# YouTube Transcript Scraper: bulk, timestamps, SRT export (`steadydata/youtube-transcript-bulk`) Actor

Fetch transcripts and subtitles for up to 500 YouTube videos per run: plain text, timestamps, timestamped snippets and optional SRT export, with language selection. Built for AI agents and bulk pipelines, with an error record per video and no charge for videos that have no transcript.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-transcript-bulk.md
- **Developed by:** [Steadydata Team](https://apify.com/steadydata) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, AI, Automation
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.25 / 1,000 transcript delivereds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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 Video Transcript in Any Language, bulk and fast

Get the YouTube video transcript in any language the video offers, for up to **500 videos in
one run**. Built for AI agents, content pipelines and bulk analysis: every row names the
language it came from and lists the other languages available, with timestamped snippets,
optional SRT export, and honest billing: **you only pay for transcripts that are actually
delivered**.

### Why this scraper

- **Only successful results are charged.** Videos without captions, deleted videos or
  temporary blocks show up as clear error records at no cost.
- **Built for bulk.** Paste up to 500 URLs or video IDs per run; every result carries
  the video ID so you can join it back to your own data.
- **Agent-ready output.** A stable, machine-readable schema (no HTML, no surprises)
  with explicit error codes — ideal as a tool behind an LLM or automation flow.
- **Language control.** Preference order (e.g. `["nl", "en"]`), and manual captions
  are preferred over auto-generated ones whenever both exist.
- **Lightweight route.** This actor uses a slim API path instead of loading the full
  video page, which keeps it fast and keeps the price low.

### Who this is for

Teams building AI tools on video content: RAG pipelines, summarisers, research
assistants. Content teams repurposing video into articles and newsletters. Anyone who
needs transcripts for hundreds of videos and cannot babysit a scraper.

If you need one transcript, once, a browser extension is cheaper. This actor earns its
place from roughly the tenth video onwards, and from the moment reliability matters.

### Who this is not for

**Read this before you buy.** The actor returns the captions YouTube has for a video,
manual or auto-generated, in the languages YouTube offers. It does not transcribe audio
itself, so a video without any caption track comes back as a free `NO_TRANSCRIPT` record,
and it does not translate: `languages` picks among the tracks that exist. It also does not
download the video or audio. For speech-to-text on caption-less videos you need a
transcription service, not a scraper.

### Input fields

| Field | Type | Required or default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| `videos` | list of text | required | YouTube video URLs (watch, shorts, youtu.be, embed) or bare 11-character video IDs. Max 500 per run. |
| `languages` | list of text | empty | Language codes in order of preference, e.g. \["en", "nl"]. Leave empty to take the original-language track. |
| `preferManualCaptions` | true/false | true | When both exist for the chosen language, take the human-made track. |
| `includeTimestampedSnippets` | true/false | true | Adds a snippets array with start time and duration per line, next to the plain text field. |
| `includeSrt` | true/false | false | Adds an srt field with a ready-to-use subtitle file per video. |

### Input example

```json
{
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "https://youtu.be/JGwWNGJdvx8",
        "kJQP7kiw5Fk"
    ],
    "languages": ["en"],
    "preferManualCaptions": true,
    "includeTimestampedSnippets": true,
    "includeSrt": false
}
```

Accepted video formats: full watch URLs, short links (`youtu.be`), shorts, embeds, or
bare 11-character video IDs.

### Output example

| Field | Type | What it holds | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| `videoId` | text | The eleven-character YouTube id of the video, the key to join other data on. | `JGwWNGJdvx8` |
| `title` | text | The title as the uploader set it. | `Ed Sheeran - Shape of You (Official Music Video)` |
| `channel` | text | The channel that published the video. | `Ed Sheeran` |
| `durationSeconds` | number | The length of the video in seconds. | `263` |
| `language` | text | The caption language the transcript was taken from, as a language code. | `en` |
| `languageName` | text | That same caption language written out, for example "English (auto-generated)". | `English` |
| `isAutoGenerated` | true/false | True when the captions come from YouTube's speech recognition instead of the channel. | `False` |
| `availableLanguages` | list | Every caption language the video offers, so you can run again in another one. | `["en", "fil"]` |
| `text` | text | The full transcript of the video as one block of text. | `[RINGING SOUND] [♪♪♪] ♪ The club isn't the best place to...` |
| `snippets` | list | Filled when includeTimestampedSnippets is on; empty otherwise. | `[{"text": "[RINGING SOUND]", "start": 1.126, "duration":...` |
| `srt` | text | Filled when includeSrt is on; empty otherwise. |  |

```json
{
    "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "status": "ok",
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "channel": "Rick Astley",
    "durationSeconds": 213,
    "language": "en",
    "languageName": "English",
    "isAutoGenerated": false,
    "availableLanguages": ["de", "en", "es", "fr", "ja", "pt"],
    "text": "We're no strangers to love ...",
    "snippets": [
        {"text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.88, "duration": 3.96}
    ]
}
```

A failed video produces an error record instead (and is **not** charged):

```json
{
    "videoId": "9bZkp7q19f0",
    "status": "error",
    "errorCode": "NO_TRANSCRIPT",
    "error": "Video 9bZkp7q19f0 has no caption tracks"
}
```

Error codes: `INVALID_VIDEO_ID`, `VIDEO_UNAVAILABLE`, `NO_TRANSCRIPT`,
`LANGUAGE_NOT_FOUND`, `BLOCKED`. `INPUT_TRUNCATED` appears once when your input is longer than this actor accepts.

### Related actors from steadydata

- [youtube-transcript-scraper](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-transcript-scraper): one video per call, in the videoUrl and data shape many workflows use
- [youtube-channel-transcripts](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-channel-transcripts): the same transcripts for a whole channel, without making a list first
- [youtube-video-details](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-video-details): the metadata for the same videos: views, tags, category
- [youtube-channel-videos](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-channel-videos): every video of a channel, to feed this actor a list
- [youtube-comments](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-comments): what viewers said, without author names
- Used together with youtube-channel-videos and youtube-video-details in a recipe: YouTube metadata in bulk without the API quota.

### Pricing

Pay per event: one `transcript-fetched` event per delivered transcript. No charge for
failed videos, no charge for videos without captions, no separate platform-usage
surcharge.

**Free Apify plan:** this actor delivers up to 25 rows per run for accounts on the Apify free
plan, and then stops with a message. That limit is set by us, not by Apify. It exists so the
actor keeps paying for itself for the people who do pay. Any paid Apify plan runs it at full
size, billed per delivered row, with failed rows never charged.

**Reviews:** if this actor saves you time, a short review on this page is the one thing that
helps most. Ratings are what other buyers look at first, and we have no other way to ask.

### Use with AI agents

AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor can run this actor through Apify's own MCP server. Ask for the actor `steadydata/youtube-transcript-bulk` by its full name, so the assistant does not pick a different one, and start from this minimal input:

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8"
  ]
}
```

The assistant can read the price per event from the Pricing section above before the first paid run. Failed input comes back as an error row, as described above.

### FAQ

**Does it work with auto-generated captions?**
Yes. Set `preferManualCaptions` to `false` to take auto-generated tracks even when a
manual track exists; by default manual tracks win.

**Can I get subtitles as a file?**
Set `includeSrt` to `true` and every result carries a ready-to-use `srt` field.

**What about very long videos?**
Duration does not change the price: one delivered transcript is one event.

**Is personal data collected?**
No. The actor returns public caption text and video metadata only.

**What happens when YouTube changes something?**
Transcript sources break from time to time; that is the nature of this work. The
difference here is response: the actor is monitored daily and fixed fast, and while it
is broken you are not charged, because only delivered transcripts cost anything.

**What if a video has no captions at all?**
You get an explicit `NO_TRANSCRIPT` record for that video and pay nothing for it. Your
run continues with the rest of the list.

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-transcript-bulk/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

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

YouTube video URLs (watch, shorts, youtu.be, embed) or bare 11-character video IDs. Max 500 per run.

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

Language codes in order of preference, e.g. \["en", "nl"]. Leave empty to take the original-language track.

## `preferManualCaptions` (type: `boolean`):

When both exist for the chosen language, take the human-made track.

## `includeTimestampedSnippets` (type: `boolean`):

Adds a snippets array with start time and duration per line, next to the plain text field.

## `includeSrt` (type: `boolean`):

Adds an srt field with a ready-to-use subtitle file per video.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8"
  ],
  "languages": [],
  "preferManualCaptions": true,
  "includeTimestampedSnippets": true,
  "includeSrt": false
}
```

# 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 = {
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk",
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("steadydata/youtube-transcript-bulk").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",
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk",
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("steadydata/youtube-transcript-bulk").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=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8"
  ]
}' |
apify call steadydata/youtube-transcript-bulk --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/fzC6SLjxwVIbLinKx/builds/rW5zsdhN8VySNBdWx/openapi.json