YouTube Video Metadata: Title, Channel, Thumbnail (Bulk)

Get metadata for any list of public YouTube videos in bulk: title, channel name and URL, thumbnail image and ready-to-use embed HTML. Uses the official YouTube oEmbed endpoint - no API key and no quota limit, unlike the YouTube Data API.

What does YouTube Video Metadata do?

Bulk YouTube video metadata - title, channel name/URL, thumbnail and embed code - no API key, no quota.

What can you use it for?

• Pull title, channel and thumbnail for a list of YouTube links shared in a newsletter or blog.
• Build a simple video gallery or embed page from a list of URLs.
• Check which channel a video belongs to before featuring it.
• Get a ready-to-paste embed code for a batch of videos.

Why use this Actor?

• Fast and cheap: lightweight HTTP-based Actor with no browser, so runs finish in seconds and cost very little.
• No API keys or accounts needed for the data source (see notes below).
• Clean, structured JSON that you can export as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, or pull through the Apify API and integrations.
• Scheduling, webhooks and integrations: run it daily and send results to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, n8n or your own API.

Input

Configure the run in the Input tab (all fields have sensible defaults).

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
videoUrls	array of strings	yes	-	Public YouTube video URLs (watch, youtu.be or Shorts links).

Example input

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0"
  ]
}

Output

Results are stored in the default dataset. Download them from the Output tab or via the API.

Example result

{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "found": true,
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)",
  "authorName": "Rick Astley",
  "authorUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstleyYT",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg",
  "thumbnailWidth": 480,
  "thumbnailHeight": 360,
  "embedHtml": "<iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-wri...",
  "providerName": "YouTube",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-09-23T02:25:57.775Z"
}

Output fields

Field	Type	Example
url	string	"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
videoId	string	"dQw4w9WgXcQ"
found	boolean	true
title	string	"Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (...
authorName	string	"Rick Astley"
authorUrl	string	"https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstleyYT"
thumbnailUrl	string	"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg"
thumbnailWidth	number	480
thumbnailHeight	number	360
embedHtml	string	"<iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.y...
providerName	string	"YouTube"
fetchedAt	string	"2026-09-23T02:25:57.775Z"

How much does it cost?

The Actor is billed by Apify according to the pricing shown on the Pricing tab of this page. Runs are small and fast, and the Apify Free plan includes monthly platform credits so you can try it at no cost. You can set a maximum cost per run, and the Actor stops cleanly when that limit is reached.

Notes and limitations

• Uses the official YouTube oEmbed endpoint (the same one used by sites that show a rich preview when you paste a YouTube link) - no API key, no daily quota, unlike the full YouTube Data API.
• Only public, embeddable videos return data. Private, unlisted-but-restricted, deleted or age-restricted videos return found: false.
• View count, like count, duration and upload date are not available from oEmbed; use the YouTube Data API (requires a Google API key) if you need those.

Tips

• Start with a small test run, then scale up the input.
• Use Schedules to automate recurring runs and Webhooks or Integrations to deliver the data where you need it.
• Call the Actor from your code with the Apify API or the official JavaScript and Python clients.

FAQ

Does it work with youtu.be short links and Shorts URLs?

Yes, any URL format that contains a valid video ID is accepted.

Why is found false for a video I can watch?

The uploader may have disabled embedding, or the video is private/age-restricted - oEmbed only serves embeddable, public videos.

Feedback

Found a bug or need an extra field? Open an issue from the Issues tab of this Actor and it will be looked at quickly.

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