YouTube Video Transcript API
Scrape YouTube Video Transcript data with one API call. Returns the transcript of a YouTube video as timestamped segments — each with text, start `offset` and `duration` (seconds), language, word count, and speech rate. Supports multiple languages via `language`. When no transcript exists (the owner disabled captions, the video is login-gated or gone, or no caption track matches the requested language) the endpoint returns 404 RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND with `error.details.reason` set to `captions_disabled`, `login_required`, `no_captions`, or `video_gone` — no credits are charged, and retrying returns the same result.
Last updated July 2026
Try the YouTube Video Transcript API
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Searching 44 platforms in parallel
What can you do with the Video Transcript API?
The Video Transcript endpoint gives you structured YouTube data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.
Example Request
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/video/transcript?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdQw4w9WgXcQ"import requests
response = requests.get(
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/video/transcript",
params={
'url': 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ',
},
headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)
data = response.json()const response = await fetch(
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/video/transcript?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdQw4w9WgXcQ",
{
headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
},
);
const data = await response.json();Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| url | Yes | Full URL of the YouTube video |
| language | No | 2 letter language code, ie 'en', 'es', 'fr' etc. If no caption track matches the language you specify, the request returns 404 RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND (reason `no_captions`) at 0 credits. |
What does the YouTube Video Transcript API return?
Every response follows one unified schema. Here is a real, unmodified response body, so you can see the exact fields you get back before spending a credit.
Example response
{
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"endpoint": "/v1/tiktok/post/transcript",
"data": {
"id": "7499229683859426602",
"url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@stoolpresidente/video/7499229683859426602",
"transcript": "WEBVTT\n\n\n00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:01.740\nAlright, pizza review time.\n\n00:00:01.741 --> 00:00:03.701\nSal's Pizza Factory. Oh,\n\n00:00:03.702 --> 00:00:05.701\nit's fucking pouring. We're in Charlotte.\n\n00:00:05.702 --> 00:00:07.781\nAlright man, any chance I get a real quick picture?\n\n00:00:07.782 --> 00:00:09.901\nJack or Dwight Howard? I gotta pick one.\n\n00:00:09.902 --> 00:00:10.861\nYeah, Jack.\n\n00:00:10.862 --> 00:00:12.301\nYeah, easy, right?\n\n00:00:12.302 --> 00:00:13.981\nWe're still Jason Williams still with us?\n\n00:00:13.982 --> 00:00:16.381\nYeah, he on the plane right over,\n\n00:00:16.382 --> 00:00:18.261\nout of the blue. Said the following.\n\n00:00:18.262 --> 00:00:21.141\nHe would take Dwight Howard over Shaq at center.\n\n00:00:21.142 --> 00:00:23.461\nAnd says he lie about it for the rest of his life\n\n00:00:23.462 --> 00:00:25.341\nand would never admit to saying that.\n\n00:00:25.342 --> 00 …"
},
"credits_used": 10,
"credits_remaining": 9999,
"request_id": "req_example000000",
"cached": false
}Live sample illustrating the unified response shape. Field values reflect the record you query.
How does the YouTube Video Transcript API work?
Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON. Every response follows our unified schema with computed fields.
Method
GET
Response
JSON
How do you scrape social media data in seconds?
The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 44 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.
One schema, every platform
Query 44 platforms with identical response structures. Write your integration once.
Computed fields, not just scraped
Every response includes engagement_rate, estimated_reach, content_category, and language — ready to use.
See your data before you code
Visual Data Explorer — paste any URL, get rich result cards, sortable tables, CSV export.
import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json(){
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"data": {
"author": {
"username": "charlidamelio",
"followers": 152400000
},
"engagement": {
"likes": 12400000000,
"engagement_rate": 0.087
},
"metadata": {
"language": "en",
"content_category": "lifestyle"
}
}
}Have a question? We got answers
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