# YouTube Transcript API (`soilair/youtube-transcript-api`) Actor

Extract public YouTube transcripts by video URL or ID. Return full text, timestamps, language metadata, and caption-track information. No YouTube Data API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/soilair/youtube-transcript-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Salih Can Kurnaz](https://apify.com/soilair) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 transcript results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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 API

> **Unofficial independent tool. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or maintained by YouTube or Google.**

Extract public YouTube transcripts/captions from video URLs or video IDs and receive structured text, timestamps, and transcript metadata.

### What it returns

Each requested video produces one dataset row.

Successful rows include:

- normalized video ID and watch URL
- selected transcript language and language code
- whether the transcript is manually created or automatically generated
- whether the selected track is translatable
- available public transcript tracks
- full transcript text
- timestamp segment count
- approximate transcript duration
- optional timestamp segments (`text`, `start`, `duration`)
- SHA-256 hashes for text/segment reproducibility
- UTC collection timestamp

Failure rows include a status and bounded error information. **Failed or unavailable transcript rows are not charged as `transcript-result` events.**

### Input example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "GJLlxj_dtq8"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "includeTimestamps": true
}
```

Accepted input forms include standard watch URLs, `youtu.be` links, Shorts URLs, embed/live URLs, and raw 11-character video IDs.

### Language behavior

The Actor first looks for the requested language code. If that language is not publicly available for the video, it falls back to the first public transcript track exposed for that video.

### Pricing

The primary PPE event is `transcript-result`.

You are charged for each **successfully returned transcript result**. Invalid input, unavailable captions, and failed retrieval rows do not trigger the `transcript-result` event.

### Scope and limitations

This Actor is intentionally focused on **public YouTube transcripts/captions for known videos**.

It does not claim to provide video search, comments, channel crawling, video/audio downloads, private content, restricted content, or exhaustive YouTube data.

A requested video may return a failure row when captions are disabled, unavailable, restricted, removed, region/account dependent, or temporarily inaccessible.

No YouTube Data API key is required from the user.

### Responsible use

Use only for lawful purposes. Respect applicable platform terms, copyright, privacy obligations, and local law. Do not use transcript content in ways that infringe third-party rights.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Watch URLs, youtu.be links, Shorts URLs, embed/live URLs, or raw 11-character YouTube video IDs.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Preferred transcript language code, for example en, tr, de, or fr. If unavailable, the Actor falls back to the first public transcript track.

## `includeTimestamps` (type: `boolean`):

Include the transcript segment array with text, start time, and duration.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "includeTimestamps": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("soilair/youtube-transcript-api").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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("soilair/youtube-transcript-api").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call soilair/youtube-transcript-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,soilair/youtube-transcript-api"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/63s87IeebmOpup9C0/builds/9waqWquIWed85Pdqh/openapi.json