# YouTube Transcript Scraper: Any Language, Timestamps, Translate (`trueline-data/youtube-transcripts`) Actor

Get the full transcript of any YouTube video, with timestamps, in any language. Pay only for transcripts you get: videos with no captions are never charged.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/trueline-data/youtube-transcripts.md
- **Developed by:** [Trueline Data](https://apify.com/trueline-data) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, AI, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 transcripts

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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Transcript Scraper: Any Language, Timestamps, Translate

Get the full transcript of any YouTube video: plain text, timed segments, or timestamped lines.
Paste video links, get transcripts back. Works for regular videos, Shorts and live replays.

### Why this one

- **You pay only for transcripts you get.** A video with no captions, a private or removed video, or
  a video that fails is listed in the results with the reason, and you are not charged for it.
- **Built to get through.** YouTube blocks most datacenter IPs. Every retry uses a new residential
  IP, so one blocked IP does not fail your video.
- **Human captions first.** When a video has captions written by a person, you get those, not
  YouTube's automatic speech guess. You can see which one you got (`isAutoGenerated`).
- **Any language, plus translation.** Ask for a language, or have YouTube translate the captions.
- **Video details included at no extra cost:** title, channel, duration and view count.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `videos` | Video URLs or ids. Any form: `watch?v=`, `youtu.be/`, `/shorts/`, `/embed/`, `/live/`, or the 11-character id. |
| `language` | Preferred language code, like `en`, `es`, `pt-BR`. Empty = English, else the first available. |
| `translateTo` | Optional language code to translate the captions into. |
| `includeSegments` | Timed segments with start and duration in seconds (default on). |
| `includeTimestampedText` | One line per caption, like `[01:05] text` (default off). |

```json
{
  "videos": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw"],
  "language": "en",
  "includeTimestampedText": true
}
```

### Output

```json
{
  "videoId": "jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "status": "ok",
  "title": "Me at the zoo",
  "channel": "jawed",
  "channelId": "UC4QobU6STFB0P71PMvOGN5A",
  "durationSeconds": 19,
  "viewCount": 444634557,
  "isLive": false,
  "language": "en",
  "originalLanguage": "en",
  "isAutoGenerated": false,
  "translated": false,
  "availableLanguages": ["de", "en"],
  "text": "All right, so here we are, in front of the elephants the coo ...",
  "wordCount": 39,
  "timestampedText": "[00:01] All right, so here we are, in front of the elephants\n[00:05] t ...",
  "segments": [{ "start": 1.2, "duration": 2.16, "text": "All right, so here we are, in front of the elephants" }]
}
```

`status` is one of: `ok` (charged), `no_captions`, `unavailable` (private, removed or blocked in the
proxy's country), `age_restricted`, `error`, `invalid_input` (none of these are charged).

### Pricing

Pay per transcript returned. Nothing else is charged.

### Good uses

Feeding videos to ChatGPT or another AI, summaries and notes, research across many videos, content
repurposing, SEO, and searching what was said in a video.

### Limits

Videos with captions turned off by the uploader have no transcript to get. Age-restricted videos
need a signed-in account, which this tool does not use.

# Actor input Schema

## `videos` (type: `array`):

Video URLs or ids. Any form works: youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, /shorts/, /embed/, /live/, or the 11-character id.

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

Language code such as en, es, de, pt-BR. Captions written by a person in this language come first, then auto-generated ones. Leave empty for English, else the first available.

## `translateTo` (type: `string`):

Optional language code. YouTube translates the captions into this language when the video allows it.

## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`):

Each caption line with its start time and duration in seconds.

## `includeTimestampedText` (type: `boolean`):

One line per caption, like \[01:05] text. Handy for notes and AI prompts.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many videos to fetch in parallel.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Each retry uses a new IP address.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

YouTube blocks most datacenter IPs. Residential proxies are the reliable choice.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "includeSegments": true,
  "includeTimestampedText": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "maxRetries": 4,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ],
        "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("trueline-data/youtube-transcripts").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 = {
    "videos": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
        "apifyProxyCountry": "US",
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("trueline-data/youtube-transcripts").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 '{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}' |
apify call trueline-data/youtube-transcripts --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/c4CEbwRL3tpIDchB2/builds/NStUDDed0mDtaPscj/openapi.json