Get YouTube Video Title from URL with PHP

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Get YouTube Video Title from URL with PHP

In this tutorial, we’ll leaern how to get youtube video title from url php using PHP. This process involves fetching the unique video ID from the URL and then utilizing the YouTube Data API to retrieve the corresponding title.

Retrieving YouTube video titles from URLs using PHP is a common task for developers working on applications that integrate with YouTube. This tutorial will guide you through the process of extracting video titles, IDs, and thumbnails from YouTube URLs using PHP.

Key Learnings

  • Understand the process of extracting YouTube video titles programmatically.
  • Learn how to use PHP functions to manipulate and retrieve data from URLs.
  • Discover how to access the YouTube Data API to obtain video metadata.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

  • Basic knowledge of PHP programming.
  • Access to a web server with PHP support.
  • A Google account to obtain an API key for the YouTube Data API.

10 Easy Steps to Generate Your YouTube API Key

Step 1: Extract YouTube Video ID from URL

First, we need to extract the unique video ID from the YouTube video URL. This can be achieved using PHP’s parse_url and parse_str functions.

function getYoutubeVideoId($url) {
    parse_str(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_QUERY), $params);
    if (isset($params['v'])) {
        return $params['v'];
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

$url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID";
$videoId = getYoutubeVideoId($url);
echo "YouTube Video ID: $videoId";

This code defines a function getYoutubeVideoId that extracts the video ID from the YouTube URL using PHP’s URL parsing functions. It then demonstrates how to use this function to extract the video ID from a given URL.

Step 2: Get YouTube Video Title using YouTube Data API

Next, we’ll use the YouTube Data API to fetch the title of the video corresponding to the extracted video ID. This requires an API key obtained from the Google Developer Console.

$apiKey = "YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY";
$videoId = "VIDEO_ID";

$url = "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?id=$videoId&key=$apiKey&part=snippet";
$response = file_get_contents($url);
$data = json_decode($response, true);

$title = $data['items'][0]['snippet']['title'];
echo "YouTube Video Title: $title";

This code constructs a URL with the video ID and API key, then retrieves the video’s metadata using file_get_contents. It extracts the title from the JSON response.

Also Read: How to Automatically Extract Titles from Audio URLs in WordPress

Get Title from YouTube url PHP Code Example

Here’s the complete PHP code to get youtube video name from url:

function getYoutubeVideoTitle($url, $apiKey) {
    parse_str(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_QUERY), $params);
    if (isset($params['v'])) {
        $videoId = $params['v'];
        $videoInfoUrl = "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?id=$videoId&key=$apiKey&part=snippet";
        $response = file_get_contents($videoInfoUrl);
        $data = json_decode($response, true);
        $title = $data['items'][0]['snippet']['title'];
        return $title;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

$url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID";
$apiKey = "YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY";
$title = getYoutubeVideoTitle($url, $apiKey);
echo "YouTube Video Title: $title";

How to Use This Code

To use this code:

  1. Replace "YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY" with your actual YouTube Data API key.
  2. Replace "VIDEO_ID" with the actual video ID extracted from the YouTube video URL.

What Else Can Be Extracted from the Data Returned by the YouTube API?

Apart from the video title, the YouTube Data API provides access to various other metadata associated with the video, including:

// Extract other metadata from the YouTube Data API response
$description = $data['items'][0]['snippet']['description'];
$channelTitle = $data['items'][0]['snippet']['channelTitle'];
$thumbnailUrl = $data['items'][0]['snippet']['thumbnails']['default']['url'];

echo "Description: $description\n";
echo "Channel Title: $channelTitle\n";
echo "Thumbnail URL: $thumbnailUrl\n";
  • Video description: Provides a brief overview or summary of the video content.
  • Channel title: Indicates the name of the channel that uploaded the video.
  • Thumbnail URL: Offers links to different sizes and qualities of thumbnails associated with the video.

Also Read: How to Get YouTube Channel ID using YouTube API in PHP

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q1: Can I retrieve the title of any YouTube video using this method?
A: Yes, this method allows you to extract the title of any publicly accessible YouTube video by providing its URL.

Q2: Is an API key required to use the YouTube Data API?
A: Yes, you need to obtain an API key from the Google Developer Console to access the YouTube Data API.

Q3: Are there any limitations to the number of requests I can make to the YouTube Data API?
A: Yes, the YouTube Data API has usage limits. Be sure to monitor your usage and consider upgrading to a paid plan if necessary.

Bonus: Complete Code in Python and JavaScript

YouTube Get Video Title with Python

import requests

def get_youtube_video_title(url, api_key):
    video_id = url.split('?v=')[1]
    api_url = f'https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?id={video_id}&key={api_key}&part=snippet'
    response = requests.get(api_url)
    data = response.json()
    title = data['items'][0]['snippet']['title']
    return title

url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
api_key = "YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY"
title = get_youtube_video_title(url, api_key)
print("YouTube Video Title:", title)

YouTube Get Video Title with JavaScript

const fetch = require('node-fetch');

async function getYoutubeVideoTitle(url, apiKey) {
    const videoId = url.split('?v=')[1];
    const apiUrl = `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?id=${videoId}&key=${apiKey}&part=snippet`;
    const response = await fetch(apiUrl);
    const data = await response.json();
    const title = data.items[0].snippet.title;
    return title;
}

const url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID";
const apiKey = "YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY";
getYoutubeVideoTitle(url, apiKey)
    .then(title => console.log("YouTube Video Title:", title))
    .catch(error => console.error(error));

Summary

In this tutorial, we’ve learned how to extract the title of a YouTube video from its URL using PHP. By following the steps outlined above, you can easily retrieve video titles for your projects.

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