Overview
VidNavigator is the ultimate video to text solution for extracting subtitles and captions from online videos, giving you all the essential information at your fingertips! Need full transcripts, timestamps, or video metadata? We’ve got it all. The JSON output is ready for instant integration into AI-powered applications.
Transcript Endpoints
VidNavigator provides different endpoints for different video platforms:
Why separate endpoints? YouTube has implemented strict bot detection that requires residential proxy infrastructure to bypass. This dedicated endpoint allows for transparent pricing and optimized infrastructure.
Prerequisites
- A valid VidNavigator API key.
- The Python or JavaScript SDK installed in your project.
Retrieving a YouTube Transcript
Using the Python SDK
from vidnavigator import VidNavigatorClient, VidNavigatorError
client = VidNavigatorClient()
try:
result = client.get_youtube_transcript(
video_url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
)
print("Video Title:", result.data.video_info.title)
print("Available Languages:", result.data.video_info.available_languages)
# Each item in the transcript is a segment with text, start, and end times
for segment in result.data.transcript:
print(f"[{segment.start:.2f}s - {segment.end:.2f}s] {segment.text}")
except VidNavigatorError as e:
print(f"An error occurred: {e.message}")
Using the JavaScript SDK
const { VidNavigatorClient, VidNavigatorError } = require('vidnavigator');
const client = new VidNavigatorClient({
apiKey: process.env.VIDNAVIGATOR_API_KEY,
});
async function getYouTubeTranscript() {
try {
const { video_info, transcript } = await client.getYouTubeTranscript({
video_url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
});
console.log("Video Title:", video_info.title);
console.log("Available Languages:", video_info.available_languages);
// Each item in the transcript is an object with text, start, and end properties
transcript.forEach(segment => {
console.log(`[${segment.start.toFixed(2)}s - ${segment.end.toFixed(2)}s] ${segment.text}`);
});
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof VidNavigatorError) {
console.error(`An error occurred: ${error.message}`);
} else {
console.error("An unexpected error occurred:", error);
}
}
}
getYouTubeTranscript();
Using the Python SDK
from vidnavigator import VidNavigatorClient, VidNavigatorError
client = VidNavigatorClient()
try:
result = client.get_transcript(
video_url="https://twitter.com/user/status/123456789"
)
print("Video Title:", result.data.video_info.title)
for segment in result.data.transcript:
print(f"[{segment.start:.2f}s - {segment.end:.2f}s] {segment.text}")
except VidNavigatorError as e:
print(f"An error occurred: {e.message}")
Using the JavaScript SDK
const { VidNavigatorClient, VidNavigatorError } = require('vidnavigator');
const client = new VidNavigatorClient({
apiKey: process.env.VIDNAVIGATOR_API_KEY,
});
async function getTranscript() {
try {
const { video_info, transcript } = await client.getTranscript({
video_url: "https://twitter.com/user/status/123456789"
});
console.log("Video Title:", video_info.title);
transcript.forEach(segment => {
console.log(`[${segment.start.toFixed(2)}s - ${segment.end.toFixed(2)}s] ${segment.text}`);
});
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof VidNavigatorError) {
console.error(`An error occurred: ${error.message}`);
} else {
console.error("An unexpected error occurred:", error);
}
}
}
getTranscript();
metadata_only parameter. This is faster and, for YouTube, bypasses the residential proxy (making it more cost-effective):
# YouTube - uses innertube, no residential proxy
result = client.get_youtube_transcript(
video_url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
metadata_only=True
)
# Other platforms
result = client.get_transcript(
video_url="https://twitter.com/user/status/123456789",
metadata_only=True
)
fallback_to_metadata parameter:
result = client.get_youtube_transcript(
video_url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
fallback_to_metadata=True
)
# If transcript is unavailable, you'll still get video_info
# but transcript will be empty
The metadata_only parameter takes precedence over fallback_to_metadata. If both are set, only metadata will be returned.
When a Transcript Isn’t Available
Sometimes a platform doesn’t expose captions we can fetch directly (e.g., many Instagram Reels). In that case, the transcript endpoint will return an error such as 404 transcript_not_available.
When this happens you can fall back to the /transcribe endpoint, which runs speech-to-text to generate a fresh transcript.
Python SDK – transcribe_video
from vidnavigator import VidNavigatorClient
client = VidNavigatorClient()
result = client.transcribe_video(
video_url="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C86ZvEaqRmo/"
)
print("Transcript length:", len(result.data.transcript))
print("First line:", result.data.transcript[0].text)
JavaScript SDK – transcribeVideo
const { VidNavigatorClient } = require('vidnavigator');
const client = new VidNavigatorClient({
apiKey: process.env.VIDNAVIGATOR_API_KEY,
});
async function transcribe() {
const { transcript } = await client.transcribeVideo({
video_url: "https://www.instagram.com/reel/C86ZvEaqRmo/",
});
console.log(`Transcript has ${transcript.length} segments`);
console.log("First line:", transcript[0].text);
}
transcribe();
Next Steps
Now that you have the transcript, you can:
