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
         


        

Answer 1

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'];