python-youtube

A Python wrapper around for YouTube Data API.

python-youtube v0.9.9 492.0K downloads/30d#6,362 on PyPI★ 353

Permissive license MIT Active released 2026-04-17

What it is and what it does

python-youtube is a Python wrapper around the YouTube Data API V3 that abstracts the HTTP complexity of interacting with YouTube's REST endpoints. It provides two interfaces: a modern Client class and a legacy Api class for backward compatibility. Both support initialization via API key, access token, or OAuth flow, and expose methods to query and manipulate YouTube resources.

The library depends on requests for HTTP calls, requests-oauthlib for OAuth handling, dataclasses-json for response serialization, and isodate for timestamp parsing. It targets Python 3.9 and later and supports both CPython and PyPy. The package is actively maintained with no known security vulnerabilities.

Use it for:

Fetch channel metadata and statistics for analytics or monitoring purposes.
Build a YouTube search or discovery tool that queries videos by keyword or channel.
Automate YouTube content management tasks like uploading, updating, or deleting videos.
Implement OAuth-based YouTube login or authorization flows in a web application.
Extract video comments and engagement data for sentiment analysis or research.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

A Python wrapper for the YouTube Data API V3 that lets you query and manage YouTube resources through OAuth or API key authentication.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries no known vulnerabilities, and provides a clean interface to the YouTube Data API V3. Install it if you need programmatic access to YouTube data or want to automate YouTube operations.

Install

python-youtube on PyPI

pip

pip install python-youtube

uv

uv add python-youtube

poetry

poetry add python-youtube

Installing python-youtube

Before you install

Low install friction with four straightforward runtime dependencies. Actively maintained as of 2026-04-17 with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice

Licensed under MIT, a permissive open-source license that allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install python-youtube

from python_youtube import Client
client = Client(api_key="your api key")
channel = client.channels.list(channel_id="UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw")

Requires a YouTube Data API key or OAuth credentials from Google Cloud Console.

Verify before relying

Rate limits and quota behavior under heavy usage patterns.
Whether all YouTube Data API V3 resource methods are fully covered by the wrapper.
Specific performance characteristics when handling large result sets.

Package facts

License	MIT (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (<4.0,>=3.9)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	4 — dataclasses-json, isodate, requests, requests-oauthlib
Maintenance	actively maintained — 119 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-04-17
First released	2019-08-10
Downloads	492,004/month — #6,362 on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-14)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14)

Evidence: python_youtube-0.9.9-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: youtube-api, youtube-v3-api, youtube-data-api, youtube-sdk

Intended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software LicenseLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules