YouTube Search

You can search YouTube for videos, channels, playlists or movies by providing a search query to the youtube_search or youtube_search_max source.

Theyoutube_search source allows retrieving up to 20 search results, while the youtube_search_max source can return up to 700 results in a single response.

The following examples demonstrate how to utilize youtube_search source to retrieve Youtube videos based on a search query.

cURL

curl 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' \
--user 'USERNAME:PASSWORD' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
        "source": "youtube_search",
        "query": "how to make a website"
    }'

Python

import requests
from pprint import pprint

# Structure payload.
payload = {
    'source': 'youtube_search',
    'query': 'how to make a website'
}

# Get response.
response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries',
    auth=('user', 'pass1'),
    json=payload,
)

# Print the JSON response with the result.
pprint(response.json())

Node.js

const https = require("https");

const username = "USERNAME";
const password = "PASSWORD";
const body = {
  source: "youtube_search",
  query: "how to make a website"
};
const options = {
  hostname: "realtime.oxylabs.io",
  path: "/v1/queries",
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    Authorization:
      "Basic " + Buffer.from(`${username}:${password}`).toString("base64"),
  },
};
const request = https.request(options, (response) => {
  let data = "";
  response.on("data", (chunk) => {
    data += chunk;
  });
  response.on("end", () => {
    const responseData = JSON.parse(data);
    console.log(JSON.stringify(responseData, null, 2));
  });
});
request.on("error", (error) => {
  console.error("Error:", error);
});
request.write(JSON.stringify(body));
request.end();

HTTP

https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries?source=youtube_search&query=how to make a website&access_token=12345abcde

PHP

<?php

$params = array(
    'source' => 'youtube_search',
    'query' => 'how to make a website'
);
   
$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($params));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "USERNAME" . ":" . "PASSWORD");

$headers = array();
$headers[] = "Content-Type: application/json";
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
    echo 'Error:' . curl_error($ch);
}

curl_close($ch);

Golang

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io/ioutil"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	const Username = "USERNAME"
	const Password = "PASSWORD"

	// Define the payload with the new youtube_metadata query.
	payload := map[string]interface{}{
		"source": "youtube_search",
		"query":  "how to make a website
	}

	jsonValue, err := json.Marshal(payload)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error marshalling JSON:", err)
		return
	}

	client := &http.Client{}
	request, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries", bytes.NewBuffer(jsonValue))
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error creating request:", err)
		return
	}

	request.SetBasicAuth(Username, Password)
	request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

	response, err := client.Do(request)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error making request:", err)
		return
	}
	defer response.Body.Close()

	responseText, err := ioutil.ReadAll(response.Body)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error reading response:", err)
		return
	}

	fmt.Println(string(responseText))
}

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace OxyApi
{
    class Program
    {
        static async Task Main()
        {
            const string Username = "USERNAME";
            const string Password = "PASSWORD";

            var parameters = new
            {
                source = "youtube_search",
                query = "how to make a website",
                context = new[]
                {
                    new { key = "language_code", value = "en" },
                    new { key = "transcript_origin", value = "uploader_provided" }
                }
            };

            var client = new HttpClient();

            Uri baseUri = new Uri("https://realtime.oxylabs.io");
            client.BaseAddress = baseUri;

            var requestMessage = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, "/v1/queries");
            requestMessage.Content = JsonContent.Create(parameters);

            var authenticationString = $"{Username}:{Password}";
            var base64EncodedAuthenticationString = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(authenticationString));
            requestMessage.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " + base64EncodedAuthenticationString);

            try
            {
                var response = await client.SendAsync(requestMessage);
                response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

                var contents = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                Console.WriteLine(contents);
            }
            catch (HttpRequestException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Request error: {e.Message}");
            }
        }
    }
}

Java

package org.example;

import okhttp3.*;
import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class Main implements Runnable {
    private static final String AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization";
    public static final String USERNAME = "USERNAME";
    public static final String PASSWORD = "PASSWORD";

    public void run() {
        // Construct JSON payload for youtube_metadata request
        JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
        jsonObject.put("source", "youtube_search");
        jsonObject.put("query", "how to make a website");

        JSONArray contextArray = new JSONArray();
        contextArray.put(new JSONObject().put("key", "language_code").put("value", "en"));
        contextArray.put(new JSONObject().put("key", "transcript_origin").put("value", "uploader_provided"));

        jsonObject.put("context", contextArray);

        Authenticator authenticator = (route, response) -> {
            String credential = Credentials.basic(USERNAME, PASSWORD);
            return response
                    .request()
                    .newBuilder()
                    .header(AUTHORIZATION_HEADER, credential)
                    .build();
        };

        var client = new OkHttpClient.Builder()
                .authenticator(authenticator)
                .readTimeout(180, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
                .build();

        var mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8");
        var body = RequestBody.create(jsonObject.toString(), mediaType);
        var request = new Request.Builder()
                .url("https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries")
                .post(body)
                .build();

        try (var response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
            if (response.body() != null) {
                try (var responseBody = response.body()) {
                    System.out.println(responseBody.string());
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception exception) {
            System.out.println("Error: " + exception.getMessage());
        }

        System.exit(0);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Thread(new Main()).start();
    }
}

JSON

{
    "source": "youtube_search",
    "query": "how to make a website"
}

We use the synchronous Realtime integration method in our examples. If you would like to use the Push-Pull integration, refer to the Integration Methods section.

848KB

youtube search output sample.json

Query parameters

Parameter	Description	Default Value	Type
source	Sets the scraper.	youtube_search or youtube_search_max	String
query	Search term.	-	String

- required parameter

Filters

You can customize your search by using all the filters available via Youtube GUI.

Filters query parameters

Parameter	Description	Default Value	Type
upload_date	Filters videos by when they were uploaded. Available values are: today, last_hour, this_week, this_month, this_year.	-	String
type	Returns results by content type. Available values are: video, channel, playlist, movie.	-	String
duration	Content duration in minutes. Available values are >4, <20, 4-20 minutes.	-	String
sort_by	Determines how search results are ordered. Available values are rating, relevance, view_count,upload_date.	relevance	String
360	Returns 360-degree videos in search results.	-	Boolean
3d	Returns 3D videos in search results.	-	Boolean
4k	Returns 4K resolution videos in search results.	-	Boolean
creative_commons	Returns only videos with Creative Commons licenses.	-	Boolean
hd	Returns high-definition videos in search results.	-	Boolean
hdr	Returns HDR (High Dynamic Range) videos in search results.	-	Boolean
live	Returns live streams in search results.	-	Boolean
location	Returns videos with location information.	-	Boolean
purchased	Returns purchased content in search results.	-	Boolean
subtitles	Returns videos with subtitles or closed captions.	-	Boolean
vr180	Returns VR180 format videos in search results.	-	Boolean