# YouTube Transcript Extractor (`toumi.oussema.re/youtube-transcript-extractor`) Actor

Instantly extracts the full timestamped transcript of one or more YouTube videos, with an option to merge it into continuous text for LLMs or RAG pipelines.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/toumi.oussema.re/youtube-transcript-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Oussema Toumi](https://apify.com/toumi.oussema.re) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Agents, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$10.00 / 1,000 transcription extraites

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/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 Extractor

Extracts the full timestamped transcript of one or more YouTube videos. Ideal
for feeding LLMs (summaries, chat-with-video) or RAG pipelines with video
content converted to text.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `videoUrls` | array | YouTube video URL(s) |
| `language` | string | Preferred language code (default: `en`), automatic fallback if unavailable |
| `outputFormat` | string | `segments`, `continuous`, or `both` (default) |

### Output (dataset)

Each record contains: `url`, `videoId`, `language`, and depending on the
chosen format `segments` (array of `{timestamp, offsetMs, durationMs, text}`)
and/or `continuous` (concatenated text) + `charCount`.

### Pricing (pay-per-event)

- `transcript-extracted` — $0.01 — per video with transcript retrieved
- `transcript-unavailable` — $0 — video without captions (never charged)

Example: 50 videos, 45 with transcript available ≈
45 × $0.01 = **$0.45** charged to the user (the 5 failures are free).

### Technical notes

- No GPU required: no audio transcription is generated, only retrieval of the
  captions already provided by YouTube (auto-generated or manual).
- Only works on videos that have captions/CC enabled.
- The language fallback avoids a hard failure when the requested language does
  not exist for a given video.

# Actor input Schema

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

One or more YouTube video URLs (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXXX)

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

Language code (e.g. en, fr). If unavailable, falls back to the video's default language.

## `outputFormat` (type: `string`):

segments = timestamped segments, continuous = continuous text, both = both

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "outputFormat": "both"
}
```

# 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("toumi.oussema.re/youtube-transcript-extractor").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("toumi.oussema.re/youtube-transcript-extractor").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 toumi.oussema.re/youtube-transcript-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/b58V97FzDeuqZiRtG/builds/b6B3a3lK2UxOdLQeL/openapi.json