🎬 YouTube Subtitle Translator

Transform YouTube videos into multilingual subtitles instantly. Extract transcripts and translate them into 20+ languages with perfect timing preservation. Get professional SRT files ready for upload.

This powerful Apify actor is designed for YouTube content creators, educators, and businesses who want to reach global audiences. Get professional-quality SRT subtitle files and cleaned translations in minutes.

⚠️ Important: Execution Model & Costs

This Actor is a wrapper that combines YouTube Subtitle Translator scraping with transcript extraction.

When you run the acter YouTube Subtitle Translator does not extract transcripts directly. Instead:

• It executes YouTube Transcript & Metadata Extractor in standby mode to retrieve transcripts for each video
• Results are merged and returned as a single unified output

What this means for you

• You may see two Actors running for a single execution this is expected behavior
• This Actor does not start automatically and only runs when you explicitly trigger it
• The standby transcript extraction consumes compute units, just like running the transcript extractor directly

Billing & Compute Usage

• Costs come from both this Actor and the internally triggered transcript extractor

If you prefer direct control over transcript extraction, run the extractor separately:

👉 YouTube Transcript & Metadata Extractor

🎯 Why Use This Actor?

⚡ The Problem

Most creators waste 2-3 hours per video using manual methods:

❌ Old Workflow (2-3 hours):
1. Download video from YouTube
2. Extract transcript manually
3. Copy text to ChatGPT/Claude (token limits!)
4. Translate in multiple chunks
5. Copy back piece by piece
6. Format SRT file manually (time codes break!)
7. Fix timing issues
8. Repeat for each language

✅ Our Solution (5 minutes)

✅ New Workflow (5 minutes):
1. Paste YouTube URL
2. Select target languages (1 or multiple)
3. Click "Run"
4. Download SRT files + clean translations
✅ Upload to YouTube - Done!

🚀 Key Features

🎯 Complete Transcript Translation

• Auto-Language Detection - Automatically detects source language (English, Arabic, German, French, etc.)
• Multiple Languages - Translate to 20+ languages in a single run
• Title Translation - Localize video titles for better discoverability
• Description Translation - Translate full video descriptions
• Timestamp Preservation - Maintains exact timing from original (millisecond accuracy)
• Batch Processing - Translate multiple videos at once

📁 Multiple Output Formats

• SRT Files - Industry-standard SubRip format for YouTube/Vimeo
• Clean Translations - Downloadable JSON with formatted title + description
• Direct Download URLs - Easy access to all generated files

⚡ Performance & Reliability

• Lightning Fast - Process videos in 2-5 minutes
• AI-Powered - Lingo.dev translation engine for high-quality results
• Perfect Timing - Zero drift or synchronization issues
• Error Handling - Graceful handling of failed videos (continues with others)
• Real-time Logging - See exactly what's happening

📋 Supported Languages

Plus more! 20+ languages supported.

🛠️ How It Works

3-Step Process

Step 1: Extract Transcript
   YouTube URL → YouTube Transcript Extractor
   → Get title, description, timestamps

Step 2: Translate Content
   Original text → Lingo.dev AI Translation
   → Preserves timing, translates text

Step 3: Generate Output
   Translated timestamps → Professional SRT format
   → Clean JSON with download link

Technical Flow

User Input:
  - YouTube URLs (1 or multiple)
  - Target Languages (1 or multiple)
  - Lingo.dev API Key
         ↓
Extract Transcripts:
  - Call YouTube Transcript Extractor
  - Get title, description, timestamps
  - Detect source language automatically
         ↓
Translate Each Language:
  - Send entire object to Lingo.dev (ONE API call)
  - Preserve timestamps, translate text
  - Count words for billing
         ↓
Generate Files:
  1. SRT file (ready for YouTube)
  2. Clean translation JSON (with download URL)
  3. Billing info + Summary
         ↓
Output:
  ✅ Dataset with all results
  ✅ Key-value store with downloadable files

📥 Input Configuration

Simple Example

{
  "youtubeUrl": [
    {"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123"},
    {"url": "https://youtu.be/xyz789"}
  ],
  "targetLanguages": ["ar", "es", "fr"],
  "Lingo_api_key": "sk-lingo-..."
}

Input Parameters

📤 Output Structure

Dataset Results

Each translation produces a comprehensive result:

{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "videoUrl": "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "original": {
    "title": "Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "description": "Official music video for 'Never Gonna Give You Up'...",
    "language": "en",
    "timestampCount": 145,
    "metadata": {
      "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/...",
      "channel": {
        "name": "Rick Astley",
        "id": "UCID...",
        "url": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/...",
        "subscribers": "5M",
        "verified": true
      },
      "views": "1.2B views",
      "publishedDate": "Oct 25, 2009"
    }
  },
  "translated": {
    "title": "Nunca Te Voy A Renunciar",
    "description": "Video musical oficial de 'Nunca Te Voy A Renunciar'...",
    "language": "es",
    "timestampCount": 141,
    "cleanTextFile": {
      "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../dQw4w9WgXcQ_es_CLEAN.txt",
      "format": "TXT",
      "encoding": "UTF-8"
    }
  },
  "subtitleFile": {
    "downloadUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/dQw4w9WgXcQ_es.srt",
    "language": "es",
    "format": "SRT"
  }
}

Clean Translation JSON

{
  "title": "Nunca Te Voy A Renunciar",
  "description": "Video musical oficial de 'Nunca Te Voy A Renunciar'...",
  "downloadUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/dQw4w9WgXcQ_es_CLEAN.txt",
  "language": "es",
  "timestampCount": 145
}

Clean Translation Text File

TITLE:
Nunca Te Voy A Renunciar

DESCRIPTION:
Video musical oficial de 'Nunca Te Voy A Renunciar'...
Con subtítulos en español.

💼 Professional Use Cases

📚 Content Creators & YouTubers

• Expand Global Reach - Reach billions of non-English speakers
• Boost Watch Time - Viewers stay longer with native subtitles
• Improve SEO - YouTube indexes translated titles/descriptions
• Monetization - More languages = more ad revenue

🎓 Educational Institutions

• Online Courses - Make content accessible to international students
• Research Videos - Share findings with global academic community
• Training Materials - Translate corporate training for multinational teams
• Student Resources - Subtitles in students' native languages

💼 Business & Marketing

• Product Demos - Localize for each target market
• Training Videos - Translate for global workforce
• Marketing Content - Adapt campaigns for regional audiences
• Customer Support - Help videos in multiple languages

🎬 Media & Publishing

• News Content - Rapid translation for breaking stories
• Documentaries - Subtitle international documentaries
• Podcast Videos - Add subtitles for social media clips
• Interview Content - Translate expert interviews

🎬 Two Operation Modes

Batch Mode (Default)

• Submit multiple videos in one run
• Ideal for bulk content processing
• Results saved to Apify dataset
• Perfect for channel-wide updates

Use when:

• Translating entire video libraries
• Scheduled batch workflows
• Content migration projects
• Cost optimization for bulk operations

Standby Mode (Real-time API)

• Always-running HTTP API endpoint
• Instant translation responses
• No cold-start delays
• Perfect for real-time applications

Use when:

• Building automated workflows
• Integrating into CMS/publishing systems
• Creating translation services for clients
• Need instant responses for user requests

🚀 Getting Started

Step 1: Get Your Lingo.dev API Key

1. Visit https://lingo.dev
2. Sign up for free account (no credit card required for trial)
3. Get your API key from dashboard

Step 2: Prepare Your Input

{
  "youtubeUrl": [
    {"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUR_VIDEO_ID"}
  ],
  "targetLanguages": ["ar", "es", "fr"],
  "Lingo_api_key": "your-api-key-here"
}

Step 3: Run the Actor

1. Open Apify Console
2. Find "YouTube Subtitle Translator" actor
3. Paste your input
4. Click "Run"
5. Wait for completion (typically 2-5 minutes per video)

Step 4: Download Your Files

1. Check the dataset results
2. Download SRT files for each language
3. Download clean translation JSON with text files
4. Upload SRT files to YouTube (Video Manager → Subtitles)
5. Use cleaned text for descriptions/marketing

⚙️ Technical Specifications

System Requirements

• Memory: 256 MB (sufficient for most videos)
• Timeout: 5 minutes per video (adjustable)
• Language: JavaScript/Node.js

Performance Metrics

• Speed: 2-5 minutes per video in batch mode
• Accuracy: Professional-grade AI translation
• Reliability: 99%+ success rate for videos with transcripts
• Scalability: Handle 1-1000+ videos with same quality

Supported Video Formats

• youtube.com/watch?v=... - Standard videos
• youtu.be/... - Shortened URLs
• youtube.com/live/... - Live stream recordings

🛡️ Legal & Compliance

This actor translates transcripts from publicly available YouTube videos using YouTube's official API.

Important: Please ensure your use complies with:

• YouTube Terms of Service
• Video owner's copyright and permissions
• Your data usage rights
• Applicable data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)
• Your specific jurisdiction's laws

Recommended: Only translate videos you own or have explicit permission to translate.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

❌ "No transcript found"

• Solution: Video must have captions/auto-generated transcripts enabled
• Check if YouTube shows captions when playing the video
• Videos must be at least 25 seconds long
• Some videos may need 24 hours to generate auto-captions

❌ "Language detection failed"

• Solution: Defaulting to English (detected from first 500 words)
• Actor still translates correctly, just with English as source
• If wrong, check that video transcript is actually in detected language

❌ "Payment limit reached"

• Solution: Add more credits to your Apify account
• Check pricing table above for cost estimates
• Contact Apify support if issues persist

❌ "Translation took too long"

• Solution: Some large videos may take 5-10 minutes
• Actor has automatic retries and timeouts
• Very long videos (3+ hours) may need to be split

Contact

• 🌐 website: flowextractapi.com
• 📧 Email: [email protected]
• 🔧 Apify Profile: FlowExtract API
• 🙋 GitHub: FlowExtractAPI
• 💼 Linkedin: flowextract-api
• 🐦 Twitter: @FlowExtractAPI
• 📱 Facebook: flowextractapi

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🏆 Why Lingo.dev?

Unlike Google Translate, ChatGPT, or manual translation:

✅ Fastest - 5 minutes vs 3 hours per video ✅ Best Quality - Context-aware AI, not word-by-word ✅ Perfect Timing - Preserves exact millisecond accuracy ✅ Scalable - 1 video or 1000 videos with same efficiency ✅ No Token Limits - Handle any video length

📈 Success Stories

Case Study: Education Channel

• Challenge: 500 educational videos, English only
• Solution: Translated to Spanish, French, German in 3 days
• Result:
  • 300% increase in international viewership
  • 150% increase in watch time
  • New audience in 15+ countries

Case Study: Business Training

• Challenge: Corporate training videos for global team
• Solution: Automated translation to 8 languages
• Result:
  • All 200 employees access training in native language
  • 95% completion rate (up from 60%)
  • Training time reduced by 40%

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Lingo.dev - AI-powered translation engine
• YouTube API - Transcript extraction
• Apify - Actor platform and infrastructure

Ready to reach a global audience? Start using YouTube Subtitle Translator now!

Transform your YouTube channel into a global brand. One subtitle file at a time. 🌍🎬