# YouTube Video Details Scraper (`automationagents/youtube-video`) Actor

Get full YouTube video details: title, description, view and like counts, duration, tags, and chapters. Structured JSON output.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/automationagents/youtube-video.md
- **Developed by:** [Alex Jordan](https://apify.com/automationagents) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 1 monthly users, 96.9% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 successful api calls

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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

### What does YouTube Video Details do?

**YouTube Video Details** extracts comprehensive metadata for any YouTube video — title, full description, view count, like count, duration, tags, chapters, thumbnails, and publish date — directly from a video URL. No YouTube Data API key required, no quota limits.

Built on the **Apify platform**, this Actor runs in seconds and integrates with Apify's scheduling, webhooks, and 1,500+ integrations via Zapier and Make.

### Why use YouTube Video Details?

- **Content analysis** — Analyse top-performing videos in your niche by views, likes, and tags
- **Competitor research** — Understand how competitors structure their video titles and descriptions
- **Lead enrichment** — Enrich a list of video URLs with full metadata for CRM or outreach
- **SEO research** — Extract tags and chapters to understand YouTube's ranking signals
- **Influencer vetting** — Quickly verify engagement stats before a partnership deal

### How to use YouTube Video Details

1. Click **Try for free** on this Actor's page
2. Paste a **YouTube video URL** (e.g. `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ`)
3. Optionally enable **include\_captions** to get subtitles/transcript
4. Click **Start** and wait a few seconds
5. Download your results as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the **Output** tab

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `url` | string | ✅ | YouTube video URL or video ID |
| `include_captions` | boolean | ❌ | Include captions/subtitles (default false) |
| `cache` | boolean | ❌ | Use cached result if available (default true) |

**Example input:**

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "include_captions": false
}
```

### Output

**Example output:**

```json
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
  "description": "The official video for...",
  "channelName": "Rick Astley",
  "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
  "viewCount": 1400000000,
  "likeCount": 16000000,
  "duration": "PT3M33S",
  "tags": ["rick astley", "never gonna give you up"],
  "thumbnails": {
    "default": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/default.jpg",
    "maxres": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"
  },
  "chapters": [],
  "publishedAt": "2009-10-25T06:57:33Z",
  "meta": { "cache_hit": false, "execution_time_ms": 980 }
}
```

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

### Data fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `videoId` | string | YouTube video ID |
| `title` | string | Video title |
| `description` | string | Full video description |
| `channelName` | string | Channel display name |
| `channelId` | string | YouTube channel ID |
| `viewCount` | integer | Total view count |
| `likeCount` | integer | Total like count |
| `duration` | string | Duration in ISO 8601 format (e.g. PT3M33S) |
| `tags` | array | Video tags |
| `thumbnails` | object | Thumbnail URLs by quality (default, medium, high, maxres) |
| `chapters` | array | Chapter timestamps and titles (if available) |
| `publishedAt` | string | Publication date (ISO 8601) |

### Pricing / Cost estimation

**$0.02 per successful API call** on Apify.

- 1,000 successful Apify runs = $20.00

### FAQ & Support

**Is this legal?** This Actor fetches publicly available YouTube video metadata — the same data visible in any browser without login.

**Known limitations:** Private or age-restricted videos will not return data. Live streams may return incomplete metadata.

**Need help?** Open an issue in the Issues tab or contact the support team for custom solutions.

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

YouTube video URL or video ID

## `include_captions` (type: `boolean`):

Include video captions/subtitles in the response

## `cache` (type: `boolean`):

Use cached result if available

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "cache": true
}
```

# 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 = {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "include_captions": false,
    "cache": true
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("automationagents/youtube-video").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 = {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "include_captions": False,
    "cache": True,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("automationagents/youtube-video").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "include_captions": false,
  "cache": true
}' |
apify call automationagents/youtube-video --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automationagents/youtube-video",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/tO74w46rtS2DxnaQ9/builds/V2VUPWCuzMdF4XHKp/openapi.json