YouTube Transcript Collector

A Google Colab notebook that collects YouTube video transcripts and combines them into a single text file.

Features

• Collect by Channel: Enter a YouTube channel URL/ID to download transcripts from all videos or filter by date
• Collect by Search: Search for videos by keyword, view results with view counts, and select specific videos
• Custom Video List: Enter specific video URLs or IDs directly
• Multi-language Support: Automatically detects and fetches available transcripts (English, Japanese, and more)
• Formatted Output: Exports all transcripts to a single text file with video metadata

Quick Start

1. Open in Google Colab: Click the button below to open the notebook

   

2. Get a YouTube Data API Key (free):

   • Go to Google Cloud Console
   • Create a project and enable "YouTube Data API v3"
   • Create an API key under Credentials

3. Run the notebook cells in order

Output Format

++++++++++++++[Video Title | 2024-01-15]
transcript text goes here...
==============END=================


++++++++++++++[Another Video | 2024-01-10]
another transcript text...
==============END=================

Requirements

• Google Colab (recommended) or Python 3.x environment
• YouTube Data API Key (free, 10,000 units/day quota)

Python Dependencies

youtube-transcript-api>=1.0.0
google-api-python-client
python-dateutil

Usage Options

Option 1: By Channel

1. Enter a YouTube channel URL (supports multiple formats):

   • https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelHandle
   • https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxx
   • Channel name (will search)

2. Choose to download:

   • All videos from the channel
   • Only videos published after a specific date

Option 2: By Search

1. Enter a search keyword
2. View results with title, channel, date, and view count
3. Select videos:
   • Select all results
   • Select specific videos by number (e.g., 1,3,5,7-10)

Bonus: Custom Video List

Enter specific video URLs or IDs directly to collect their transcripts.

API Quota Usage

API Call	Cost
Search	100 units
Channel info	1 unit
Video list	1 unit
Video statistics	1 unit

Daily quota: 10,000 units (sufficient for ~100 searches or thousands of video info requests)

Project Structure

YouTube-Transcript-Collector/
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
├── requirements.txt
├── .gitignore
├── YouTube_Transcript_Collector.ipynb  # Main notebook
├── CLAUDE.md                            # Development guidelines
└── docs/
    ├── requirement.md                   # Requirements specification
    ├── architecture.md                  # System architecture
    ├── api_reference.md                 # API reference
    ├── testing_guide.md                 # Testing guide
    └── changelog.md                     # Change history

Limitations

• Videos with disabled captions cannot be processed
• Some videos may not have transcripts available
• API quota limits apply (10,000 units/day)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• youtube-transcript-api for transcript fetching
• Google YouTube Data API for video metadata