# YouTube Video Transcript & Metadata Scraper (`trisecode/yt-transcript`) Actor Fast & free YouTube scraper. Extract transcripts, subtitles, and detailed video metadata without an API key. Supports export to JSON, CSV. - **URL**: https://apify.com/trisecode/yt-transcript.md - **Developed by:** [Trisecode](https://apify.com/trisecode) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Social media, Automation - **Stats:** 96 total users, 7 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 3 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.01 / 1,000 results 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 a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## YouTube Video Data & Transcript Scraper (Free & No API Key) [Apify Actor](https://apify.com/actors) that extracts **detailed metadata** and **transcripts (subtitles)** from YouTube videos without requiring your own YouTube Data API key. ### 🚀 Key Features - **⚡️ Fast & Efficient**: Uses lightweight methods first, falling back to heavier extraction techniques only when necessary to ensure speed and reliability. - **📝 Full Transcripts**: extracts subtitles with **precise timestamps**. Supports both manual and auto-generated captions. - **🔍 Deep Metadata**: Fetches more than just the title. Get **views, likes, upload date, duration, channel info, tags, and categories**. - **🌍 Smart Language Detection**: Automatically prioritizes the best available transcript (Video Language > English > Any). - **🛡️ Anti-Blocking System**: Robust 3-layer fallback strategy to evade rate limits and 429 errors. - **💰 Cost-Effective**: Designed to run with minimal resources. ### 💡 Typical Use Cases - **AI Content Analysis**: Feed video transcripts into LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude) for summarization or RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). - **Sentiment Analysis**: Analyze what creators are saying about specific topics or brands. - **SEO & Keyword Research**: Extract tags, descriptions, and captions to optimize your own content. - **Content Archiving**: Save metadata and text representations of videos for historical records. ### 🏎️ How It Works This Actor uses a smart waterfall approach to get the data: 1. **Primary**: Uses direct, lightweight internal APIs for the fastest execution. 2. **Secondary**: Falls back to alternative endpoints if the primary method fails. 3. **Tertiary**: Uses a browser-like emulation layer as a final failsafe for stubborn videos. ### 📦 Input Configuration The Actor accepts a simple JSON input: ```json { "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID", "includeTimestamps": true } ```` #### Parameters - **`video_url`** (String, Required): The full URL of the YouTube video. - **`includeTimestamps`** (Boolean, Optional): Set to `true` (default) to get start/duration for each segment, or `false` for plain text only. ### 📄 Output Example The Actor produces a unified JSON result (`video_data`): ```json { "video": { "id": "qDrMAzCHFUU", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDrMAzCHFUU", "title": "Competing Against Luck - Clayton Christensen", "description": "Discover the 'Job to be Done' theory...", "views": 150230, "upload_date": "2016-10-25T00:00:00", "length_seconds": 3280 }, "transcript": { "language": "en", "is_generated": true, "segments": [ { "text": "hello I'm desde love welcome to the idea", "start": 6.04, "duration": 4.95 } // ... more segments ], "full_text": "hello I'm desde love welcome to the idea my guest today is...", "source": "api-internal" }, "extras": { "engagement": { "like_count": 1200, "comment_count": 45 }, "channel": { "name": "TED", "id": "UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug", "followers": 23000000 }, "tags": ["innovation", "business", "strategy"] }, "fetched_at": "2025-12-07T12:00:00Z" } ``` ### 🛠️ Integration You can easily integrate this Actor into your existing workflows: - **Make.com / Zapier**: Trigger automations when new video data is scraped. - **LangChain / LlamaIndex**: Use the JSON output directly as a document loader source. - **API**: Call this Actor programmatically via the Apify Client. *** *Maintained by [Trisecode](https://github.com/trisecode).* # Actor input Schema ## `video_url` (type: `string`): The full URL of the YouTube video (youtube.com or youtu.be) ## `includeTimestamps` (type: `boolean`): If enabled, each transcript segment will include start time and duration ## Actor input object example ```json { "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "includeTimestamps": true } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("trisecode/yt-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("trisecode/yt-transcript").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 '{ "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }' | apify call trisecode/yt-transcript --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=trisecode/yt-transcript", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Video Transcript & Metadata Scraper", "description": "Fast & free YouTube scraper. Extract transcripts, subtitles, and detailed video metadata without an API key. Supports export to JSON, CSV.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "5kRk4G7QfnopB4Txu" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/trisecode~yt-transcript/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-trisecode-yt-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/trisecode~yt-transcript/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-trisecode-yt-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/trisecode~yt-transcript/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-trisecode-yt-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "video_url" ], "properties": { "video_url": { "title": "YouTube Video URL", "type": "string", "description": "The full URL of the YouTube video (youtube.com or youtu.be)" }, "includeTimestamps": { "title": "Include Timestamps", "type": "boolean", "description": "If enabled, each transcript segment will include start time and duration", "default": true } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```