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!
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive MIT license. It solves a real problem—fetching YouTube transcripts programmatically—without requiring browser automation. The main caveat is YouTube's IP blocking of cloud providers; plan for rotating proxies if deploying to the cloud.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- YouTube blocks many cloud provider IPs; you may need rotating residential proxies to work around IP bans when deployed to AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure, or similar services.
- Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution.
- Active maintenance with recent commits and 8037 repository stars.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely as long as you include the license notice.
last release 2026-01-29 (197 days) · last repo commit 2026-05-19 · 8,037 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 30,122,342 downloads/mo, #806 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
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)- Whether the package handles rate limiting or request throttling automatically.
- Current reliability of YouTube's transcript endpoint and whether blocking patterns have changed since last release.
What it is and what it does
This package provides a Python API to retrieve transcripts and subtitles from YouTube videos without needing a headless browser. It works with both manually created and automatically generated captions, and can translate transcripts to different languages. The main entry point is YouTubeTranscriptApi, which lets you fetch a transcript for a video ID or list all available transcripts for a video to filter by language and type.
The package returns structured FetchedTranscript objects containing snippets with text, start time, and duration, or raw dictionary data if you prefer. It depends on requests for HTTP calls and defusedxml for safe XML parsing. The API is straightforward: instantiate YouTubeTranscriptApi, call fetch() with a video ID and optional language list, and iterate or index the results. YouTube has begun blocking cloud provider IPs, so you may need rotating residential proxies in production environments.
Use it for
- Extract transcripts from YouTube videos for archival, analysis, or accessibility purposes without manual transcription.
- Build a search index over video content by fetching and processing transcripts from multiple videos.
- Automatically translate video transcripts to different languages using YouTube's built-in translation feature.
- Retrieve auto-generated captions when manual transcripts are unavailable, or filter for manually created ones when available.
- Integrate transcript fetching into a CLI tool or web application to make video content searchable and accessible.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive MIT license. It solves a real problem—fetching YouTube transcripts programmatically—without requiring browser automation. The main caveat is YouTube's IP blocking of cloud providers; plan for rotating proxies if deploying to the cloud.
Install
youtube-transcript-api on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Active maintenance with recent commits and 8037 repository stars. Supports Python 3.8 through 3.14 and depends only on requests and defusedxml.
YouTube blocks many cloud provider IPs; you may need rotating residential proxies to work around IP bans when deployed to AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure, or similar services.
License in practice
MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely as long as you include the license notice.
Quickstart
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)Verify before relying
- Whether the package handles rate limiting or request throttling automatically.
- Current reliability of YouTube's transcript endpoint and whether blocking patterns have changed since last release.
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 packagesrequestsdefusedxml |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 197 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 30,122,342 / month, #806 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | 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 |
Evidence: youtube_transcript_api-1.2.4-py3-none-any.whl
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