# YouTube Transcript

> Fetch transcripts from YouTube videos with precise timing information for content analysis and accessibility.

Source: https://cotera.co/docs/reference/tools/individual-tools/youtube-transcript

---

**Authentication Type:** API Key\
**Description:** Fetch transcripts from YouTube videos with precise timing information for content analysis and accessibility.

***

## Authentication

To authenticate, you'll need a RapidAPI key for the [Video Transcript Scraper API](https://rapidapi.com/api-dojo/api/video-transcript-scraper/pricing).

**Note:** The free plan includes 3,000 requests per month.

***

## Transcript Operations

Retrieve video transcript data.

### Get Video Transcript

Fetch the transcript for a YouTube video by video ID.

**Operation Type:** Query (Read)

**Parameters:**

* **videoId** `string` (required): The YouTube video ID to get transcript for (e.g., "dQw4w9WgXcQ"). Must be a bare 11-character YouTube video ID — not a full URL. Passing a full URL or an invalid ID will throw an error before any API call is made.

**Returns:**

* **transcript** `array of objects`: Array of transcript segments with timing information
  * **text** `string`: The transcript text segment
  * **start** `number`: Start time in seconds
  * **duration** `number`: Duration of the segment in seconds

**Example Usage:**

```json
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}
```

***

## Errors & Rate Limiting

| Condition                                                        | Behavior                                                                                                                         |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Monthly quota exhausted (HTTP 429 with monthly quota message)    | Terminal error — the tool will not retry; the request count for the month is used up.                                            |
| Short-window rate limit (HTTP 429 without monthly quota message) | Transient error — automatically retried.                                                                                         |
| Server errors (HTTP 5xx)                                         | Transient error — automatically retried.                                                                                         |
| No captions available                                            | If the video has no captions or transcript, the tool throws a `BadRequestToolError`. This is not retried; try a different video. |
| Invalid video ID                                                 | If `videoId` is not a valid 11-character YouTube ID, the tool throws a `BadRequestToolError` before making any API call.         |

***

## Common Use Cases

**Content Analysis:**

* Extract video content for text analysis and sentiment research
* Create searchable transcripts for video content libraries
* Analyze speech patterns and keyword usage in videos

**Accessibility:**

* Generate closed captions and subtitles for videos
* Create text-based summaries of video content
* Enable text search within video content

**Research and Documentation:**

* Extract quotes and key points from educational videos
* Create timestamped notes and references
* Analyze presentation structure and content flow