# YouTube Transcript Scraper — Batch + SRT/VTT Export (`vanity_arias/youtube-transcript-scraper-batch`) Actor

Extract YouTube video transcripts in bulk — paste video URLs, IDs, or Shorts links and get clean text, timestamped segments, and ready-to-use SRT/VTT subtitle files. No API key, failed videos never charged.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/vanity\_arias/youtube-transcript-scraper-batch.md
- **Developed by:** [Nvikelo Nyathi](https://apify.com/vanity_arias) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage

## 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

## YouTube Transcript Scraper — Batch + SRT/VTT Export

Extract **YouTube transcripts in bulk** — paste a list of video URLs, video IDs, or Shorts links and get back clean transcript text, timestamped segments, and ready-to-use **SRT / VTT subtitle files**. No YouTube API key, no quota, no browser extension.

### Why this YouTube transcript scraper?

- **True batch input** — transcribe 1 or 500 videos in a single run. Most transcript actors accept a single URL at a time.
- **SRT and VTT export** — the only formats video editors, subtitle tools, and players actually ingest. Each file is also saved to the run's key-value store for direct download.
- **Every URL shape works** — `watch?v=`, `youtu.be`, Shorts, embeds, live links, or bare 11-character video IDs.
- **Failed videos are never charged** — private, deleted, or caption-less videos are logged, skipped, and summarized; the batch keeps going.
- **Language preference** — request `en`, `es`, `de`, or any priority list; manually-created captions are preferred over auto-generated ones, and the result tells you which you got.
- **LLM/RAG-friendly output** — compact JSON with a clean `text` field per video, ideal for feeding transcripts into AI agents, summarizers, or vector stores (works out of the box via Apify's MCP server).

### Input

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw",
    "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/abc123def45"
  ],
  "languages": ["en"],
  "formats": ["text", "srt"]
}
```

### Output

One dataset item per successfully transcribed video:

```json
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "isGenerated": false,
  "text": "We're no strangers to love…",
  "srt": "1\n00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,500\nWe're no strangers to love…"
}
```

Add `"segments"` to `formats` for timestamped JSON snippets (`text` / `start` / `duration`), and `"vtt"` for WebVTT subtitles.

### Common use cases

- Subtitle files (SRT/VTT) for video editing, translation, or accessibility workflows
- Bulk transcript datasets for **AI summarization, RAG pipelines, and LLM agents**
- Content research — search what competitors say across their whole channel
- Repurposing video content into blog posts, newsletters, or show notes

### FAQ

**Does it need a YouTube API key?** No. Transcripts are fetched directly; the official API doesn't expose them anyway.

**What about videos without captions?** They're reported in the run status message and skipped — you're never charged for a failed video.

**Which languages are supported?** Anything YouTube has captions for — manual or auto-generated. Pass a preference list like `["de", "en"]`.

### Related actors

- [YouTube Outlier Finder](https://apify.com/vanity_arias/youtube-outlier-finder) — find a channel's breakout videos vs its baseline
- [YouTube Channel ID Finder](https://apify.com/vanity_arias/youtube-channel-id-finder) — resolve handles/URLs to canonical channel IDs
- [YouTube Featured Channels Scraper](https://apify.com/vanity_arias/iris-channel-discovery) — expand a seed channel into its featured channels

# Actor input Schema

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

YouTube videos — video IDs, watch URLs, `youtu.be` links, or Shorts URLs. One per line.

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

Transcript language preference order (ISO codes, e.g. `en`, `es`, `de`). First available wins; manually-created transcripts are preferred over auto-generated.

## `formats` (type: `array`):

What each result should include. `text` = full plain text, `segments` = timestamped JSON snippets, `srt`/`vtt` = subtitle files (also saved to the key-value store for download).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy — residential is used automatically (YouTube blocks datacenter IPs). You normally don't need to touch this.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "formats": [
    "text",
    "srt"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# 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=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "jNQXAC9IVRw"
    ],
    "languages": [
        "en"
    ],
    "formats": [
        "text",
        "srt"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("vanity_arias/youtube-transcript-scraper-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 = {
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "jNQXAC9IVRw",
    ],
    "languages": ["en"],
    "formats": [
        "text",
        "srt",
    ],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("vanity_arias/youtube-transcript-scraper-batch").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 '{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "formats": [
    "text",
    "srt"
  ]
}' |
apify call vanity_arias/youtube-transcript-scraper-batch --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/yynO5JwcWPocJ3QuM/builds/JXhstMHjgAWMow7RK/openapi.json