YouTube Playlist Scraper

Every video in a YouTube playlist, from a playlist URL or ID, as one item per video: title, channel, duration, position and thumbnail, with the playlist's title, owner, description, video count, view count and last-updated date repeated on each item. Works for playlists of any size (hundreds of videos page through automatically), for podcasts, courses, albums, uploads playlists (UU...) and unlisted playlists you have the link to.

No YouTube API key, no quota, no login. Built for archiving course or podcast playlists, feeding video IDs into transcript or details actors, and tracking playlist changes over time.

What you get

Field	Description
videoId, url, title	The video
position, index	Position among returned videos, and YouTube's own index in the playlist
channelName, channelId, channelUrl	Who published the video
durationSeconds, durationText, thumbnailUrl, isAvailable	Length, thumbnail, and whether the video is still playable
playlistId, playlistUrl, playlistTitle, playlistDescription, playlistType	The playlist
ownerName, ownerChannelId, ownerUrl	The playlist owner
videoCount, playlistViewCount, lastUpdatedText, isUnlisted	Playlist stats
error, errorMessage	Only on playlist-level failures

Sample output

{
  "videoId": "ZAzWPE9CItg",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzWPE9CItg",
  "title": "AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory | Lex Fridman Podcast #503",
  "position": 1,
  "index": 1,
  "channelName": "Lex Fridman",
  "channelId": "UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@lexfridman",
  "durationSeconds": 12867,
  "durationText": "3:34:27",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZAzWPE9CItg/hqdefault.jpg",
  "isAvailable": true,
  "playlistId": "PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4",
  "playlistUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4",
  "playlistTitle": "Lex Fridman Podcast",
  "playlistType": "Podcast",
  "ownerName": "Lex Fridman",
  "videoCount": 448,
  "playlistViewCount": 5049988,
  "lastUpdatedText": "Last updated on Oct 26, 2026",
  "input": "PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-11-05T17:20:00.000Z"
}

Input

Field	Type	Default	What it does
playlistUrls	array of strings	required	Playlist URLs, watch URLs with a list parameter, or bare playlist IDs.
maxVideosPerPlaylist	integer	0 (all)	Cap per playlist.
includeUnavailable	boolean	false	Return entries YouTube still lists but marks as private or deleted, with isAvailable false. Entries YouTube hides entirely cannot be returned.
maxConcurrency	integer	3	Playlists in parallel.
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify datacenter proxy	Proxy for all requests.
residentialFallback	boolean	true	Retry a blocked playlist through residential proxies, only on a detected block.

Minimal input:

{ "playlistUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4"] }

Errors

error	Meaning	Charged?
INVALID_INPUT	Not a playlist URL or ID	no
PLAYLIST_NOT_FOUND	The playlist does not exist or is private	no
NO_VIDEOS	The playlist has no available videos	no
BLOCKED	YouTube refused the request from every proxy tried	no
FETCH_FAILED	Network or parsing failure	no

Pricing

Pay per event: a small fixed amount per video item, plus Apify platform usage. Error items are free. YouTube serves 200 playlist entries per request, so even a 1,000-video playlist is a handful of requests.

Notes

• View counts and publish dates per video are not part of YouTube's playlist listing. Pass the video IDs to the YouTube Video Details Scraper from the same author to get them.
• Mixes (playlist IDs starting with RD) are endless by design; the actor returns their first page only.
• index follows YouTube's numbering, so it keeps counting over hidden private or deleted entries; position counts only what was returned.

Using it from code

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('serentity/youtube-playlist-scraper').call({ playlistUrls: ['PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4'] });
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.map((v) => v.videoId));

Legal

The data is what YouTube shows to any visitor of a public or unlisted playlist page. No login, no personal data beyond public channel names. Use it in line with YouTube's terms of service.