# YouTube Region Availability Checker (`w3crawler/youtube-region-restriction-checker`) Actor

Check public YouTube video playability in selected ISO 3166-1 country contexts and return per-country availability evidence, restrictions, and video metadata without inferring untested coverage.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/w3crawler/youtube-region-restriction-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [w3crawler](https://apify.com/w3crawler) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.99 / 1,000 region availabilities

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 Public Region Restriction Checker

Compare the playability status returned by public YouTube watch pages for a bounded list of country contexts. The actor requests `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...&hl=en&gl=XX`, parses the embedded public player response, and records only countries that returned an observable player status.

### Dataset

Each video record contains the submitted reference, video/channel metadata, description, keywords, duration, views, thumbnails, captions and streaming-format counts when the public response exposes them, plus per-country playability observations. It also includes requested/tested/failed country counts, accessible and blocked lists, percentages, baseline status, evidence mode, and source provenance.

Country evidence is labeled explicitly:

- `country-matched Apify Proxy IP plus public watch-page gl parameter` means an Apify country route was requested for that country.
- `Apify Proxy IP plus public watch-page gl parameter; country match not independently verified` means a proxy was used without a country-specific route.
- `public watch-page gl parameter only; request IP country not controlled` means only the public page's locale parameter was varied.

These are point-in-time observations, not proof of permanent global licensing or availability. A mixed result means the tested public responses differed; it does not infer untested countries.

Blocked or failed country requests are emitted as exactly four diagnostic fields: `url`, `error`, `errorCode`, and `scrapedAt`. Per-run counts and proxy state are written to `OUTPUT`.

### Input

| Field | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `videoUrls` | required | Public YouTube watch, Shorts, embed, youtu.be URLs, or 11-character IDs. |
| `countryCodes` | `US, GB, DE, IN, JP` | ISO alpha-2 country contexts, 1–20. |
| `maxItems` | `10` | Maximum unique videos, 1–50. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | none | Optional account-authorized Apify Proxy. Country-specific routes are used when the configuration requests Apify Proxy. |
| `enableProxyFallback` | `true` | After a direct page failure, try one ordinary Apify Proxy route. |
| `includeDiagnostics` | `true` | Keep bounded country-failure diagnostics. |
| `requestDelayMs` / `requestTimeoutSecs` | `250` / `60` | Pacing and bounded page timeout. |

### Example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"],
  "countryCodes": ["US", "GB", "DE"],
  "maxItems": 1,
  "enableProxyFallback": true,
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}
```

### Safety and limits

- Uses a fixed ordinary User-Agent and public watch-page HTML only.
- Does not call `youtubei` endpoints, rotate client identities, spoof fingerprints, patch browser stealth, bypass CAPTCHA/login, or store cookies, credentials, proxy URLs, or request identity fields in dataset records.
- YouTube may return a generic or blocked response even when a video is public. The actor preserves that limitation in diagnostics and OUTPUT rather than treating missing data as unrestricted or unavailable.
- Proxy usage consumes account resources; a country route is evidence of the requested route, not an independently measured IP assertion.

### Local verification

```powershell
npm test
npx --yes apify validate-schema
$env:APIFY_LOCAL_STORAGE_DIR = 'storage'
npx --yes apify run --purge --input-file INPUT.json
node validate-datasets.js
```

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/w3crawler/youtube-region-restriction-checker/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

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

Public YouTube watch, Shorts, embed, youtu.be URLs, or 11-character video IDs.

## `countryCodes` (type: `array`):

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. Each country is checked with the public watch-page gl parameter.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of unique video references to process.

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

Optional account-authorized Apify Proxy. When an Apify country route is created, evidence is labeled country-matched; otherwise the record states that IP country was not independently controlled.

## `enableProxyFallback` (type: `boolean`):

After a direct public watch-page failure, try one ordinary Apify Proxy request. This does not spoof fingerprints or bypass access controls.

## `includeDiagnostics` (type: `boolean`):

Write bounded four-field diagnostics for blocked or failed country observations.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Pacing delay between country checks.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Bounded public watch-page request timeout.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "countryCodes": [
    "US",
    "GB"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "enableProxyFallback": true,
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 250,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 60
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

## `keyValueStore` (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 = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ],
    "countryCodes": [
        "US",
        "GB"
    ],
    "maxItems": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    },
    "enableProxyFallback": true,
    "includeDiagnostics": true,
    "requestDelayMs": 250,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 60
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("w3crawler/youtube-region-restriction-checker").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 = {
    "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"],
    "countryCodes": [
        "US",
        "GB",
    ],
    "maxItems": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
    "enableProxyFallback": True,
    "includeDiagnostics": True,
    "requestDelayMs": 250,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("w3crawler/youtube-region-restriction-checker").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 '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "countryCodes": [
    "US",
    "GB"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "enableProxyFallback": true,
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 250,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 60
}' |
apify call w3crawler/youtube-region-restriction-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,w3crawler/youtube-region-restriction-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

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/NKwBLdsANh7aKwt8M/builds/ik7WMNiu5mvYYQjG8/openapi.json