How to Call the YouTube Transcript API
Simple REST API endpoint. Just make a GET request with your API key and get structured data back.
GETCode Examples
cURL
curl -X GET 'https://api.parseium.com/v1/youtube-transcript?video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=en&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY'TypeScript
const response = await fetch(`https://api.parseium.com/v1/youtube-transcript?video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=en&api_key=${process.env.PARSEIUM_API_KEY}`, {
method: 'GET',
});
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);Python
import requests
import os
api_key = os.environ['PARSEIUM_API_KEY']
response = requests.get(
f'https://api.parseium.com/v1/youtube-transcript?video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=en&api_key={api_key}'
)
data = response.json()
print(data)Query Parameters
Pass parameters in the URL query string:
video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=enResponse Schema
The API returns structured JSON data with the following schema:
{
"videoId": {
"type": "string"
},
"type": {
"type": "string"
},
"url": {
"type": "string"
},
"transcript": [
{
"text": {
"type": "string"
},
"startMs": {
"type": "string"
},
"endMs": {
"type": "string"
},
"startTimeText": {
"type": "string"
}
}
],
"transcript_only_text": {
"type": "string"
},
"language": {
"type": "string"
}
}Need more details? Check out our full API documentation for authentication, error handling, rate limits, and advanced options.
Use Cases for YouTube Transcript
See how developers use this API in production applications.
Content Analysis
Analyze video content, extract keywords, and perform sentiment analysis on spoken content without watching the entire video.
Accessibility & Subtitling
Generate custom subtitles, create accessible content versions, or translate transcripts for international audiences.
Search & Indexing
Index video content for search engines, create searchable video databases, or build content discovery tools.
Simple, Transparent Pricing
Every API call to YouTube Transcript costs 1 credit
Choose a plan based on your monthly usage. All plans include access to all APIs.
~150,000 API calls/mo
- 150,000 credits/month
- Email support
- 1,000 requests/day
- Priority processing
~700,000 API calls/mo
- 700,000 credits/month
- Priority support
- 10,000 requests/day
- Advanced features
~3,000,000 API calls/mo
- 3M credits/month
- Dedicated support
- Unlimited requests
- Custom integrations
Need more? Check out our for enterprise options and custom plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the YouTube Transcript API.
What languages are supported?
The API supports all languages available for the video. Use standard language codes (en, de, es, fr, ja, etc.) in the `lang` parameter. If not specified, it defaults to English (en). If the requested language is unavailable, the API will return the default transcript.
How are timestamps formatted?
Each segment includes `startMs` and `endMs` in milliseconds as strings, plus `startTimeText` in human-readable format (e.g., "00:01:23"). The full transcript text is also available in `transcript_only_text` without timestamps.
How accurate are the transcripts?
Transcripts are fetched directly from YouTube, which uses either user-uploaded captions or auto-generated transcripts. Accuracy depends on audio quality, accents, and whether manual captions were provided by the creator.
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