YouTube Transcript API: Get Video Captions at Scale

Extract YouTube transcript from any video or shorts in any language at scale without worrying about getting blocked. This API manages proxies and all corner cases for hassle-free transcript data.

GET / youtube/transcripts
{
    "transcripts": [
        {
            "text": "[Music]",
            "start": 2.43,
            "duration": 5.76
        },
        {
            "text": "the alarm strong gene cernan have both",
            "start": 12.63,
            "duration": 3.37
        },
        {
            "text": "testified against commercial spaceflight",
            "start": 16,
            "duration": 2.699
        }
    ]
}

How It Works Behind the API

</> Get
import requests

api_key = "5eaa61a6e562fc52fe763tr516e4653"
url = "https://api.scrapingdog.com/youtube/transcripts"

params = {
    "api_key": api_key,
    "v": "bheHjqvkaaI",
    "language": "en"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=params)

if response.status_code == 200:
    data = response.json()
    print(data)
else:
    print(f"Request failed with status code: {response.status_code}")

YouTube Transcript API Response (Structured JSON Data)

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  • Transcript Segments

    transcriptstextstartduration
  • Caption Text

    texttranscripts
  • Timing Data

    startduration
  • Request Parameters

    vapi_keylanguagecountry

Scrapingdog vs Manual YouTube Transcript Scraping

Without a YouTube Transcript API

By hand you wrestle with OAuth quotas, undocumented caption endpoints, and timedtext payloads that change without warning.

  • OAuth Quotas & Daily Caps

    YouTube's official Data API gates captions behind OAuth, units-based quotas, and per-day limits that throttle any real volume.

  • Decoding timedtext Caption Tracks

    Caption data hides behind signed timedtext URLs and XML/JSON3 cue formats you must reverse-engineer and re-parse on every change.

  • Auto-Captions vs. Multi-Language Tracks

    Picking the right track means juggling ASR auto-captions, creator uploads, and translated tracks per language code by hand.

  • IP Bans on Bulk Pulls

    Fetching transcripts for a whole channel or playlist trips rate limits and IP bans long before your dataset is complete.

With Scrapingdog YouTube Transcript API

With Scrapingdog, one API call handles proxies, quotas, parsing, and scaling, so you focus on your data.

  • Scrape at Scale

    Need transcripts for an entire playlist? Fire off hundreds of calls in parallel and our high-concurrency backend keeps pace.

  • Skip YouTube Quotas

    Forget OAuth screens and daily caps. Just pass the video ID of any video or short and Scrapingdog handles the heavy lifting.

  • Zero Maintenance

    We keep pace with every change YouTube makes, handling captchas, layout tweaks, and rate-limits behind the curtain.

  • Scalable Solution

    Whether you need the transcript for 1 video or 1M videos, your data pipeline keeps delivering without breaking.

YouTube Transcript API Features That Make Scraping Easy

  • Multilingual Captions

    Add a language parameter and fetch clean captions in Spanish, Portuguese, French, or any other language.

  • Clean JSON Output

    Get structured text, start-time, and duration fields that drop straight into your database or analytics pipeline.

  • Fast Response

    Most calls return the full transcript in just a few seconds, even on long videos.

  • Timestamped Segments

    Each caption line carries its own start and duration, so you can deep-link to the exact moment spoken.

  • Managed Proxies & Captchas

    A rotating proxy pool plus automatic captcha handling pulls captions without OAuth, quotas, or IP bans.

  • High Success Rate

    Our infrastructure auto-selects the right caption track and adapts to YouTube changes to return a usable transcript.

What you can build with a YouTube Transcript API

  • Content Summaries

    Feed transcripts into an LLM to read the main points and chapter notes instead of watching the full video.

  • Keyword Research

    Pull real phrases from top clips and feed them straight into your titles, tags, and ad copy.

  • Brand Mentions Audit

    See every time your company or product comes up in video dialogue across creators and competitors.

  • Compliance Screening

    Scan the transcript text for restricted or prohibited words so campaigns stay within the rules.

  • Search Inside Video

    Tie each line to its timestamp and let users jump to the exact spot in the video they need.

  • Trend Tracking

    Collect transcripts on a topic to spot rising themes and talking points before the market catches on.

Built for teams of every size and background

  • AI & LLM Engineers
  • RAG Dataset Builders
  • Content Repurposing Teams
  • Captioning & Subtitle Services
  • Localization Specialists
  • Media & Video Researchers
  • Accessibility Engineers
  • SEO & Content Strategists
  • Social Listening Analysts
  • Podcast & Creator Tools
  • Journalists & Fact-Checkers
  • EdTech & Course Builders

Get Started with Our YouTube Transcript API in Minutes

  1. 1

    Create free account

    Sign up and get free credits to start testing the YouTube Transcript API.

  2. 2

    Get Your API Key

    Access your unique API key from the dashboard and use it to extract transcript data.

  3. 3

    Send Your First Request

    Pass a YouTube video ID like v=bheHjqvkaaI plus an optional language code.

  4. 4

    Receive Structured Data

    Get a transcripts array where every line carries text, start, and duration.

Transparent & Simple Pricing

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    Mexico

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    France

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes, the API has a rate limit depending on your chosen subscription plan. For detailed information on request limits and how to manage them efficiently, please refer to the documentation or message us on live chat.

  • We have different APIs for different data. Along with the YouTube Transcript API, you can also extract YouTube Search, YouTube Comments & YouTube Channel data via API.

  • Our development team continuously monitors changes to the YouTube layout and updates our systems accordingly to ensure consistent and reliable data extraction, so that your data pipeline keeps going without breaking.

  • Each API request consumes a certain number of credits based on the dedicated API you're using. For example the Google Search API costs 5 credits per request. The number of credits required per request can vary depending on the specific API you're using.

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