> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://assemblyai.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Get YouTube Video Transcripts with yt-dlp

In this guide, we'll show you how to transcribe YouTube videos.

For this, we use the [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) library to download YouTube videos and then transcribe it with the AssemblyAI API.

`yt-dlp` is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork with additional features and fixes. It is better maintained and preferred over `youtube-dl` nowadays.

In this guide we'll show 2 different approaches:

* Option 1: Download video via CLI
* Option 2: Download video via code

Let's get started!

## Quickstart

```python expandable theme={null}
import assemblyai as aai
import yt_dlp

def transcribe_youtube_video(video_url: str, api_key: str) -> str:
    """
    Transcribe a YouTube video given its URL.

    Args:
        video_url: The YouTube video URL to transcribe
        api_key: AssemblyAI API key

    Returns:
        The transcript text
    """
    # Configure yt-dlp options for audio extraction
    ydl_opts = {
        'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
        'outtmpl': '%(id)s.%(ext)s',
        'postprocessors': [{
            'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
            'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
        }]
    }

    # Download and extract audio
    with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
        ydl.download([video_url])
        # Get video ID from info dict
        info = ydl.extract_info(video_url, download=False)
        video_id = info['id']

    # Configure AssemblyAI
    aai.settings.api_key = api_key

    # Transcribe the downloaded audio file
    config = aai.TranscriptionConfig()
    transcriber = aai.Transcriber()
    transcript = transcriber.transcribe(f"{video_id}.m4a", config)

    return transcript.text

transcript_text = transcribe_youtube_video("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtolixa9XTg", "YOUR-API-KEY")
print(transcript_text)
```

# Step-by-step guide

## Install Dependencies

Install [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and the [AssemblyAI Python SDK](https://github.com/AssemblyAI/assemblyai-python-sdk) via pip.

```bash theme={null}
pip install -U yt-dlp
```

```bash theme={null}
pip install assemblyai
```

## Option 1: Download video via CLI

In this approach we download the YouTube video via the command line and then transcribe it via the AssemblyAI API. We use the following video here:

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtolixa9XTg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtolixa9XTg)

To download it, use the `yt-dlp` command with the following options:

* `-f m4a/bestaudio`: The format should be the best audio version in m4a format.
* `-o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"`: The output name should be the id followed by the extension. In this example, the video gets saved to "wtolixa9XTg.m4a".
* `wtolixa9XTg`: the id of the video.

```bash theme={null}
yt-dlp -f m4a/bestaudio -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtolixa9XTg
```

Next, set up the AssemblyAI SDK and trancribe the file. Replace `YOUR_API_KEY` with your own key. If you don't have one, you can [sign up here](https://assemblyai.com/dashboard/signup) for free.

Make sure that the path you pass to the `transcribe()` function corresponds to the saved filename.

```python theme={null}
import assemblyai as aai

aai.settings.api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"

config = aai.TranscriptionConfig()
transcriber = aai.Transcriber()
transcript = transcriber.transcribe("wtolixa9XTg.m4a", config)
print(transcript.text)
```

## Option 2: Download video via code

In this approach we download the video with a Python script instead of the command line.

You can download the file with the following code:

```python theme={null}
import yt_dlp

URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtolixa9XTg']

ydl_opts = {
    'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',  # The best audio version in m4a format
    'outtmpl': '%(id)s.%(ext)s',  # The output name should be the id followed by the extension
    'postprocessors': [{  # Extract audio using ffmpeg
        'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
        'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
    }]
}


with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
    error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
```

After downloading, you can use the same code from option 1 to transcribe the file:

```python theme={null}
import assemblyai as aai

aai.settings.api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"

config = aai.TranscriptionConfig()
transcriber = aai.Transcriber()
transcript = transcriber.transcribe("wtolixa9XTg.m4a", config)
```