Facebook · Transcript Beta
Facebook Video Transcript API
Returns the timed transcript of a public Facebook video or reel: the uploaded or auto-generated caption track when Facebook has one, otherwise speech-to-text on the video's audio. Accepts reel, watch, page video, video.php, fb.watch and share links, or a numeric video ID.
GET https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/facebook/transcript
Try it in the playgroundQuickstart
- From 1 credit per request, up to 122 credits
- Sources: Captions → Speech-to-text
- p50 1,517 ms
- 65.3% success (26 requests measured)
Use cases
- Analyze public page and creator videos
- Make Facebook video content searchable
- Repurpose reels and videos into text
- Feed video content into LLM pipelines
Example request
Send a GET request with your key in the x-api-key header.
curl -G 'https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/facebook/transcript' \
--data-urlencode 'url=https://www.facebook.com/reel/1803909017420449/' \
-H "x-api-key: $SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"const params = new URLSearchParams({
url: "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1803909017420449/",
});
const res = await fetch(`https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/facebook/transcript?${params}`, {
headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.SOCIALTAP_API_KEY },
});
const { data, meta } = await res.json();import os
import requests
res = requests.get(
"https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/facebook/transcript",
params={"url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1803909017420449/"},
headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"]},
)
body = res.json()
data, meta = body["data"], body["meta"]Parameters
| Name | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
url required | stringmax 2,048 chars | Facebook video URL (reel, watch, page video, video.php, m./mbasic./web. hosts, fb.watch and share/v|r links) or a numeric video ID. | https://www.facebook.com/reel/1803909017420449 |
Every endpoint also accepts max_age.
Example response
A 200 response is {data, meta}: data is a transcript object, meta describes the request (meta fields).
{
"data": {
"available_languages": [
"en-US"
],
"duration_ms": 59861,
"id": "1803909017420449",
"is_auto_generated": false,
"language": "en-US",
"platform": "facebook",
"segments": [
{
"end_ms": 4000,
"start_ms": 33,
"text": "But the standard that we should continuously aspire to exceed,"
},
{
"end_ms": 7166,
"start_ms": 4000,
"text": "which is why we are bringing that intensity, that discipline, that"
},
{
"end_ms": 11400,
"start_ms": 7166,
"text": "engineering ownership back to NASA, because great nations do not remain great"
}
],
"source": "captions",
"text": "But the standard that we should continuously aspire to exceed, which is why we are bringing that intensity, that discipline, that engineering ownership back to NASA, because great nations do not remain great by being caretakers of history, but by continuously making history. We h…",
"url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1803909017420449/"
},
"meta": {
"request_id": "req_3f9c2a7d1e8b4c6a9f0e2d4b6a8c0e1f",
"platform": "facebook",
"source": "captions",
"is_cached": false,
"credits_charged": 1,
"latency_ms": 1517,
"fetched_at": "2026-10-25T12:00:00Z"
}
}Long arrays and strings are shortened for display; real responses are complete.
Response fields
data follows the shared Transcript schema, identical on every platform.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
data.platform | string | Platform the media is hosted on. |
data.id | string | Platform-native ID of the post (equals post.id). |
data.url | string (uri) | Canonical URL of the post. |
data.language | string or null | BCP-47 language of the returned transcript; null when unknown. |
data.source | string | captions = platform caption track; asr = speech-to-text on the audio. One of captions, asr |
data.is_auto_generated | boolean | True when the track was machine-generated (platform auto-captions or ASR). |
data.available_languages | string[] | BCP-47 caption languages the platform offers for this post; [] if none or not listed. |
data.duration_ms | integer or null | Media duration in milliseconds; null when unknown. |
data.segments | object[] | Timed cues in order; never empty on success. |
data.segments[].start_ms | integer | Start time in milliseconds from the beginning of the media. |
data.segments[].end_ms | integer | End time in milliseconds from the beginning of the media. |
data.segments[].text | string | Cue text, whitespace-normalized. |
data.text | string | Full transcript: segment texts joined with single spaces. |
Pricing
You pay only for successful requests. The price depends on which source produced the result, reported as meta.source; sources are tried cheapest first, in the order Captions → Speech-to-text.
| Source | Price per successful request | Per 1,000 requests |
|---|---|---|
Captions captions | 1 credit | $0.50–$0.80 |
Speech-to-text asr | 2 credits + 2 per started minute of media up to 122 credits (60 started minutes of media) | $1.00–$1.60 + $1.00–$1.60 per started minute of media |
| meta.source | Source | What it means |
|---|---|---|
captions | Captions | The platform's own caption track (uploaded or auto-generated). |
asr | Speech-to-text | Transcribed by SocialTap from the media's audio when the platform has no captions. |
Example: a result from Speech-to-text asr with 3 started minutes of media costs 2 + 2 × 3 = 8 credits.
Your balance must be at least 1 credit to start a request; with less, it is refused with insufficient_credits (HTTP 402) and costs nothing. Only that minimum is set aside when the request starts. One request costs at most 122 credits, but that amount is never locked up in advance: right before costlier work, SocialTap sets aside more of your balance, the exact price when the number of started minutes of media is known beforehand, otherwise as much as your balance allows (and the work is limited to what that pays for). It then charges the actual price and releases the rest. If the result would cost more than your balance covers, the request is refused with insufficient_credits as well, and costs nothing.
meta.credits_charged and the x-credits-charged header show what you paid. How credits work · Packs
Errors
Errors cost nothing. Codes marked “Yes, later” under Retry can succeed on a later attempt; the others return the same answer every time.
| Code | HTTP | Retry | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
invalid_input | 400 | No | The request parameters are missing or malformed, or the URL is not a supported link for this endpoint. | Fix the parameter named in the message; see the endpoint's accepted URL forms. |
unauthorized | 401 | No | The x-api-key header is missing, unknown or revoked. | Send a valid API key in the x-api-key header. |
insufficient_credits | 402 | No | The account does not have enough credits for this request. | Buy a credit pack, then repeat the request. |
rate_limited | 429 | Yes, later | The account exceeded its runaway-protection ceiling: plans do not limit request rate, but a high per-account safety ceiling stops broken client loops. Support raises it on request. | Wait for the number of seconds in the retry-after header, then retry; ask support to raise the ceiling if your sustained traffic needs more. |
not_found | 404 | No | The item does not exist or was deleted. | Check the URL or ID; do not retry. |
private_or_unavailable | 403 | No | The item exists but is private, age- or region-gated, or requires a login to view. | Only public items can be fetched; do not retry. |
no_transcript | 404 | No | The media exists but has no transcript: no caption track and no speech to transcribe. | Do not retry; try another language with lang if the platform offers one. |
upstream_blocked | 503 | Yes, later | The platform refused every attempt. | Retry later with backoff; failed requests are free. |
upstream_error | 502 | Yes, later | The platform failed or returned something unexpected. | Retry with backoff; failed requests are free. |
overloaded | 503 | Yes, later | Every SocialTap engine instance that could serve the request was at capacity; no upstream work was done. Capacity grows with traffic, so this is brief. | Retry after the number of seconds in the retry-after header; failed requests are free. |
internal | 500 | Yes, later | Unexpected SocialTap error. | Retry with backoff; contact support with the request_id if it persists. |
not_found, private_or_unavailable and no_transcript are item-level: the request was fine, the item can't be returned.
Measured performance
- p50 latency
- 1,517 ms
- p95 latency
- 2,437 ms
- Success rate
- 65.3%
- Requests measured
- 26
Staging measurements, not production. Measured on our staging environment, over the 7 days before 2026-10-25. How it is measured.