# 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
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 127 total users, 3 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/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 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# 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(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 '{
  "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}' |
apify call trisecode/yt-transcript --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/i4RrctoNJmaa6kIZb/builds/5kRk4G7QfnopB4Txu/openapi.json