https://github.com/dbeley/youtube_extract
Extract metadata for all videos of a youtube channel.
https://github.com/dbeley/youtube_extract
youtube youtube-dl
Last synced: 11 months ago
JSON representation
Extract metadata for all videos of a youtube channel.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/dbeley/youtube_extract
- Owner: dbeley
- License: mit
- Created: 2019-10-09T00:15:46.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2025-06-04T09:12:41.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-07-01T16:10:56.981Z (12 months ago)
- Topics: youtube, youtube-dl
- Language: Python
- Homepage:
- Size: 146 KB
- Stars: 25
- Watchers: 4
- Forks: 3
- Open Issues: 7
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
- awesome-starred - youtube_extract - Extract metadata for all videos of a youtube channel. (Python)
README
# youtube_extract
[](https://app.codacy.com/manual/dbeley/youtube_extract?utm_source=github.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=dbeley/youtube_extract&utm_campaign=Badge_Grade_Dashboard)
[](https://codecov.io/gh/dbeley/youtube_extract)
Extract metadata for all videos from a youtube channel and exports it into a csv or xlsx file.
Be sure to read the csv file using the tab character `\t` as field separator in your spreadsheet software of choice.
As of now it's quite slow and unpredictable, expect ~400 seconds for extracting all videos metadata from a channel containing 400 videos.
## Fields extracted
| Field | Description |
|----------------|--------------------------------|
| author | Channel Name |
| channel_url | Channel URL |
| title | Video Title |
| webpage_url | Video URL |
| view_count | View Count |
| like_count | Like Count |
| duration | Duration in seconds |
| upload_date | Upload Date in YYYYMMDD Format |
| tags | Tags |
| categories | Categories |
| description | Description |
| thumbnail | Thumbnail URL |
| best_format | Highest Format Available |
| filesize_bytes | Filesize in bytes |
## Requirements
- python >=3.8
- yt-dlp
- pandas
- openpyxl
## Installation
### Preferred install method
```bash
pip install youtube_extract
```
If you are an Archlinux user, you can install the AUR package [youtube_extract-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/youtube_extract-git).
### Run from source
```bash
git clone https://github.com/dbeley/youtube_extract
cd youtube_extract
pip install yt-dlp pandas openpyxl
python setup.py install
youtube_extract -h
```
## Usage
If installed :
```bash
youtube_extract CHANNEL_URL
# or xlsx format
youtube_extract CHANNEL_URL -e xlsx
```
Otherwise, in the directory containing the source code :
```bash
python -m youtube_extract CHANNEL_URL
# or xlsx format
python -m youtube_extract CHANNEL_URL -e xlsx
```
### Using Cookies
The `--cookies` option allows you to provide a Netscape-formatted cookies file which can be used to access age-restricted content, private videos, or content that requires authentication.
You can obtain a cookies file using browser extensions like:
- [cookies.txt](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/get-cookiestxt-locally/cclelndahbckbenkjhflpdbgdldlbecc?pli=1) for Chrome
- [cookies.txt](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/) for Firefox
The cookies file should be in the standard Netscape format:
#### Netscape HTTP Cookie File
```
.domain.com TRUE / FALSE 1234567890 name value
```
### Rate Limiting
YouTube may rate-limit your requests if you extract data from channels with many videos. To avoid this, you can use the --sleep-requests option to add a delay between requests:
```bash
youtube_extract CHANNEL_URL --sleep-requests 10
```
This will pause for 10 seconds between requests, which can help avoid rate limiting at the cost of longer extraction time.
See: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Extractors#this-content-isnt-available-try-again-later
## Help
```bash
youtube_extract -h
```
```
usage: youtube_extract [-h] [--debug] [-e EXPORT_FORMAT] [--cookies COOKIE_FILE] [--sleep-requests SECONDS] [channel_url]
Extract metadata for all videos from a youtube channel into a csv or xlsx
file.
positional arguments:
channel_url Youtube channel url.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--debug Display debugging information.
-e EXPORT_FORMAT, --export_format EXPORT_FORMAT
Export format (csv or xlsx). Default : csv.
--cookies COOKIE_FILE Path to cookies.txt file.
Use for age-restricted content.
--sleep-requests SECONDS
Number of seconds to sleep between requests during data extraction.
```