# Why does YouTube's captions.download return 403 for videos I don't own?

> The YouTube Data API only lets a video's editors download its captions, so third-party videos return 403. How to get those transcripts instead, with cost and code.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/answers/youtube-captions-download-403/

**Short answer: **Because captions.download requires permission to edit the video: no OAuth scope fixes a 403 on someone else's upload. For public videos you don't own, the YouTube transcript endpoint returns the captions as text with timestamps for $0.004 per video, with no OAuth and no Google Cloud project.

You build the OAuth flow, request the `youtube.force-ssl` scope, call `captions.list` and see the English track. Then `captions.download` on that track returns `403 forbidden`. Nothing is wrong with your code. Google's reference for [captions.download](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/captions/download) says the method requires the user to have permission to edit the video. A logged-in viewer is not an editor, so the answer for third-party videos is always no.

## What the official API allows

| Method | Quota cost | Works on other people's videos? |
|---|---|---|
| `captions.list` | 50 units | Yes, lists the tracks |
| `captions.download` | 200 units | No, editors only |

Listing tells you a track exists. It never gives you the words. The costs come from Google's [quota table](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/determine_quota_cost).

## Getting the words for any public video

[YouTube video transcript](/apis/youtube/videos/transcript/get/) works on public videos with captions, whoever uploaded them. Send the video ID and, if you like, a preferred language:

```bash
curl -s -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/youtube/videos/transcript/get" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  -d id=dQw4w9WgXcQ \
  -d lang=en
```

The item has `video_id`, `lang`, `text` (the whole transcript) and `segments`, each with `start` and `end` in seconds. There is no file format to choose; build SRT or VTT from the segments if a player needs one.

| Volume | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 video | $0.004 |
| 50 videos | $0.20 |
| 1,000 videos | $4.00 |

No OAuth consent screen, no Google Cloud project and no quota bucket to watch. You pay per transcript returned; a video without captions comes back `not_found` and costs nothing.

## Differences from the official file

- You get text and timings, not the original caption file with its styling.
- `lang` is a preference. Read the returned `lang` to see which track you got.
- The response does not say whether the track was uploaded or generated automatically.
- Only public videos. Private videos are out of reach.

## When the official API is the right call

- **Your own channel, or a client's channel you manage.** You have edit rights, so `captions.download` works, gives the original format and can convert with `tfmt`. Quota is free.
- **You only need to know whether a track exists.** `captions.list` answers that without downloading anything.
- **Videos with no captions at all.** Neither route helps; run speech-to-text such as Whisper on audio you are allowed to use.

Batch patterns are on the [video transcript solution page](/solutions/transcripts/), and every error code is on [errors](/docs/errors/).

## Endpoints used

- [YouTube video transcript](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/transcript/get/) `youtube.videos.transcript.get`: $0.004 per call

Updated 2026-11-12