YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper API

Extract timestamped transcripts, subtitles, and automatic captions from YouTube videos and Shorts in bulk. Choose languages and receive VTT, SRT, JSON3, SRV, or TTML files through temporary direct links or your own cloud storage.

Pay once per successful video regardless of how many requested languages are delivered, from $1.20 per 1,000 videos. The output is ready for transcription archives, search, RAG, vector stores, and LLM workflows.

Built on Titan Network's distributed infrastructure, used by leading AI companies and designed to support petabyte-scale dataset delivery.

What you get

Capability	Details
Caption sources	Manual subtitles and automatic captions, when available
Languages	One to ten language codes, or all for every available language
Formats	VTT, SRT, JSON3, SRV1, SRV2, SRV3, and TTML
Direct links	Pre-signed links retained for approximately 24 hours
Cloud delivery	Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or DigitalOcean Spaces

Standard YouTube videos, Shorts, youtu.be links, and plain 11-character video IDs are supported. Duplicate IDs are processed and charged once.

How to extract YouTube transcripts

1. Click Try for free.
2. Paste YouTube URLs or 11-character video IDs into Start URLs.
3. Select one to ten language codes, or choose all for every available subtitle.
4. Choose VTT, SRT, JSON3, SRV, or TTML and select direct links or cloud delivery.
5. Click Run, then open the Dataset to collect the subtitle files.

How much does it cost?

One successful video produces one billable subtitle set, regardless of how many requested languages are delivered. Platform usage is included in the event price, with no separate start or proxy fee charged by this Actor.

Apify plan	Price per 1,000 successful videos
Free	$2.00
Starter	$1.80
Scale	$1.50
Business	$1.20

At the Free-plan rate, $5 of prepaid usage covers about 2,500 successful subtitle sets when the credit is otherwise unused. Videos without available captions, failed requests, timeouts, cancellations, duplicates, and missing output files do not trigger a success charge.

Check the live Pricing tab before a large run; it is the authoritative source for the price that applies.

Input configuration

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
startUrls	Array of strings	Yes	-	YouTube URLs or plain 11-character video IDs. Duplicates are processed once.
subtitleLanguages	Array of strings	Yes	-	One to ten language codes, such as en or zh-Hans, or ["all"].
subtitleFormat	String	No	"vtt"	srt, vtt, json3, srv1, srv2, srv3, or ttml.
storageType	String	No	"apify"	apify for temporary direct links, or aws, gcp, or digitalocean for external storage.
s3Bucket	String	External storage	-	Bucket or container name.
s3Region	String	No	-	Storage region, such as us-east-1, auto, or nyc3. Required for DigitalOcean.
s3AccessKeyId	String	External storage	-	Access key ID for the target storage.
s3SecretAccessKey	String	External storage	-	Secret access key for the target storage.
maxWaitSec	Integer	No	Mode default	Maximum processing time per item.
maxConcurrency	Integer	No	20	Number of concurrent worker units, from 1 to 50.

Azure Blob Storage is not currently supported.

Example input

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"],
  "subtitleLanguages": ["en", "zh-Hans"],
  "subtitleFormat": "vtt"
}

Output dataset

Each requested video produces one Dataset row. Completed rows include the video ID and title, requested languages and format, processing status, the main download link or storage key, and a downloadFiles entry for every delivered language.

The downloadFiles array is the authoritative delivery record. Failed items include a machine-readable error code and do not trigger a success charge.

Use cases

• Build clean, timestamped transcript datasets for RAG and semantic search.
• Prepare captions for LangChain, LlamaIndex, vector stores, or LLM prompts.
• Archive multilingual subtitles for authorized video collections.
• Create searchable research, education, accessibility, or media-monitoring datasets.
• Deliver large subtitle batches directly to your own cloud bucket.

Limitations

Private, age-gated, members-only, removed, and region-restricted videos may not be available. Videos with captions disabled or no manual or automatic captions cannot return subtitle files. Availability and language coverage depend on YouTube's source data.

Integrations and API

Run the Actor from the Apify API using ready-made Python, JavaScript, or cURL snippets in the API tab. You can also schedule runs in Apify Console, trigger them from n8n, Make, or Zapier, receive completion webhooks, or call the Actor through the Apify MCP server.

FAQ

Where do the subtitles come from?

The Actor attempts both manual subtitles and automatic captions. It returns only the languages and formats available for each source video.

Am I charged when a video has no captions?

No. A success event is triggered only after the Gateway reports completion, the requested subtitle files are present, and the Dataset row has been written. Missing captions, failures, timeouts, cancellations, and missing outputs are not charged.

Does requesting more languages cost more?

No. Billing is per successful video, not per language. One successful video triggers one subtitle-set charge regardless of how many requested languages are delivered.

How long are direct links valid?

Titan platform links are retained for approximately 24 hours. Use your own S3, GCS, or DigitalOcean bucket for persistent copies.

Is it legal to download YouTube subtitles?

The Actor accesses captions made available for the source video. Redistributing copyrighted transcripts may not be permitted. Follow YouTube's Terms of Service and applicable copyright and privacy law. This is not legal advice.

Support

Open an issue on the Issues tab. We respond within one business day. If this Actor saved you time, an honest review helps other users find it. For higher volumes, custom formats, or an SLA, email titannet@titannet.io; enterprise pricing is arranged through Apify.

Other Titan YouTube Actors

• YouTube Video Downloader - 4K, MP4 & MP3
• YouTube MP3 Audio Downloader
• YouTube Video Metadata Scraper

Legal and fair use

This Actor is intended for collecting captions from authorized content for lawful purposes. Titan Network is not affiliated with YouTube or Google. You are responsible for complying with applicable law and platform terms.