What is a playlist to JSON exporter?
A playlist to JSON exporter gives you a YouTube playlist's video data as a JSON file, the format most programming languages and web tools read natively. It saves you from registering for a YouTube API key, handling paging and cleaning up the response yourself.
The file holds one object for the playlist and an array with one object per video, with the fields you pick. Types are preserved: views and durations are numbers, tags are arrays of strings, and anything YouTube doesn't provide is null rather than a misleading zero. Developers use it to seed an app, analysts to load a playlist into pandas or a notebook, and site builders to render a course page.
How to export a YouTube playlist to JSON
1.Paste the playlist link
Paste the playlist's URL and press Export. There's no API key to set up; the data is fetched for you.
2.JSON is already ticked
Pick the fields each video object holds: position, title, video ID, durations, views, likes, comments, description, tags and more.
3.Download
Press Download to get a .json file, or tick more formats to get them together in a ZIP.
Example: one video object
With Title, Video ID, Seconds, Views and Tags ticked, each entry in the videos array looks like this.
- title
- "Variables"
- videoId
- "VIDEO_ID"
- seconds
- 1110
- views
- 48210
- tags
- ["python", "beginner"]
seconds and views are numbers, not strings, so they can be summed or sorted without converting them first.
How the JSON is structured
The file is one object with two keys. "playlist" holds the playlist ID, title, channel, URL, video count and export time. "videos" is an array with one object per video, in playlist order, keyed by field name in camelCase, such as videoId, durationText and published.
Values keep their types: views, likes, seconds and minutes are numbers, tags and description links are arrays of strings, watched is true or false, and anything YouTube doesn't provide, like the likes on a deleted video, is null rather than 0.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a YouTube API key?
No. The tool reads the playlist through the YouTube Data API for you and builds the JSON in your browser.
How do I read the file in Python or JavaScript?
In Python use json.load(open("playlist.json")) and loop over data["videos"]. In JavaScript, JSON.parse the file contents and read data.videos.
Why are some fields null?
Null means YouTube had no value: deleted and private videos have no views, duration or description, and some channels hide like counts. It's never used in place of 0.
Does the JSON include the playlist's own details?
Yes. Alongside the videos array, a playlist object holds the playlist ID, title, channel, URL, video count and the time of the export.
Export a YouTube playlist to other formats
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