How can I retrieve YouTube video details from video URL using PHP?

Question

Using PHP, how can I get video information like title, description, thumbnail from a youtube video URL e.g.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CRkpBGQzU

Featheredge

developers.google.com/youtube/2.0/developers_guide_php – Broaden

Answer 1

You can get data from youtube oembed interface in two formats: XML and JSON

Interface address: http://www.youtube.com/oembed?url=youtubeurl&format=json

Use this PHP function to get data

 function get_youtube($url){

 $youtube = "http://www.youtube.com/oembed?url=". $url ."&format=json";

 $curl = curl_init($youtube);
 curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
 $return = curl_exec($curl);
 curl_close($curl);
 return json_decode($return, true);

 }

$url = // youtube video url 

// Display Data 
print_r(get_youtube($url));

Don't forget to enable extension=php_curl.dll in your php.ini

Cachucha

Should add header('Content-Type: text') at the top so that the HTML isn't parsed. – Mitis

Hi, output returns Unauthorized. I access the private video, I got this output. Is any way to get the details? – Ecuador

good but anyway to show related videos without api? – Burny

Answer 2

This returns metadata about a video:

http://www.youtube.com/oembed?url={videoUrlHere}&format=json

Using your example, a call to:

http://www.youtube.com/oembed?url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CRkpBGQzU&format=json

Returns the following, which you can digest and parse with PHP:

{
    "provider_url": "http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/",
    "thumbnail_url": "http:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/B4CRkpBGQzU\/hqdefault.jpg",
    "title": "Joan Osborne - One Of Us",
    "html": "\u003ciframe width=\"459\" height=\"344\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B4CRkpBGQzU?fs=1\u0026feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e",
    "author_name": "jzsdhk",
    "height": 344,
    "thumbnail_width": 480,
    "width": 459,
    "version": "1.0",
    "author_url": "http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/jzsdhk",
    "provider_name": "YouTube",
    "type": "video",
    "thumbnail_height": 360
}

Figueroa

@ShurvirMori no, same results, just different order. – Johniejohnna

@VighneshRaut its basically identical to the accepted answer. – Johniejohnna

good but anyway to show related videos without api? – Burny

Answer 3

Yet another URL API that can be helpful is: https://www.youtube.com/get_video_info?video_id=B4CRkpBGQzU

video_id is "v" argument of youTube. Result is a dictionary in URL-encoded format (key1=value1&key2=value2&...)

This is undocumented API existing for long time, so exploring it is up to developer. I am aware of "status" (ok/fail), "errorcode" (100 and 150 in my practice), "reason" (string description of error). I am getting duration ("length_seconds") this way because oEmbed does not provide this information (strange, but true) and I can hardly motivate every employer to get keys from youTube to use official API

Toffeenosed

That has a significant amount of useful/important data, but it doesn't tell you the amount of likes, dislikes, and comments that a video has. It also doesn't tell you exactly when the video was uploaded; citizenevidence.amnestyusa.org does tell you that data: "Video ID: B4CRkpBGQzU Upload Date (YYYY/MM/DD): 2007-09-21 Upload Time (UTC): 03:19:20" --citizenevidence.amnestyusa.org. – Buoy

Answer 4

To get youtube video description, different sized thumbnail, tags, etc use updated v3 googleapis

Sample URL: https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet&id=7wtfhZwyrcc&key=my_google_api_key

$google_api_key = 'google_api_key';
$video_id = 'youtube_video_id';
$api_url = 'https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet&id='.$video_id.'&key='.$google_api_key;
$json = file_get_contents($api_url);
$obj = json_decode($json);
var_dump($obj);

Creek

Answer 5

I wrote this class to display a Youtube video on our website:

    <?php
    /*
     Copyright (c) 2013 ReFri Software / Internet Publication
 All rights reserved.

 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 modification, are permitted provided that the following
 conditions are met:

    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this
      list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or
      other materials provided with the distribution.
    * Neither the name of ReFri Software / Internet Publicion nor the names of its contributors
      may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
     specific prior written permission.

 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY
 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
 MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL
 THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
 EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE
 GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
 ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
 ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.


 youtube.php
 Author : Cynthia Fridsma 
 http://www.heathernova.us

 Date  : February 4, 2013

 Version: 1.1
 Property's width and height are now private
 Added:  variable error message

*/
    class YouTube {

    public $video;
    private $width;
    private $height;
    public $error = "<b>Video not found, sorry</b>" ;

    function __construct ($width=640, $height=360){

        $this->width=$width;
        $this->height=$height;      

        if($this->width<220){
            // minimum width
            $this->width=220;
        }
        if($this->height<220){
            // minimum height
            $this->height=220;
        }

    }    

    function playVideo(){

        // Default video settings:
        #
        # youtube_list = false
        # youtube_video = false

        $youtube_list = false;    
        $youtube_video = false;    

        // always check contains youtube.com or youtube.be as a reference....

        if(stristr($this->video, "youtube.com")==true ||(stristr($this->video, "youtube.be") || (stristr($this->video, "youtu.be")))){

            // Test if the video contains a query..

            $test = (parse_url($this->video));

            if(isset($test['query'])){

                $testing = $test['query'];
                parse_str($testing);
                if(isset($v)&&(isset($list))){                    

                    // we're dealing with a play list and  a selected video.                    
                    $test = $list;
                    $youtube_list = true;                      
                }
                if(isset($list) &&(empty($v))){
                    // we're only dealing wih a play list.
                    $test = $list;

                    $youtube_list = true;      
                    $test = $list;

                }
                if(isset($v) &&(empty($list))){
                    // we're only dealing with a single video.

                    $test = $v;
                    $youtube_video = true;    
                }
                if(empty($v) &&(empty($list))){
                    // we're not dealing with a valid request.
                    $youtube_video = false;                        
                }

            } else {

                // Apperently we're dealing with a shared link.

                $testing =parse_url($this->video, PHP_URL_PATH);

                $test = stristr($testing, "/");
                $test = substr($test,1);
                $youtube_video = true;    
            }

            if($youtube_video==true){
                    // Display a single video                                        

                    $play ='<iframe width="'.$this->width.'" height="'.$this->height.'" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/'.$test.'?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>';
            }

            if($youtube_list==true){
                // Display a video play list.

                $youtube_video = true;

                $play = '<iframe width="'.$this->width.'" height="'.$this->height.'" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list='.$test.'" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>';

            }

                if($youtube_video == false){

                // We are unable to determine the video.

                $play = $this->error;
            }
        } else {

            // This is not a valid youtube requeust

            $play = $this->error;
        }

        // Return the results        

        return $this->playVideo=$play;
          }

      }

And this is how you can use the class:

   <?php
    include_once("youtube.php");
    $video = new YouTube(320,240);

    // playlist 
    $video->video = "http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6F5E9FD99326F98C";

    $youtube = $video->playVideo();
    echo $youtube . "<hr>";

    // 1 video
    $video->video="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTA5bLxfvwo";

    $youtube = $video->playVideo();

    echo $youtube;

    // shared link
    echo "<hr>";
    $video = new YouTube(420,315);
    $video->video="http://youtu.be/VRl2XFJ_tg4";
    $youtube = $video->playVideo();
    echo $youtube;

    // invalid request
    $video->video = "http://wrongvideo.com?nothere";

    // Your own error message
    $video->error ="<br>Video not found :-(<br>" ;

    $youtube = $video->playVideo();

    echo $youtube;
    ?> 

demo page: http://www.heathernova.us/youtube.php

TTFN Cynthia Fridsma

Rhynd

There is much to refine in this class. A careful eye can see suboptimal if block structures and a case-insensitive function call that doesn't search for any letters, and more. I would not use this class in a professional project... not in its current state. This class needs a facelift. – Pressurecook

good but anyway to show related videos without api? – Burny

Answer 6

I know this is an old question but I wrote a package for this purpose, I will put it here maybe someone needs this.

composer require smoqadam/youtube-video-info:dev-master

$details = $video->getDetails();
echo $details->getVideoId();
echo $details->getTitle();
echo $details->getThumbnails();
echo $details->getViewCount();
echo $details->getRating();

more info in here

Emplace

Hi Saeed, thanks for this. Where do you add the files exactly? – Furie

Answer 7

Here is a method that can return several pieces of information:

<?php
extension_loaded('openssl') or die('openssl');
$http['method'] = 'POST';
$http['header'] = 'Content-Type: application/json';

$http['content'] = <<<eof
{
   "videoId": "lTGjFpjOIP8", "context": {
      "client": {"clientName": "WEB", "clientVersion": "1.19700101"}
   }
}
eof;

$con = stream_context_create(['http' => $http]);
$key = '?key=AIzaSyAO_FJ2SlqU8Q4STEHLGCilw_Y9_11qcW8';

echo file_get_contents(
   'https://www.youtube.com/youtubei/v1/player' . $key, context: $con
);

Halsted

Answer 8

From oembed:

$video_url = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHQqvYy5KYo';
$url = 'http://www.youtube.com/oembed?format=json&url=' . $video_url;

$json = json_decode(file_get_contents($url), true);
print_r($json); // it will return details of video

Renfro

Answer 9

function to get video id from video url

function getYTid($ytURL) {

    $ytvIDlen = 11; // This is the length of YouTube's video IDs

    // The ID string starts after "v=", which is usually right after 
    // "youtube.com/watch?" in the URL
    $idStarts = strpos($ytURL, "?v=");

    // In case the "v=" is NOT right after the "?" (not likely, but I like to keep my 
    // bases covered), it will be after an "&":
    if($idStarts === FALSE)
        $idStarts = strpos($ytURL, "&v=");
    // If still FALSE, URL doesn't have a vid ID
    if($idStarts === FALSE)
        die("YouTube video ID not found. Please double-check your URL.");

    // Offset the start location to match the beginning of the ID string
    $idStarts +=3;

    // Get the ID string and return it
    $ytvID = substr($ytURL, $idStarts, $ytvIDlen);

    return $ytvID;

}

and then

$video = getYTid($videourl);
$video_feed = file_get_contents("http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/$video");
            $sxml = new SimpleXmlElement($video_feed);

            //set up nodes
            $namespaces = $sxml->getNameSpaces(true);
            $media = $sxml->children($namespaces['media']);
            $yt = $media->children($namespaces['yt']);
            $yt_attrs = $yt->duration->attributes();

            //vars
             $video_title = $sxml->title;

             $video_description = $sxml->content;

             $video_keywords = $media->group->keywords;

             $video_length = $yt_attrs['seconds'];

Declivitous