# YouTube Video Transcript API (https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/youtube/video-transcript)

> 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.

TL;DR: `GET /v1/youtube/video/transcript` costs 3 credits per call and returns SocialCrawl's unified JSON schema. Single x-api-key auth, 100 free credits on signup.

## 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. |

## Code example

```bash
curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/video/transcript?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_YOUR_API_KEY"
```

## FAQ

### How do I get a YouTube video's transcript?

Send a GET request to /v1/youtube/video/transcript with url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... The response is an array of timestamped caption segments — start time, end time, and text per line.

### Can I request a transcript in a specific language?

Yes. Pass language=en, language=es, language=ko, etc. — any 2-letter code. If the video doesn't have that language track, the transcript field comes back null so your code can fall back gracefully.

### How much does a transcript request cost?

Transcripts are Premium tier at 10 credits per request because the caption extraction is noticeably heavier than other endpoints. 100 signup credits covers ~10 transcripts so you can prototype for free.

### Is this good for LLM RAG pipelines?

Yes — timestamped caption segments feed directly into retrieval-augmented generation. Chunk the text by timestamp windows, embed, and you get searchable YouTube video content for any LLM.

### Which videos have transcripts available?

Any video with auto-generated or uploaded captions in at least one language — the majority of channels over 1,000 subscribers. Music videos and very new uploads sometimes don't have captions yet.

See the full YouTube API: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/youtube

## Pricing

- Standard endpoints: 1 credit per call
- Advanced endpoints: 5 credits per call
- Premium endpoints: 10 credits per call
- 100 free credits on signup, no credit card required. Cached responses cost 0 credits. Credit packs never expire.
- Full pricing: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/pricing

## Explore with AI

Questions this API answers, phrased for an AI assistant:

- How to get a YouTube video transcript with timestamps via API
- Best YouTube transcript API for LLM RAG pipelines