youtube-transcript-api

This is a python API which allows you to get the transcripts/subtitles for a given YouTube video. It also works for automatically generated subtitles, supports translating subtitles and it does not require a headless browser, like other selenium based solutions do!

youtube-transcript-api Permissive license MIT Active ★ 8,037 v1.2.4 released 2026-01-29

Install

youtube-transcript-api on PyPI

pip

pip install youtube-transcript-api

uv

uv add youtube-transcript-api

poetry

poetry add youtube-transcript-api

Package facts

License	MIT (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (<3.15,>=3.8)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	2 — requests, defusedxml
Maintenance	actively maintained — 196 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-05-19
First released	2018-07-03
Popularity	one of the top 1,000 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: youtube_transcript_api-1.2.4-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: cli, subtitle, subtitles, transcript, transcripts, youtube, youtube-api, youtube-subtitles, youtube-transcripts

License :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming 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 :: 3.8Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9

About youtube-transcript-api

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

<h1 align="center"> ✨ YouTube Transcript API ✨ </h1>

<p align="center"> <a href="https://github.com/sponsors/jdepoix"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=Sponsor&message=%E2%9D%A4&logo=GitHub&color=%23fe8e86" alt="Sponsor"> </a> <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=BAENLEW8VUJ6G&source=url"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Donate-PayPal-green.svg" alt="Donate"> </a> <a href="https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api/actions"> <img src="https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg?branch=master" alt="Build Status"> </a> <a href="https://coveralls.io/github/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api?branch=master"> <img src="https://coveralls.io/repos/github/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api/badge.svg?branch=master" alt="Coverage Status"> </a> <a href="http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT"> <img src="http://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-brightgreen.svg?style=flat" alt="MIT license"> </a> <a href="https://pypi.org/project/youtube-transcript-api/"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/youtube-transcript-api.svg" alt="Current Version">...

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AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

Retrieves transcripts and subtitles from YouTube videos, including auto-generated captions, with support for multiple languages and translation without requiring a browser.

Low friction install with just two runtime dependencies (requests and defusedxml). Active maintenance with recent releases and 8037 GitHub stars indicate solid community adoption and ongoing support.

MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.

Usage

pip install youtube-transcript-api

from youtube_transcript_api import YouTubeTranscriptApi

ytt_api = YouTubeTranscriptApi()
fetched_transcript = ytt_api.fetch('12345')
for snippet in fetched_transcript:
    print(snippet.text)

Requires Python 3.8 or later (supports up to 3.14); pass video ID, not full URL.

Verdict: Well-maintained, actively developed library with no known vulnerabilities and permissive MIT licensing. Low install friction and strong community signals make it a reliable choice for YouTube transcript retrieval in Python projects.

Needs verification

Whether YouTube's API changes or rate-limiting policies could affect transcript availability in future versions
Specific behavior when transcripts are unavailable or restricted on particular videos

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