YouTube Video Information Extractor

A robust Python library for extracting YouTube video metadata including title, description, channel name, publication date, and view count with multiple extraction strategies.

Features

• Multiple Extraction Strategies: YouTube Data API v3 (official), yt-dlp, pytubefix
• Automatic Fallback: Seamlessly switches between methods if one fails
• Simple Input: Accepts YouTube video IDs only (11 characters)
• Batch Processing: Extract information from multiple videos efficiently
• Multiple Output Formats: Text, JSON, CSV
• Command Line Interface: Easy-to-use CLI for quick extractions
• Python Library: Full programmatic access for integration
• Robust Error Handling: Graceful handling of failures with retry logic
• Rate Limiting: Built-in delays to respect YouTube's servers

Installation

pip install yt-info-extract

Optional Dependencies

For the best experience, install all extraction backends:

# For YouTube Data API v3 support (recommended)
pip install google-api-python-client

# For yt-dlp support (most robust fallback)
pip install yt-dlp

# For pytubefix support (lightweight fallback)
pip install pytubefix

Quick Start

Python Library Usage

from yt_info_extract import get_video_info

# Extract video information
info = get_video_info("jNQXAC9IVRw")

print(f"Title: {info['title']}")
print(f"Channel: {info['channel_name']}")
print(f"Views: {info['views']:,}")
print(f"Published: {info['publication_date']}")

Command Line Usage

# Extract video information
yt-info jNQXAC9IVRw

# Export to JSON
yt-info -f json -o video.json jNQXAC9IVRw

# Process multiple videos
yt-info --batch video_ids.txt --output-dir results/

# Use specific extraction strategy
yt-info -s api --api-key YOUR_KEY jNQXAC9IVRw

YouTube Data API v3 Setup (Recommended)

The YouTube Data API v3 is the official, most reliable method. It requires a free API key:

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project or select an existing one
3. Enable the YouTube Data API v3
4. Create credentials (API Key)
5. Restrict the API key to YouTube Data API v3

# Set your API key as environment variable
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

# Now use the library
yt-info jNQXAC9IVRw

Usage Examples

Basic Usage

from yt_info_extract import YouTubeVideoInfoExtractor

# Initialize extractor
extractor = YouTubeVideoInfoExtractor(api_key="your_key")

# Extract video info
info = extractor.get_video_info("jNQXAC9IVRw")

if info:
    print(f"Title: {info['title']}")
    print(f"Channel: {info['channel_name']}")
    print(f"Views: {info['views']:,}")
    print(f"Published: {info['publication_date']}")
    print(f"Description: {info['description'][:100]}...")

Batch Processing

from yt_info_extract import get_video_info_batch

video_ids = ["jNQXAC9IVRw", "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "_OBlgSz8sSM"]
results = get_video_info_batch(video_ids)

for result in results:
    if not result.get('error'):
        print(f"{result['title']} - {result['views']:,} views")

Export Data

from yt_info_extract import get_video_info, export_video_info

# Get video info
info = get_video_info("jNQXAC9IVRw")

# Export to JSON
export_video_info(info, "video.json")

# Export batch results to CSV
batch_results = get_video_info_batch(["jNQXAC9IVRw", "dQw4w9WgXcQ"])
export_video_info(batch_results, "videos.csv", format_type="csv")

Video ID Format

from yt_info_extract import get_video_info

# Only video IDs are accepted (11 characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, _, -):
video_id = "jNQXAC9IVRw"
info = get_video_info(video_id)
print(f"✓ {video_id} -> {info['title']}")

# URLs are NOT supported - extract the video ID manually if needed:
# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw -> jNQXAC9IVRw

Command Line Interface

Basic Commands

# Extract video information
yt-info jNQXAC9IVRw

# Use different output formats
yt-info -f compact jNQXAC9IVRw
yt-info -f stats jNQXAC9IVRw
yt-info -f json jNQXAC9IVRw

# Export to file
yt-info -f json -o video.json jNQXAC9IVRw
yt-info -f csv -o video.csv jNQXAC9IVRw

Batch Processing

# Create a file with video IDs only (one per line)
echo "jNQXAC9IVRw" > video_ids.txt
echo "dQw4w9WgXcQ" >> video_ids.txt

# Process all videos
yt-info --batch video_ids.txt --output-dir results/

# With summary report
yt-info --batch video_ids.txt --summary --output-dir results/

API Key Usage

# Method 1: Environment variable
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
yt-info jNQXAC9IVRw

# Method 2: Command line argument
yt-info --api-key "your_api_key_here" jNQXAC9IVRw

# Force specific strategy
yt-info -s api --api-key "your_key" jNQXAC9IVRw
yt-info -s yt_dlp jNQXAC9IVRw

Utility Commands

# Test API key
yt-info --test-api

# List available strategies
yt-info --list-strategies

# Verbose output
yt-info -v jNQXAC9IVRw

Extraction Strategies

1. YouTube Data API v3 (Recommended)

• Pros: Official, reliable, comprehensive data, compliant with ToS
• Cons: Requires API key, has quota limits (10,000 units/day free)
• Best for: Production applications, commercial use, reliable automation

extractor = YouTubeVideoInfoExtractor(api_key="your_key", strategy="api")

2. yt-dlp (Most Robust Fallback)

• Pros: No API key needed, very robust, actively maintained
• Cons: Violates YouTube ToS, can break with YouTube updates
• Best for: Personal projects, research, when API quotas are insufficient

extractor = YouTubeVideoInfoExtractor(strategy="yt_dlp")

3. pytubefix (Lightweight Fallback)

• Pros: No API key needed, simple, lightweight
• Cons: Violates YouTube ToS, less robust than yt-dlp
• Best for: Simple scripts, minimal dependencies

extractor = YouTubeVideoInfoExtractor(strategy="pytubefix")

4. Auto Strategy (Default)

Automatically tries strategies in order of preference:

1. YouTube Data API v3 (if API key available)
2. yt-dlp (if installed)
3. pytubefix (if installed)

extractor = YouTubeVideoInfoExtractor(strategy="auto")  # Default

Data Structure

Each video information dictionary contains:

{
    "title": "Video title",
    "description": "Full video description",
    "channel_name": "Channel name",
    "publication_date": "2005-04-23T00:00:00Z",  # ISO format
    "views": 123456789,  # Integer view count
    "extraction_method": "youtube_api"  # Method used
}

Configuration Options

extractor = YouTubeVideoInfoExtractor(
    api_key="your_key",           # YouTube Data API key
    strategy="auto",              # Extraction strategy
    timeout=30,                   # Request timeout (seconds)
    max_retries=3,                # Maximum retry attempts
    backoff_factor=0.75,          # Exponential backoff factor
    rate_limit_delay=0.1,         # Delay between requests
)

Error Handling

The library handles errors gracefully:

info = get_video_info("invalid_video_id")
if info:
    print(f"Success: {info['title']}")
else:
    print("Failed to extract video information")

# For batch processing, check individual results
results = get_video_info_batch(["valid_id", "invalid_id"])
for result in results:
    if result.get('error'):
        print(f"Error: {result['error']}")
    else:
        print(f"Success: {result['title']}")

Legal and Compliance Notes

• YouTube Data API v3: Fully compliant with YouTube's Terms of Service
• yt-dlp and pytubefix: Violate YouTube's Terms of Service by scraping data

For commercial applications or production use, always use the YouTube Data API v3.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Support

• Documentation: GitHub README
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• API Key Setup: Google Cloud Console

Related Projects

• yt-ts-extract - YouTube transcript extraction
• yt-dlp - YouTube downloader (used as fallback)
• pytubefix - YouTube library (used as fallback)