# YouTube Transcript Scraper (`seemuapps/youtube-transcript-scraper`) Actor Extract full transcripts and timestamped captions from any YouTube video in your chosen language and export them as JSON or CSV. - **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/youtube-transcript-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Andrew](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community) - **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Integrations - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.10 / 1,000 transcript extracteds This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## YouTube Transcript Scraper Pull the full transcript and timestamped captions from any YouTube video — pick your language, get clean text plus segment-level timing, and export to JSON or CSV. ### What you get - **Full plain-text transcript** of each video as a single field, ready for search, summarisation, or LLM input - **Timestamped segments** array with `startMs`, `durationMs`, and `text` per caption line — perfect for jumping to a moment in the video or building chapter markers - **Language metadata** showing the language code returned and whether captions were human-written or auto-generated - **Available languages list** so you can see every caption track the video offers, even when you only kept one - **Per-video metadata**: `videoId`, `title`, `durationSeconds`, `uploader` - **Multi-language preference order** — list `["en", "es", "fr"]` and the actor picks the first one that exists for each video - **Residential proxy by default** so the request reliably returns captions; switch to Auto cascade to save proxy bandwidth ### Use cases - **Content repurposing** — turn long videos into blog posts, newsletters, or tweet threads with timestamped quotes - **SEO research** — analyse competitor video scripts and topics for keyword and topic gaps - **Accessibility** — generate searchable text archives of training videos, lectures, and webinars - **Language learning** — pull dual-language transcripts for the same video to build study material - **Podcast and interview notes** — feed transcripts into summarisers to produce show notes and chapter markers ### How to use 1. Paste one or more YouTube URLs into **YouTube Video URLs** (`youtube.com/watch?v=...`, `youtu.be/...`, or `youtube.com/shorts/...`) 2. Set **Languages** in preference order — e.g. `en` for English-only, or `en, es, fr` to fall back through Spanish then French 3. Leave **Prefer Human-Written Captions** on to favour manual subtitles over auto-generated ones when both exist 4. Leave **Proxy Mode** on **Residential** (default) — switch to **Auto** if you want to try cheaper paths first 5. Run the actor — one transcript record per video appears in the **Dataset** tab ### Output format Each dataset record: ```json { "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw", "videoId": "jNQXAC9IVRw", "title": "Me at the zoo", "durationSeconds": 19, "uploader": "jawed", "language": "en", "isAutoGenerated": false, "transcript": "All right, so here we are in front of the elephants...", "segments": [ { "startMs": 0, "durationMs": 2400, "text": "All right, so here we are" }, { "startMs": 2400, "durationMs": 3100, "text": "in front of the elephants" } ], "availableLanguages": ["en", "en-US", "es", "fr"], "proxyUsed": "residential", "status": "success", "error": null } ```` When no caption track matches the requested languages, `status` is `"error"` and `error` is `"No captions available in requested languages"` — `availableLanguages` still lists everything the video does have so you can retry with the right code. ### Notes & limits - **Up to 10 videos per run.** Schedule multiple runs for larger jobs. - **Captions must exist on the video.** Some music videos and shorts have no captions at all — those return `status: "error"`. - **Auto-generated captions** are word-level transcribed by YouTube and may include noise or incorrect punctuation. The `isAutoGenerated` flag tells you which kind you got. - **Region-locked or private videos** will fail; try `Residential` proxy mode if Auto can't fetch them. - **Language codes** are BCP-47, e.g. `en`, `en-US`, `es`, `fr`, `pt-BR`. If you specify `en` and only `en-US` exists, the actor will use `en-US` automatically. - Only scrape content you have the right to use. Respect copyright and YouTube's Terms of Service. # Actor input Schema ## `videoUrls` (type: `array`): One or more YouTube video URLs (youtube.com/watch?v=..., youtu.be/..., or youtube.com/shorts/...). Up to 10 per run. ## `languages` (type: `array`): BCP-47 language codes in preference order, e.g. en, es, fr. The first language with available captions for a video will be used for the transcript and segments fields. ## `preferManualCaptions` (type: `boolean`): When both manual and auto-generated captions exist for a language, use the human-written ones. Turn off to always pick whichever is available. ## `proxyMode` (type: `string`): Residential is the default and works for most YouTube content. Auto tries no proxy first, then datacenter, then residential — useful if you want to save proxy bandwidth on videos that happen to fetch without one. ## Actor input object example ```json { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" ], "languages": [ "en" ], "preferManualCaptions": true, "proxyMode": "residential" } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): One record per video: inputUrl, videoId, title, durationSeconds, uploader, language, isAutoGenerated, transcript, segments, availableLanguages, proxyUsed, status (success|error), error. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" ], "languages": [ "en" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"], "languages": ["en"], } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" ], "languages": [ "en" ] }' | apify call seemuapps/youtube-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=seemuapps/youtube-transcript-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Transcript Scraper", "description": "Extract full transcripts and timestamped captions from any YouTube video in your chosen language and export them as JSON or CSV.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "L7CQpqFMOEgy19DLr" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/seemuapps~youtube-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-seemuapps-youtube-transcript-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/seemuapps~youtube-transcript-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-seemuapps-youtube-transcript-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/seemuapps~youtube-transcript-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-seemuapps-youtube-transcript-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "videoUrls" ], "properties": { "videoUrls": { "title": "YouTube Video URLs", "type": "array", "description": "One or more YouTube video URLs (youtube.com/watch?v=..., youtu.be/..., or youtube.com/shorts/...). Up to 10 per run.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "languages": { "title": "Languages (preference order)", "type": "array", "description": "BCP-47 language codes in preference order, e.g. en, es, fr. The first language with available captions for a video will be used for the transcript and segments fields.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [ "en" ] }, "preferManualCaptions": { "title": "Prefer Human-Written Captions", "type": "boolean", "description": "When both manual and auto-generated captions exist for a language, use the human-written ones. Turn off to always pick whichever is available.", "default": true }, "proxyMode": { "title": "Proxy Mode", "enum": [ "residential", "auto", "none", "datacenter" ], "type": "string", "description": "Residential is the default and works for most YouTube content. Auto tries no proxy first, then datacenter, then residential — useful if you want to save proxy bandwidth on videos that happen to fetch without one.", "default": "residential" } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```