# YouTube Transcript Scraper (with AI transcription) (`ytranscript/youtube-transcript`) Actor

Get transcripts of YouTube videos in bulk, including videos with no captions (AI speech-to-text). Returns the spoken language, plain text, and timestamped segments.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ytranscript/youtube-transcript.md
- **Developed by:** [yTranscript API](https://apify.com/ytranscript) (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

from $7.00 / 1,000 transcript from captions

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 (with AI transcription)

Get transcripts of YouTube videos in bulk, **including videos that have no captions**. Paste video links or IDs and get back clean text plus timestamped segments in the language actually spoken.

### Why this scraper

- **Works on videos without captions.** When a video has no captions, it's transcribed with AI speech-to-text. Other transcript scrapers return nothing for these videos.
- **Correct language.** You get the language actually spoken by default, including on YouTube's auto-dubbed videos, which list a dozen or more dubbed caption tracks. Set a language to fetch a specific caption track instead.
- **Reliable.** Requests go through the [yTranscript API](https://ytranscript.com/developers), which handles YouTube's bot detection and IP blocking with multiple fallback routes.
- **Failed videos cost nothing.** Private, removed, or invalid videos come back as clearly labeled error rows, and you're never charged for them.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| **YouTube videos** | Video URLs (`watch`, `youtu.be`, `shorts`, `embed`, `live`) or 11-character video IDs. Duplicates are removed automatically. |
| **Language** (optional) | Caption language code such as `en` or `es`. Leave empty to get each video's original language. |
| **Include timestamped segments** | Adds a `segments` array with start time, duration, and text. On by default. |
| **Max concurrency** | How many videos to fetch at once, from 1 to 5. |

### Output

One row per video:

```json
{
  "videoId": "L9R64Q2E2lQ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9R64Q2E2lQ",
  "status": "success",
  "language": "en",
  "source": "captions",
  "text": "hi there it has been a very very long time since I released the pattern...",
  "characterCount": 86900,
  "segments": [
    { "start": 2.76, "duration": 4.679, "text": "hi there it has been a very very long" }
  ]
}
```

`source` is `captions` when the text came from YouTube's captions, or `ai-transcription` when the video had none and was transcribed with AI.

Failed videos look like this:

```json
{ "videoId": "abc123xyz00", "status": "error", "errorCode": "no_transcript", "error": "No transcript available for this video." }
```

Error codes: `invalid_input`, `no_transcript` (private, removed, age-restricted, or no speech), `fetch_failed`.

### Pricing

You pay per successful transcript:

- **Transcript from captions:** per result, shown on the Pricing tab
- **AI transcription** (videos without captions): per result, shown on the Pricing tab

Failed and invalid videos are free. If you set a maximum cost for a run, the scraper stops cleanly when it's reached and doesn't process or charge anything past it.

### Use cases

- Feeding video content to ChatGPT, Claude, or your own LLM pipeline
- Research and content analysis across many videos
- Search, subtitles, and accessibility
- Repurposing videos into blog posts, notes, and summaries

### Integrations

Export results as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or connect them to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, and webhooks through Apify integrations. For direct API access from your own code or from AI tools like Claude and Cursor, see [ytranscript.com/developers](https://ytranscript.com/developers).

# Actor input Schema

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

Video URLs (watch, youtu.be, shorts, embed, live) or 11-character video IDs. Duplicates are removed.

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

Caption language code, e.g. en or es. Leave empty to get each video's original spoken language.

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

Add a segments array with start time, duration, and text for each line. Turn off for plain text only.

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

How many videos to fetch at once (1 to 5).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9R64Q2E2lQ"
  ],
  "includeSegments": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `transcripts` (type: `string`):

One row per video: text, language, source (captions or AI transcription), and timestamped segments. Failed videos appear as error rows and are not charged.

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Status, language, source, character count, and transcript for each video.

# 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=L9R64Q2E2lQ"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ytranscript/youtube-transcript").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=L9R64Q2E2lQ"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ytranscript/youtube-transcript").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=L9R64Q2E2lQ"
  ]
}' |
apify call ytranscript/youtube-transcript --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/GR9XFSMqbfR7XPwnC/builds/dEmXMxPeTp7bQkdol/openapi.json