youtube transcript api 'transcripts are disabled' on earnings call video

TL;DR

'Transcripts are disabled' means the uploader turned off captions for that earnings video, so no transcript API can retrieve them. Download the audio track and transcribe it yourself with Whisper or a speech API instead of depending on YouTube's captions.

The error

youtube_transcript_api: TranscriptsDisabled: Subtitles are disabled for this video.
video_id: earnings call Q3 2026 webcast replay

Fix it

1. Verify with one more video from the same company channel. If all their videos say disabled, it is a channel policy, not a one-off. Expected: Expected: the pattern confirms you need your own transcription path for this company.

2. Download the audio track of the webcast replay (yt-dlp audio-only) and transcribe it with Whisper or your speech API. Expected: Expected: you get a full transcript with timestamps, independent of YouTube captions.

3. Check whether the company publishes an official transcript or earnings call text on their IR site; many do within 24 hours. Expected: Expected: the IR site transcript, when available, is more accurate than auto captions anyway.

4. In the pipeline, treat YouTube captions as a best-effort source: try captions first, fall back to audio download plus transcription automatically. Expected: Expected: coverage stays complete regardless of the uploader's caption settings.

When to use

• Your earnings video pipeline fails because the company disabled captions.
• You need a transcript for a webcast replay with no subtitles.
• You ingest earnings videos across many companies with inconsistent caption policies.

When not to use

• The error is 'no transcripts found' - that can mean auto-captions are still processing; retry later.
• The video is age-restricted or private - that is an access problem, not captions.
• You need the official transcript specifically - then go to the IR site, not YouTube.

Why it happens

YouTube lets uploaders disable captions per video or channel-wide, and many IR teams do this to control the official record. The transcript API can only serve captions that exist; disabled means there is nothing to fetch, for any client or library.

Variant phrasings

youtube transcripts are disabled for this video

Same failure and fix; some searchers phrase the query this way.

youtubetranscriptapi TranscriptsDisabled fix

Same failure and fix; some searchers phrase the query this way.

Edge cases

• Auto-generated captions can appear hours after upload even when the uploader allows them; 'disabled' is different from 'not yet generated'.
• Some companies enable captions only on the archived replay, not the live premiere URL.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_imBCbpqMVo5aHQbaiSgPdQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_imBCbpqMVo5aHQbaiSgPdQ

Thread query: youtube transcript api 'transcripts are disabled' on earnings call video

TL;DR: 'Transcripts are disabled' means the uploader turned off captions for that earnings video, so no transcript API can retrieve them. Download the audio track and transcribe it yourself with Whisper or a speech API instead of depending on YouTube's captions.