---
title: "YouTube Video Details API"
method: GET
path: "/v1/youtube/video-details"
tags: ["YouTube"]
---

# YouTube Video Details API

`GET /v1/youtube/video-details`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.captapi.com`
- URL: `https://api.captapi.com/v1/youtube/video-details`
- Auth: one of:
  - HTTP bearer
  - API key in header `X-API-Key`

YouTube video metadata + stats.

Returns title, channel, duration, view/like/comment counts, publishedAt (UTC Z), genre/categoryId, availableCaptions[] with expiresAt, live flags, and the degraded envelope. Engagement counts come from YouTube's app data; 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 YouTube 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.

Docs: https://captapi.com/apis/youtube-video-details

## Query parameters

- `url` string, required
- `cache` boolean

## Response `200`

Success. The data object for this endpoint.

- object
  - `success` unknown, required
  - `data` object, required
    - `url` string: Canonical URL of the item.
    - `id` string: Stable platform ID for the item.
    - `title` string: Title of the item.
    - `description` string: Description text.
    - `channelName` string: Name of the channel.
    - `channelId` string: Stable channel id (YouTube UC… when applicable).
    - `channelUrl` string: URL of the channel.
    - `publishedAt` string: UTC ISO-8601 with millisecond Z (YouTube's microformat offset is normalized). null + degraded when the watch fetch failed.
    - `durationSeconds` integer: Length in seconds for this item (full media length, or a segment span when the endpoint documents a start/end).
    - `viewCount` integer: View count.
    - `likeCount` integer: Like count from the watch-page accessibility label (or a fallback read when the label is missing) — the true integer, not the visible 19M chrome. null + degraded when unread.
    - `commentCount` integer: Comment count.
    - `thumbnailUrl` string: Largest thumbnails[].url. Convenience alias — identical to thumbnails[last].url.
    - `genre` string: Category name from playerMicroformatRenderer (e.g. Music).
    - `categoryId` string: YouTube category id — from the player when present, else mapped from genre.
    - `tags` string[]: Tags attached to the item.
    - `durationFormatted` string: Human-readable duration.

## Other responses

- `400`: Bad request: wrong platform URL, unknown endpoint, or an invalid parameter value. Not billed.
- `401`: Missing, invalid or revoked API key. Not billed.
- `402`: Not enough credits for this request. Not billed.
- `404`: The resource does not exist or is not public. Not billed.
- `422`: A required parameter is missing or has the wrong type. Not billed.
- `429`: Rate limit reached. Wait for Retry-After seconds. Not billed.
- `502`: The platform could not be reached or returned nothing usable. Retryable, not billed. 503 and 504 use the same envelope.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/captapi/apis/captapi-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/captapi/apis/captapi-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/captapi/apis/captapi-api/revisions/c9b9ac5ff1bd?raw)