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YouTube Transcript Scraper

Extract transcripts and captions from public YouTube videos in bulk. Give it a list of videos and get back clean transcript text for each one. No login, no cookies, no browser automation.

What it does

For every video you provide, the actor returns:

• The transcript text, as ordered timed segments where available (each with a start time, duration, and text).
• A single joined plain-text version of the whole transcript (optional).
• The language the transcript was served in.
• Whether the captions are auto-generated or human-written.
• A flag telling you whether the result includes per-segment timing.
• A segment count for quick scanning.

It handles long videos correctly. A multi-hour video returns its complete transcript (thousands of segments), not just the first chunk. A tiered fetch keeps results coming even when one path is temporarily unavailable.

Input

Example input

{
"videos":[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"dQw4w9WgXcQ"
],
"preferredLanguages":["en","es"],
"includeTimestamps":true,
"combineToPlainText":false
}

Output

One dataset item per video. Fields are returned in a clean, predictable order.

{
"videoId":"dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"videoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"title":"Example Video Title",
"language":"en",
"isAutoGenerated":false,
"isTimed":true,
"segmentCount":61,
"segments":[
{"start":18.64,"duration":3.24,"text":"We're no strangers to love"},
{"start":22.64,"duration":4.32,"text":"You know the rules and so do I"}
]
}

When combineToPlainText is enabled, each row also includes a fullText field with the entire transcript joined into one string.

Timed vs plain-text results

The isTimed flag tells you what kind of result you got:

• isTimed: true means the transcript came back with per-segment timing. The segments array has start and duration for each line.
• isTimed: false means only the transcript text was available. The full text is returned in fullText (and as a single text block in segments), with no per-line timing.

The row shape is identical either way, so you can process every row the same.

Videos without a transcript

If a video has no captions available, the actor returns a clean row with an error field set to no_transcript_available and an empty segments array, rather than failing the run. This keeps a bulk run intact even when a few inputs lack captions.

Use cases

• Summarize or analyze video content with your own tools.
• Build searchable archives of a channel's spoken content.
• Feed transcripts into translation or repurposing workflows.
• Power research and content analysis across many videos at once.

Notes

• Works on public videos that have captions (manual or auto-generated).
• Private, age-restricted, or members-only videos cannot be transcribed.
• Language selection prefers a human-written transcript over an auto-generated one in the same language.

FAQ

Do I need a YouTube API key or login?

No. This actor extracts public transcripts without any API key, login, or cookies.

Which videos work?

Any public YouTube video that has captions or auto-generated transcripts available.

What happens if a video has no transcript?

The actor reports that cleanly for that video and continues with the rest of your list.

Can I get transcripts in a specific language?

Yes. Set preferredLanguages, and when a video provides multiple caption tracks the available languages are returned.

Can I get timestamps or one plain-text block?

Both. Use includeTimestamps for per-line timing, or combineToPlainText for a single clean transcript string.

Related actors

Part of the scraper suite by goat255:

• YouTube Channel Scraper - a channel's videos with metadata.
• YouTube Comments Scraper - comments from any video.