# 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:** 117 total users, 2 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?

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 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