YouTube Video Details API

What is the YouTube Video Details API?

Returns title, channel, duration, view/like/comment counts, publishedAt (UTC Z), genre/categoryId, availableCaptions[] with expiresAt, live flags, and the degraded envelope. ANDROID InnerTube supplies engagement; publishDate / genre / @handle / isFamilySafe come from the watch-page microformat (retried once when missing). Every 200 includes degraded (boolean) and degradedReason (null or "partial-extraction") — retry when degraded is true. commentCountIsApproximate and likeCountIsApproximate are always keyed (false when the count is null — unknown is not a compact token). likeCount comes from the watch-page accessibility label and is exact when present; the flag is still stamped (CP-F). defaultLanguage is YouTube's video-language metadata and is usually null on this surface; defaultAudioLanguage is that field when InnerTube sends it, otherwise the first ASR caption languageCode. channelVerified is the watch-page owner badge when exposed; null means unread, not unverified (use /youtube/channel-details.verified). thumbnailUrl is the largest thumbnails[] URL, not a second image. descriptionLinks[] is {url, text} — text is the same-line label or null. Flat 1 credit.

What you get

• degraded / degradedReason always present (retry on partial-extraction)
• publishedAt UTC Z + likeCount from watch microformat / accessibility label

Fill in the parameters below and copy a ready-to-run request, or open the live Playground to run it against your account (no API key paste).

curl "https://api.captapi.com/v1/youtube/video-details?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer capt_live_..."
# or: -H "x-api-key: capt_live_..."

Example response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)",
    "description": "The official video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. \n\nNever: The Autobiography 📚 OUT NOW! \nFollow this link to get your copy and listen to Rick’s ‘Never’ playlist ❤️ #RickAstleyNever\nhttps://linktr.ee/rickastleynever\n\n“Never Gonna Give You Up” was a global smash on its release in July 1987, topping the charts in 25 countries including Rick’s native UK and the US Billboard Hot 100.  It also won the Brit Award for Best single in 1988. Stock Aitken and Waterman wrote and produced the track which was the lead-off single and lead track from Rick’s debut LP “Whenever You Need Somebody”.  The album was itself a UK number one and would go on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide.\n\nThe legendary video was directed by Simon West – who later went on to make Hollywood blockbusters such as Con Air, Lara Croft – Tomb Raider and The Expendables 2.  The video passed the 1bn YouTube views milestone on 28 July 2021.\n\nSubscribe to the official Rick Astley YouTube channel: https://RickAstley.lnk.to/YTSubID\n\nFollow Rick Astley:\nFacebook: https://RickAstley.lnk.to/FBFollowID \nTwitter: http …",
    "channelName": "Rick Astley",
    "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
    "publishedAt": "2009-10-24T23:57:33-07:00",
    "durationSeconds": 213,
    "viewCount": 1797826473,
    "likeCount": 19283915,
    "commentCount": 2400000,
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/dQw4w9WgXcQ/sddefault.webp",
    "genre": "Music",
    "categoryId": "10",
    "tags": [
      "rick astley",
      "Never Gonna Give You Up"
    ],
    "durationFormatted": "00:03:33"
  }
}

Billing metadata is returned in response headers: X-Captapi-Credits (credits charged), X-Captapi-Cache (hit or miss), and X-Captapi-Source. Failed requests (4xx/5xx) are never charged. See the full list of error codes in the error reference.

Response structure

A successful call returns success and a data object with the following fields:

Parameters

Authentication: send your key as Authorization: Bearer capt_live_.... A typical call costs 1 credit. Pass cache=true for a free 24h cache hit; default is always fresh.

How it works

1. 1. Sign up — get 100 free credits, no card required.
2. 2. Create a key from your dashboard.
3. 3. Send one request to /v1/youtube/video-details and parse the JSON response.

Use cases

Frequently asked questions

More YouTube APIs