoints, or hidden data.

Guidelines for compliant use:

• Collect only public information and respect platform terms
• Avoid scraping personal or private data
• Ensure your use aligns with applicable laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)
• Consult your legal team for edge cases or regulated use

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID_2"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Parameters

• startUrls (array of strings)
  Description: Enter one or more YouTube video URLs to scrape. Each URL will be processed to extract title, description, views, likes, comments count, channel info, transcript, tags, thumbnails, and more.
  Default: none (prefill shows "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ")
  Required: Yes

• proxyConfiguration (object)
  Description: Optional proxy settings. Enable Apify Proxy for reliability; if a proxy is rejected, the actor can fall back to residential automatically. Leave default (no proxy) for quick tests.
  Default: {"useApifyProxy": false}
  Required: No

Example JSON output

{
  "type": "video",
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
  "description": "The official video for \"Never Gonna Give You Up\" by Rick Astley...",
  "channel_id": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
  "channel_name": "Rick Astley",
  "published_date": "2009-10-25",
  "duration_seconds": 212,
  "views": 1234567890,
  "likes": 15000000,
  "comment_count": 500000,
  "tags": ["rick astley", "never gonna give you up", "music video"],
  "thumbnails": {
    "default": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/default.jpg",
    "medium": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/mqdefault.jpg",
    "high": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg"
  },
  "channel": {
    "id": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
    "name": "Rick Astley",
    "handle": "rickastley",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@rickastley",
    "subscriberCount": "2500000 subscribers",
    "logo": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/...",
    "badges": ["Verified"]
  },
  "transcript": [
    {
      "start": "0.000",
      "dur": "3.500",
      "text": "We're no strangers to love"
    }
  ],
  "category": "Music",
  "language": "en",
  "live_status": "none",
  "engagement_rate": 0.0162,
  "hashtags": ["rickastley", "nevergonnagiveyouup"],
  "upload_type": "normal",
  "resolution": "1080p",
  "success": true,
  "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

Notes:

• When a video has no captions, transcript will be [].
• If a scrape fails, success is false and an error field is included alongside the above keys.

Related tools

Tool	Tool
☎️ YouTube Channel Phone Number Scraper	💬 YouTube Comments Scraper
📝 YouTube Transcript Scraper	🔎 YouTube Search Scraper
📈 YouTube Metadata Scraper	📺 YouTube Channel Scraper
🧵 YouTube Shorts Scraper	📚 YouTube Playlist Scraper

FAQ

Can I scrape dislikes?

No. Public dislike counts are no longer available, so the scraper cannot return them. It will still provide likes, comment_count, views, and other public engagement metrics.

Does this work without the official YouTube API?

Yes. It collects public metadata without the official API, making it a practical way to scrape YouTube video data without API keys for audits and research.

Does it extract full comments?

No. This tool returns comment_count, not full comment threads. For comments content, use a dedicated YouTube comments scraper.

Can I get transcripts with timecodes?

Yes. When subtitles or auto-captions are available, the actor returns transcript segments with start, dur, and text fields for downstream analysis.

How many videos can I process in one run?

As many as you provide in startUrls, subject to your Apify plan and runtime limits. For larger batches, enable proxyConfiguration.useApifyProxy for stability.

Is login or cookies required?

No. The scraper works on public pages only and does not require login or cookies.

Can I integrate this with Python or an API?

Yes. The actor is Python-based and runs on Apify — you can trigger runs and fetch datasets via the Apify API, making it a developer-friendly YouTube metadata scraper Python workflow.

What file formats can I export?

You can export dataset results as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Apify platform for analysis, dashboards, and pipelines.

Final thoughts

The 🎬 YouTube Video Details Scraper is built to deliver structured, accurate YouTube metadata for SEO, research, and analytics. It extracts tags, descriptions, views, likes, comment_count, thumbnails, transcripts, and enriched channel fields — with engagement_rate computed automatically. Ideal for marketers, developers, analysts, and researchers, you can orchestrate it via the Apify API for a fully automated pipeline. Start extracting smarter with a reliable YouTube video metadata scraper that’s ready for scale.