# YouTube Transcript Extractor - videos, playlists, channels (`xargaar_tools/youtube-transcript-extractor-batch`) Actor

Get timestamped YouTube transcripts for videos, playlists and channels. Manual and auto captions, any language, optional RAG chunks. Pay only for transcripts delivered.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/xargaar_tools/youtube-transcript-extractor-batch.md
- **Developed by:** [Tyr Xargaar](https://apify.com/xargaar_tools) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Videos, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 transcript delivereds

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 Extractor: videos, playlists and channels

Get the transcript of any YouTube video, or of a whole playlist or channel, as clean JSON. You pay only for transcripts that are actually delivered. Videos without captions, private videos and errors are free.

### What you get per video

- Title, channel, duration, views, video ID and URL
- Language and whether the captions are manual or auto-generated
- Full transcript text
- Timestamped segments (start, duration, text), optional
- Optional RAG chunks of about N words with start timestamps, ready for embeddings

### Input

- **YouTube URLs**: video, youtu.be, shorts, playlist or channel (`https://www.youtube.com/@name/videos`) links
- **Preferred languages**: codes in order, for example `en`, `he`, `es`. Manual captions are preferred over auto-generated ones in the same language.
- **Max videos per playlist/channel**
- **RAG chunk size**: words per chunk, 0 to turn off

### Example output

```json
{
  "videoId": "jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "title": "Me at the zoo",
  "channel": "jawed",
  "language": "en",
  "isAutoGenerated": false,
  "wordCount": 39,
  "status": "OK",
  "text": "All right, so here we are, in front of the elephants ...",
  "segments": [{"start": 1.2, "duration": 2.16, "timestamp": "00:00:01", "text": "All right, so here we are, in front of the elephants"}]
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per event: one charge per transcript delivered. Residential proxy cost is included.

### Notes

Only public videos with captions are supported. This Actor reads the captions YouTube already publishes. It does not transcribe audio.

### Example input

```json
{"startUrls":["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"],"languages":["en"],"chunkWords":200}
```

### How to use it

- **Apify Console:** open the Actor, fill the input form, press Start, then download JSON, CSV or Excel from the Storage tab.
- **API and Python:** `ApifyClient("TOKEN").actor("xargaar_tools/youtube-transcript-extractor-batch").call(run_input=...)` and read the dataset items.
- **No-code:** connect it to Make, n8n, Zapier or Google Sheets with the Apify integrations.
- **Scheduling:** run it hourly, daily or weekly from the Schedules page.
- **AI agents:** works as a tool through the Apify MCP server.

### FAQ

**Do I need an API key or login?** No. Only an Apify account.
**What does it cost?** Only the per-result price above. You are never charged for results that were not delivered.
**Something is missing or broken.** Open an issue on the Actor page with the input you used and I will look at it.

### More Actors by Xargaar Tools

- YouTube Transcript Extractor: https://apify.com/xargaar_tools/youtube-transcript-extractor-batch
- YouTube Comments Scraper: https://apify.com/xargaar_tools/youtube-comments-scraper-fast
- YouTube Search Scraper: https://apify.com/xargaar_tools/youtube-search-video-scraper
- Google News Scraper with Full Article Text: https://apify.com/xargaar_tools/google-news-scraper-article-text

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Video, playlist or channel URLs (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/@channel/videos).

## `languages` (type: `array`):

Language codes in order of preference, e.g. en, he, es. First match wins.

## `includeAutoGenerated` (type: `boolean`):

Fall back to YouTube's automatic captions when no manual captions exist.

## `maxVideosPerUrl` (type: `integer`):

Limit for playlist and channel URLs.

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

Return each caption line with start time. Turn off to get only the full text.

## `chunkWords` (type: `integer`):

If above 0, also return timestamped text chunks of about this many words, ready for embeddings.

## `useApifyProxy` (type: `boolean`):

Recommended. YouTube blocks datacenter IPs, so requests go through a residential proxy. The cost is included in the price per transcript.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
    }
  ],
  "languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "includeAutoGenerated": true,
  "maxVideosPerUrl": 20,
  "includeSegments": true,
  "chunkWords": 0,
  "useApifyProxy": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Dataset items

# 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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
        }
    ],
    "languages": [
        "en"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("xargaar_tools/youtube-transcript-extractor-batch").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 = {
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" }],
    "languages": ["en"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("xargaar_tools/youtube-transcript-extractor-batch").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
    }
  ],
  "languages": [
    "en"
  ]
}' |
apify call xargaar_tools/youtube-transcript-extractor-batch --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/4j57mkDYLc346m3zF/builds/DehkTTJrZl138kEiN/openapi.json