YouTube Scraper API endpoints

This guide shows you how to send a synchronous request to each Bright Data YouTube Scraper API endpoint. It covers channels, videos, and comments.

Prerequisites

A Bright Data account with an active API key
Completed the Quickstart

Request structure

Every synchronous request follows the same pattern:

POST https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/v3/scrape?dataset_id={DATASET_ID}&format=json
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

[{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/..."}]

The only thing that changes between endpoints is the dataset_id and the input URL format.

The /scrape endpoint is built for real-time, single-URL requests. Bright Data recommends 20 URLs or fewer per request, a best practice rather than a hard limit, and the endpoint waits up to 1 minute. If collection takes longer, the response is HTTP 202 with a snapshot_id instead of data, and collection continues asynchronously. Fetch the result with async requests or have it pushed to you with webhook delivery.

How to scrape YouTube channels

Dataset ID: gd_lk538t2k2p1k3oos71

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/v3/scrape?dataset_id=gd_lk538t2k2p1k3oos71&format=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"}]'

You should see a 200 response. Processing time varies with target-site conditions and scraper workload.

Example response

[
  {
    "subscribers": 516000000,
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mrbeast",
    "handle": "@MrBeast",
    "handle_md5": "dd748d5dfc88b91ea388429c3c685874",
    "banner_img": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/mHMO_eEMp0dPvh0ADwXhPXNYb_GnjSVsLI8biqF1CpxT8OPl7izhNQsDPD3JHhd5y5Mg9GrP=w2560-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a8-k-c0xffffffff-no-...",
    "profile_image": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/nxYrc_1_2f77DoBadyxMTmv7ZpRZapHR5jbuYe7PlPd5cIRJxtNNEYyOC0ZsxaDyJJzXrnJiuDE=s160-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
    "name": "MrBeast",
    "Description": "SUBSCRIBE FOR A COOKIE!\nNew MrBeast or MrBeast Gaming video every single Saturday at noon eastern time!\nAccomplishments:\n- Raised $20,000,000 To Plant 20,000...",
    "videos_count": 1000,
    "created_date": "2012-02-19T00:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

Full Channels response schema

Which output fields does the YouTube channels scraper return?

The YouTube channels scraper (gd_lk538t2k2p1k3oos71, collect_by_url) returns 21 output fields.

Output fields (21)

Field	Type	Description
`url`	url	URL that link directly to the YouTube profile
`handle`	text	Unique to each user (e.g., @name)
`handle_md5`	text	This field stores the MD5 hash of the handle field.
`banner_img`	url	URL that links to the banner photo
`profile_image`	url	URL that link to the profile picture
`name`	text	Profile name
`subscribers`	number	How many subscribers the profile have
`Description`	text	Brief descriptions or statements that users write to introduce themselves or share their interests and passions on YouTube
`videos_count`	number	How many videos the profile have
`created_date`	date	The date the profile was created
`views`	number	How many views the profile have
`Details`	object	channel Details
`Links`	array	External websites that users may link to from their YouTube profiles
`identifier`	text	identifier
`discovery_input`	object	Discovery input value
`id`	text	channel id
`has_podcast`	boolean	has podcast indicator
`top_videos`	array	top videos
`featured_video`	url	Featured Video
`featured_channels`	array	featured channels
`collaborations`	array	Collaborations videos

Machine-readable version with the input schema: /scrapers/gd_lk538t2k2p1k3oos71.json

How to scrape YouTube videos

Dataset ID: gd_lk56epmy2i5g7lzu0k

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/v3/scrape?dataset_id=gd_lk56epmy2i5g7lzu0k&format=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"}]'

Example response

[
  {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)",
    "views": 1812511291,
    "likes": 19374379,
    "date_posted": "2009-10-25T06:57:33.000Z",
    "description": "The official video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. \n\nNever: The Autobiography 📚 OUT NOW! \nFollow this link to get your copy and listen to Rick...",
    "num_comments": 2457228,
    "youtuber": "@RickAstleyYT",
    "youtuber_md5": "4fc65cd6213b5c0f1d04c2aa3006f46a",
    "video_url": "https://rr2---sn-n4v7snse.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1788712345&ei=OUGdaoSULZ-RsfIP8OmfsAo&ip=208.41.164.3&id=o-ALklNMQDHiVh32KdRiuWf9qyPo-8mNxywN-..."
  }
]

Full Videos response schema

Which output fields does the YouTube videos scraper return?

The YouTube videos scraper (gd_lk56epmy2i5g7lzu0k, collect_by_url) returns 49 output fields.

Output fields (49)

Field	Type	Description
`url`	url	The full YouTube watch URL of the collected video
`title`	text	Title of the YouTube video
`youtuber`	text	The channel handle extracted from the channel’s browse endpoint
`youtuber_md5`	text	MD5 hash of the youtuber field
`video_url`	url	Direct streaming URL of the video file, extracted from YouTube’s adaptive formats or decoded from signatureCipher
`video_length`	number	Duration of the video in seconds
`likes`	number	Number of likes received by the video
`views`	number	Number of views the video has received
`date_posted`	date	Date when the video was published
`description`	text	Text description accompanying the video
`num_comments`	number	Number of comments on the video, as displayed by YouTube (includes both top-level comments and replies in YouTube’s count)
`subscribers`	number	Number of subscribers to the YouTube channel
`music`	object	Information about the music used in the video. Only present when YouTube’s Content ID system has identified music in the video
`video_id`	text	Unique identifier for the YouTube video
`channel_url`	url	URL-encoded URL of the YouTube channel, derived from the channel’s canonical browse endpoint
`preview_image`	image	URL of the preview image for the video
`shortcode`	text	The unique short identifier of the video, identical to video_id, used across all YouTube video types including regular videos and Shorts
`verified`	boolean	Indicates whether the channel is verified
`handle_name`	text	The display name of the YouTube channel as shown on the video page
`avatar_img_channel`	url	The URL of the avatar image of the YouTube channel
`is_sponsored`	boolean	Indicates whether the video contains a paid content overlay as declared by YouTube
`related_videos`	array	List of URLs of videos shown in the sidebar alongside the current video
`license`	url	URL of the video’s license as declared in YouTube’s video metadata
`viewport_frames`	text	Resolution of the primary video stream format, derived from YouTube’s streaming data
`current_optimal_res`	text	Current and optimal video resolution with frame rate, from YouTube’s streaming format metadata
`codecs`	text	Video and audio codec strings formatted as video codec and audio codec, extracted from YouTube’s adaptive streaming formats
`color`	text	Color primaries of the video stream, extracted from YouTube’s adaptive format color info
`quality`	text	Quality identifier of the first adaptive streaming format as reported by YouTube
`quality_label`	text	Human-readable video quality label as reported by YouTube
`post_type`	text	Type of YouTube content inferred from the URL structure. Possible values: post for standard video, short for YouTube Short, or N/A
`youtuber_id`	text	YouTube’s internal channel ID, distinct from the channel handle
`transcript`	text	Full plain-text transcript of the video, compiled from YouTube’s caption tracks. English captions are preferred, falls back to the first available language if English is unavailable
`formatted_transcript`	array	Timestamped transcript segments from YouTube’s caption tracks, each containing start time, end time, and duration in milliseconds, and the caption text
`hashtags`	array	List of hashtags found in the video title or description, each with the hashtag text and its YouTube search link
`tags`	array	Tags of the video
`next_recommended_videos`	array	Videos shown as end-screen cards during the final seconds of the video, including timing in milliseconds and display style
`recommended_videos`	array	Videos recommended by YouTube in the sidebar alongside the current video
`transcript_language`	array	List of caption and transcript languages available for this video on YouTube, including whether each track was auto-generated
`chapters`	array	List of chapter markers defined by the creator, each with a title, start time in milliseconds, and preview image
`transcription_language`	text	The language code requested by the caller for transcript retrieval, passed as an input parameter at collection time
`is_age_restricted`	boolean	Whether the video is age-restricted, inferred from a non-OK playability status combined with an age-related reason from YouTube
`channel_url_decoded`	text	Plain-text percent-decoded version of the channel URL
`category`	text	YouTube’s content category assigned to the video, from YouTube’s predefined category taxonomy
`audio_tracks`	array	audio Tracks
`made_for_kids`	boolean	Indicates whether the video is designated as made for kids, inferred from the YouTube miniplayer playback mode
`player_notification_text`	text	User-facing notification text shown inside the video player
`ai_content_label`	boolean	Indicates whether the video has been labeled as AI-generated or significantly AI-altered, either by the creator or auto-detected by YouTube.
`live_status`	text	Livestream status of the video, equivalent to yt-dlp’s live_status. One of “is_live”, “was_live”, or “not_live”, parsed from YouTube’s info string (e.g. “Streamed live 29 minutes ago”) or defaulted to “not_live” for regular videos
`comments`	array	10 Most relevant comments of the video

Machine-readable version with the input schema: /scrapers/gd_lk56epmy2i5g7lzu0k.json

How to scrape YouTube comments

Dataset ID: gd_lk9q0ew71spt1mxywf

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/v3/scrape?dataset_id=gd_lk9q0ew71spt1mxywf&format=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"}]'

Example response

[
  {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "likes": 311000,
    "replies": 0,
    "comment_id": "Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg",
    "comment_text": "can confirm: he never gave us up",
    "username": "@Yo***e",
    "username_md5": "0e4d7a0778633b4acf6631dd251f0797",
    "user_channel": "https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube",
    "date": "1 year ago",
    "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  }
]

Full Comments response schema

Which output fields does the YouTube comments scraper return?

The YouTube comments scraper (gd_lk9q0ew71spt1mxywf, collect_by_url) returns 16 output fields.

Field	Type	Description
`comment_id`	text	Unique identifier for each comment
`comment_text`	text	The text content of the comment
`likes`	number	Number of likes received by the comment
`replies`	number	Number of replies to the comment
`username`	text	Username of the commenter
`username_md5`	text	This field stores the MD5 hash of the username field.
`user_channel`	text	URL of the commenter’s YouTube channel
`date`	text	Date when the comment was posted
`url`	url	Web address of the YouTube video where the comment was posted
`video_id`	text	Unique identifier for the YouTube video
`replies_value`	array	Array of reply objects associated with this comment
`replies_without_names`	array	Array of reply objects with personally identifiable information (usernames) removed, containing only MD5 hashed user identifiers
`user_id`	text	Unique identifier for the commenter’s YouTube channel
`mentioned_timestamps_minutes`	array	Array of timestamps mentioned in the comment, formatted in minutes (e.g., ‘2:35’)
`mentioned_timestamps_seconds`	array	Array of timestamps mentioned in the comment, converted to total seconds
`date_iso`	date	Date in ISO format

Machine-readable version with the input schema: /scrapers/gd_lk9q0ew71spt1mxywf.json

Quick reference: dataset IDs

Endpoint	Dataset ID	URL pattern
Videos	`gd_lk56epmy2i5g7lzu0k`	`youtube.com/watch?v={video_id}`
Channels	`gd_lk538t2k2p1k3oos71`	`youtube.com/@{handle}`
Comments	`gd_lk9q0ew71spt1mxywf`	`youtube.com/watch?v={video_id}`

Output formats

Control the response format with the format query parameter:

Value	Description
`json`	JSON array
`ndjson`	Newline-delimited JSON, one record per line (default)
`csv`	Comma-separated values

These are the format values for /scrape. The full list, NDJSON (default), JSON, JSON lines, CSV and Parquet, and where each applies is in output formats.

Async batch requests

Scrape hundreds of URLs in a single batch job.

API reference

Full parameter and response field reference.

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YouTube Scraper API endpoints

Prerequisites

Request structure

How to scrape YouTube channels

Which output fields does the YouTube channels scraper return?

How to scrape YouTube videos

Which output fields does the YouTube videos scraper return?

How to scrape YouTube comments

Which output fields does the YouTube comments scraper return?

Quick reference: dataset IDs

Output formats

Async batch requests

API reference

​Prerequisites

​Request structure

​How to scrape YouTube channels

​Which output fields does the YouTube channels scraper return?

​How to scrape YouTube videos

​Which output fields does the YouTube videos scraper return?

​How to scrape YouTube comments

​Which output fields does the YouTube comments scraper return?

​Quick reference: dataset IDs

​Output formats

​Related

Async batch requests

API reference

Prerequisites

Request structure

How to scrape YouTube channels

Which output fields does the YouTube channels scraper return?

How to scrape YouTube videos

Which output fields does the YouTube videos scraper return?

How to scrape YouTube comments

Which output fields does the YouTube comments scraper return?

Quick reference: dataset IDs

Output formats

Related