YouTube Videos

Give it YouTube channels, playlists, search terms, hashtags or video links and it returns one JSON row per video or Short: title, channel, exact publish date, duration, views, likes, category, Shorts and live flags, tags, hashtags, description, thumbnail and caption languages. Shorts also get comment count and sound.

Sample output

One row as the API returns it. Long text is shortened here; names inside text read [name].

Download

Sample row, one field per line
Field	Value
rowType	video
platform	youtube
videoId	dQw4w9WgXcQ
url	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
title	Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)
channelName	Rick Astley
channelId	UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw
channelHandle	@RickAstleyYT
channelUrl	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw
publishDate	2009-10-24T23:57:33-07:00
publishDateIsApprox	false
durationSeconds	213

Call it from code or from your agent

This is the request. Small runs answer in the same call; large ones return a run ID.

TerminalOpens at launch

curl -X POST https://scrapers-api.arcadiumdata.io/v1/scrapers/youtube-videos/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARCADIUM_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "input": {
      "urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt"
      ],
      "contentType": "videos",
      "maxResults": 10
    }
  }'

Number of videos

$1.2511,000 videos: $1.25, plus the run start fee of $0.001. A failed or empty run costs $0.

What each row holds

Every row says what it is in rowType: video rows are charged, coverage and error rows are free.

The video 36 fields

The video
Field	Type	What it holds
platform	string	Always 'youtube'.
videoId	string	YouTube video id, 11 characters, e.g. dQw4w9WgXcQ.
url	string	Watch page link of the video (Shorts included).
title	string	Video title.
channelName	string	Name of the channel that published the video (the publisher, not a viewer).
channelId	string	Channel id, starts with UC, e.g. UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw.
channelHandle	string	Channel handle with the @, e.g. @RickAstleyYT. Null if YouTube did not return it.
channelUrl	string	Link to the channel page built from channelId.
publishDate	string	Publish date. Full rows: ISO 8601 with YouTube's offset, e.g. 2009-10-24T23:57:33-07:00. Fast-mode rows: YYYY-MM-DD estimated from the relative date (publishDateIsApprox true).
publishDateIsApprox	boolean	True when publishDate was estimated from a relative date such as '3 months ago' (fast mode); false for exact dates.
publishedText		Relative date as the listing shows it, e.g. '3 days ago', 'Streamed 2 weeks ago'. Null for direct video URLs.
durationSeconds	number	Video length in seconds. Null for running live streams and some Shorts in fast mode.
viewCount	number	Views at the time of the run. Exact on full rows, rounded (3.5M) on fast-mode rows.
likeCount	number	Likes at the time of the run; null when hidden or in fast mode.
commentCount		Comments at the time of the run, exact. Shorts in full mode always; regular videos when includeCommentCount is on; null otherwise. 0 when comments are off.
category	string	YouTube category, e.g. Music, Education, News & Politics. Null in fast mode.
isShort	boolean	True for YouTube Shorts. Null when unknown (fast mode outside the Shorts tab and search).
isLive	boolean	True while the video is a live stream running now.
isLiveContent	boolean	True for live streams and recorded live streams. Null in fast mode.
isUpcoming	boolean	True for a scheduled premiere or live stream that has not started.
isUnlisted	boolean	True for unlisted videos (reachable by link only). Null in fast mode.
isFamilySafe	boolean	YouTube's family-safe flag. Null in fast mode.
keywords	array	Tags the creator set on the video (may be empty). Null in fast mode.
hashtags	array	#hashtags in the title and description, lower-cased, without the #. Null in fast mode.
soundTitle		Shorts: the sound or song the Short uses, as YouTube's sound link shows it (e.g. a song title or 'Original sound'). Null for regular videos, Shorts without a sound link and fast mode.
soundArtist		Shorts: the artist or channel credited for the sound (the part after the dot on the sound link). Null when not shown.
description	string	Video description, full or short per input; emails and phone numbers are removed. Null in fast mode.
thumbnailUrl	string	Thumbnail image, 480x360 (hqdefault), exists for every video.
thumbnailMaxUrl	string	Largest thumbnail (maxresdefault, 1280x720 or more) when the upload has one; null otherwise or in fast mode.
captionLanguages	array	Every caption track of the video: code (e.g. en, de-DE), name, isAutoGenerated. Empty list: no captions. Null when not requested, in fast mode, or YouTube did not answer.
hasCaptions	boolean	True when the video has at least one caption track; null when captionLanguages is null.
detailLevel	string	'full': read from the video's player data (exact date, likes, category). 'listing': only what the channel, playlist or search listing shows (fast mode).
source		The channel tab, playlist URL or search term this video came from; null for videos given directly.
sourceType	string	Values: 'video' (given directly), 'channel', 'playlist', 'search', 'hashtag'.
position		1-based position in the source list (search rank, playlist index, channel order); null for direct videos.
scrapedAt	string	When the row was read, ISO 8601.

Error rows, free 3 fields

Error rows, free
Field	Type	What it holds
input		Error rows: the URL, id or search term as given.
code		Error rows: not_found (private, removed, unknown channel or playlist), no_match (nothing found for the input), unavailable (age-restricted, members-only, temporary error), blocked (rate limited, retry later), invalid_input.
message		Error rows: what happened, in plain English.

What it can't do

It returns captions YouTube already has. It does not transcribe audio.
It does not return comments or the names of commenters.
Private and members-only videos are not read.

Channel names and URLs are the publisher labels YouTube shows publicly on every video.

What you send

Every field is optional. The example request above fills the ones shown here.

Main input fields
Field	Type	What it does
urls	array	Example: https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt (add /shorts or /streams for those tabs), @handle, a channel id (UC...), a playlist URL (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...), a video or Shorts URL, a hashtag page (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/cooking, add /shorts for Shorts only), a bare video id (dQw4w9WgXcQ) or a search page URL (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lofi). Channels give up to maxResults videos each, newest first by default.
searchQueries	array	YouTube search terms, e.g. ["web scraping tutorial", "iphone 17 review"]. Each term gives up to maxResults videos in YouTube's search order (position is the rank). Can be combined with urls.
hashtags	array	YouTube hashtags, e.g. ["#cooking", "dancechallenge"] (letters, digits and _ only). Each gives up to maxResults videos from the hashtag page; with contentType shorts only its Shorts. Can be combined with urls and searchQueries.
contentType	string (one of 2)	Values: videos (default), shorts. With shorts, search terms return Shorts only and hashtags read their Shorts tab. Channels: use maxResultsShorts or a /shorts channel URL. Full Shorts rows add commentCount, soundTitle and soundArtist and are charged as the short event.
maxResults	integer	Videos per channel videos tab, playlist or search term, up to 10,000 (default 50). Videos outside the date range, private or members-only videos do not count. Direct video URLs are not limited by this.

More options (20)

More input fields
Field	Type	What it does
maxResultsShorts	integer	Also read the channel's Shorts tab, up to this many Shorts per channel (0 = skip the tab, default). A /shorts channel URL reads only that tab.Default `0`
maxResultStreams	integer	Also read the channel's Live tab (past, running and scheduled streams), up to this many per channel (0 = skip the tab, default).Default `0`
maxItems	integer	Stops the run after this many videos across all inputs, 1 to 1,000,000. A cost cap; leave empty for no limit.
publishedAfter	string	Date as YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2026-01-01) or a relative age such as "30 days", "2 weeks", "1 year". Older videos are skipped for free; a channel listed newest first stops at the first older videos.
publishedBefore	string	Date as YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2026-06-30) or a relative age such as "7 days". Newer videos are skipped for free.
sortVideosBy	string (one of 3)	Values: NEWEST (default), POPULAR (most viewed first), OLDEST. Applies to channel tabs. The date-range early stop works with NEWEST and OLDEST.
listingOnly	boolean	Skips the per-video details request and returns what the channel, playlist or search listing shows: title, rounded views, duration, approximate date (publishDateIsApprox true), channel. No likes, category, description or caption languages. Charged at the lower video-listing price. Off by default.
includeCaptionLanguages	boolean	Adds captionLanguages (every caption track: code, name, auto-generated flag) and hasCaptions. One more small request per video. On by default; ignored in fast mode.Default `true`
includeCommentCount	boolean	Adds commentCount to regular videos (one more small request each). Shorts always get it. Ignored in fast mode. Off by default.Default `false`
description	string (one of 3)	Values: full (default), short (about 300 characters), none. Emails and phone numbers are removed.Default `"full"`
sortingOrder	string (one of 4)	Values: relevance (default), rating, date (upload date), views. Applies to searchQueries and search URLs.
searchCountry	string	Two-letter country code YouTube ranks search results for, e.g. DE or IN (default US). Applies to searchQueries and search URLs; titles and dates stay as published.
dateFilter	string (one of 5)	Values: hour, today, week, month, year. YouTube's own upload-date filter for searches; it is loose, so combine it with publishedAfter for an exact range.
lengthFilter	string (one of 3)	Values: under4 (under 4 minutes), between420 (4 to 20 minutes), plus20 (over 20 minutes).
isHD	boolean	Search results in HD only (YouTube's HD feature filter).
hasSubtitles	boolean	Search results that have subtitles or closed captions only.
hasCC	boolean	Search results under a Creative Commons licence only.
isLive	boolean	Search results that are live streams only.
is4K	boolean	Search results in 4K only (YouTube's 4K feature filter).
includeErrorRows	boolean	Adds a free row (rowType error, with a code and message) for every URL, private, age-restricted, members-only or missing video that gave no data. On by default.Default `true`

Questions people ask before they top up

What does a run cost?

Each video costs $0.00125, which is $1.25 per 1,000. A run that delivers rows also pays a $0.001 start fee.

Shorts: $1.25 per 1,000. Videos in fast listing mode: $0.50 per 1,000.

A run that returns rows costs at least $0.005, start fee included. Failed runs, empty runs and duplicate rows cost $0. You set the most a run may cost, and it stops there.

Do you ever return personal data?

Not about reviewers or users. Reviewer names, profile links, photos, emails and phone numbers are not collected. When a name appears inside a review or a reply, it is replaced with [name].

Job titles and company sizes stay where a site shows them, because they describe a role rather than a person. On YouTube, channel names and URLs are the publisher labels YouTube shows publicly.

How fresh is the data?

Each run reads the live site when you start it, so rows are as current as the site itself.