Vimeo Transcript Extractor

Extract transcripts from Vimeo videos — films, creative portfolios, webinars, online courses, and branded content. Provide a Vimeo URL and get back clean, timestamped text in the format your workflow needs.

Works with any public Vimeo video. No login required.

What it does

1. You provide a Vimeo video URL or an embedded player URL.
2. The actor extracts the spoken transcript with precise timestamps.
3. You get back structured data in JSON, plain text, SRT, or WebVTT format — ready for subtitles, course notes, or content pipelines.

Vimeo is the platform of choice for filmmakers, educators, and agencies hosting high-quality video. This actor makes that content machine-readable without manual transcription.

Key features

• Creative & educational content — built for the kinds of long-form, polished videos Vimeo hosts: documentary cuts, corporate training, course lectures, and portfolio reels.
• Embedded player support — accepts both standard vimeo.com/<id> and player.vimeo.com/video/<id> URLs, covering embed-only setups.
• Timestamped segments — precise start and end times on every segment, so subtitle editors and e-learning authors can sync text to video precisely.
• 4 output formats — JSON, plain text, SRT, or WebVTT. Drop SRT directly into a video editor or course platform.
• Multi-language — uses Vimeo's own caption tracks when present; speech-to-text fallback covers 14 languages.
• No login required.

Supported languages

When caption tracks are attached to the Vimeo video, the actor uses them directly in any language they were authored. When no captions exist, speech-to-text fallback supports:

Code	Language
en	English
es	Spanish
fr	French
de	German
pt	Portuguese
it	Italian
nl	Dutch
ja	Japanese
ko	Korean
zh	Chinese
ar	Arabic
ru	Russian
tr	Turkish
hi	Hindi

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
url	string	(required)	Vimeo video URL
language	string	"en"	Preferred language (ISO 639-1)
format	string	"json"	"json", "text", "srt", or "vtt"

Supported URLs

https://vimeo.com/123456789
https://player.vimeo.com/video/123456789

Output example

When format is json, each dataset row looks like this:

{
    "url": "https://vimeo.com/123456789",
    "platform": "vimeo",
    "language": "en",
    "duration_sec": 1842,
    "segments": [
        { "start": 0.0, "end": 5.3, "text": "Welcome to the advanced motion graphics workshop." },
        { "start": 5.3, "end": 10.8, "text": "By the end of this session you will be able to rig any character in After Effects." }
    ],
    "full_text": "Welcome to the advanced motion graphics workshop. By the end of this session you will be able to rig any character in After Effects."
}

When format is text, srt, or vtt, the formatted transcript is written to the actor's key-value store under the OUTPUT key.

When extraction fails, the dataset row contains a clear error:

{
    "error": "NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "The video is private, removed, or has no extractable transcript."
}

Error codes

Code	Meaning
INVALID_FORMAT	format was not one of json/text/srt/vtt
BAD_REQUEST	The URL was malformed or rejected by the transcript operation
UNSUPPORTED_PLATFORM	No transcript operation serves this URL's platform
UNAUTHORIZED	The actor's ScriptBase key is missing, invalid, or revoked
INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS	The ScriptBase account behind this actor is out of credits
NOT_FOUND	The video is private, removed, or has no extractable transcript
UPSTREAM_FAILED	Every transcript source failed -- retry shortly
RATE_LIMITED	Too many requests -- retry after a short delay
TIMEOUT	Extraction took longer than the actor's poll budget
INTERNAL_ERROR	Unexpected error during extraction

Use cases

• Online course & e-learning — convert lecture recordings and tutorial videos into course notes, searchable transcripts, or LMS-ready caption files without hiring a transcriptionist.
• Subtitle generation — export SRT or WebVTT directly from any public Vimeo video. Paste it into Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, or your video host's caption uploader.
• Webinar repurposing — turn recorded webinars into blog posts, email sequences, or LinkedIn articles that extend the life of the content.
• Portfolio & film archiving — make filmmaker reels and documentary excerpts searchable and indexable by extracting their narration or dialogue.
• Translation pipelines — get clean source text to feed into translation APIs or human translators for multilingual subtitle tracks.
• Accessibility compliance — organizations hosting training or marketing videos on Vimeo can generate accurate captions to meet WCAG and ADA requirements.

Integrations

Use this actor through the Apify API or connect it to your automation stack:

• Python — apify_client.actor("your-actor-id").call(run_input={"url": "https://vimeo.com/123456789"})
• JavaScript — await client.actor("your-actor-id").call({url: "https://vimeo.com/123456789"})
• Zapier / Make / n8n — watch a spreadsheet of Vimeo URLs and auto-generate transcripts whenever a new row is added.
• Webhooks — receive a payload with the full transcript the moment extraction completes, piping directly into your CMS or translation service.

FAQ

Does this require a Vimeo account? No. The actor extracts transcripts from any publicly accessible Vimeo video without credentials.

What about password-protected videos? Password-protected or private Vimeo videos are not accessible. The actor only works with public content.

My video is a long course (90+ minutes). Will it work? Yes. The actor handles longer videos, though extraction time scales with duration. For very long videos, set a generous actor timeout in your run configuration.

The video already has captions attached — will it use those? Yes. The actor uses existing caption tracks first and only falls back to speech-to-text when no captions are present.

Can I get WebVTT output for a video platform that requires it? Yes. Set format to "vtt" and retrieve the file from the key-value store under the OUTPUT key.

Does it support Vimeo showcase or channel URLs? Pass the direct video URL (including the numeric ID) for best results. Channel or showcase listing pages are not supported.

What does it cost? Pricing is per transcribed minute (1 minute = 1 charge unit, minimum 1), so you pay only for the audio actually processed — and failed extractions cost nothing. The exact per-minute price is shown on this actor's Apify Store page.