youtube-transcript


About This Fork

This is a fork of the original youtube-transcript package that adds a fallback system for improved reliability. The original package used only HTML scraping, which sometimes fails or returns empty results. This version automatically falls back to YouTube's InnerTube API when needed.

⚠️ Note: The InnerTube API fallback works best in client-side and local server environments.

What's New

- Dual extraction methods: HTML scraping + InnerTube API fallback
- YouTube Shorts support: Enhanced URL regex for /shorts/ URLs
- Better error handling: New YoutubeTranscriptEmptyError class
- Improved reliability: Automatic fallback increases success rate

Installation

``bash
$ npm i @danielxceron/youtube-transcript
`

or

`bash
$ yarn add @danielxceron/youtube-transcript
`

Usage

`js
import { YoutubeTranscript } from '@danielxceron/youtube-transcript';

YoutubeTranscript.fetchTranscript('videoId or URL').then(console.log);
`

$3

- Standard videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
- Short URLs: https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
- YouTube Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
- Embedded videos: https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID
- Direct video IDs: VIDEO_ID

$3

- fetchTranscript(videoId: string [,options: TranscriptConfig]): Promise

Environment Compatibility

| Method | Client-Side | Local Server | Production Server |
| ------------- | ----------- | ------------ | ----------------------- |
| HTML Scraping | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| InnerTube API | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ May have limitations |

The package automatically uses the best available method for your environment.

Error Handling

- YoutubeTranscriptTooManyRequestError: Rate limiting detected
- YoutubeTranscriptVideoUnavailableError: Video not accessible
- YoutubeTranscriptDisabledError: Transcripts disabled for video
- YoutubeTranscriptNotAvailableError: No transcripts available
- YoutubeTranscriptNotAvailableLanguageError: Requested language not available
- YoutubeTranscriptEmptyError`: Empty response (triggers fallback method)

License

MIT Licensed