Tool suggestion: Archivarix Tube Search — https://tube.archivarix.net/
Disclosure: I'm the developer. Below is a draft entry following the toolkit
structure, feel free to use, edit, or discard any of it.
URL
https://tube.archivarix.net/
Description
A search engine for deleted, removed and unavailable YouTube videos, built on
web archives (Wayback Machine, Common Crawl, the 2019 YouTube metadata dump).
It indexes 1.5B+ video records since 2005. Researchers can list all known
videos of a channel (including deleted ones, via URL, @handle or legacy
/user/ and /c/ formats), run full-text search across titles, descriptions and
subtitle transcripts, and recover metadata of deleted videos: original title,
description, upload date, view counts and thumbnails. Subtitles can be
downloaded as SRT (240+ languages), including for deleted videos when a
caption track was archived. Each result links to the underlying archive
snapshots, which can be cited as evidence.
Cost
Free (core search and single downloads, no registration required). A free
account raises limits; paid plans add bulk export, API and MCP access.
Level of difficulty
Beginner. Works in the browser: paste a video URL, channel link or keywords.
Requirements
None for basic use. Free account for higher limits.
Limitations
- Coverage depends on whether a video was archived before deletion; obscure
or short-lived videos may have no records.
- Usually recovers metadata, thumbnails and subtitles rather than the
playable video file (archived files are surfaced when they exist).
- Recently deleted videos may not appear in the index immediately.
- AI-generated transcripts may contain recognition errors.
Ethical Considerations
- Some videos are deleted for legitimate reasons (privacy, consent, safety
of persons shown); consider potential harm before republishing recovered
content, and minimise exposure of private individuals.
- Archived metadata can reflect an intermediate state of a video (e.g. an
older title); verify against the linked archive snapshots before citing.
Guide
Step-by-step guides: https://tube.archivarix.net/guide/deleted-videos and
https://tube.archivarix.net/guide/subtitles
Tool provider
Archivarix (archivarix.com), a web-archiving and website restoration service
running since 2017. Based in Prague, Czech Republic.
Advertising Trackers
No advertising trackers; no third-party ads on the site.
Tool suggestion: Archivarix Tube Search — https://tube.archivarix.net/
Disclosure: I'm the developer. Below is a draft entry following the toolkit
structure, feel free to use, edit, or discard any of it.
URL
https://tube.archivarix.net/
Description
A search engine for deleted, removed and unavailable YouTube videos, built on
web archives (Wayback Machine, Common Crawl, the 2019 YouTube metadata dump).
It indexes 1.5B+ video records since 2005. Researchers can list all known
videos of a channel (including deleted ones, via URL, @handle or legacy
/user/ and /c/ formats), run full-text search across titles, descriptions and
subtitle transcripts, and recover metadata of deleted videos: original title,
description, upload date, view counts and thumbnails. Subtitles can be
downloaded as SRT (240+ languages), including for deleted videos when a
caption track was archived. Each result links to the underlying archive
snapshots, which can be cited as evidence.
Cost
Free (core search and single downloads, no registration required). A free
account raises limits; paid plans add bulk export, API and MCP access.
Level of difficulty
Beginner. Works in the browser: paste a video URL, channel link or keywords.
Requirements
None for basic use. Free account for higher limits.
Limitations
or short-lived videos may have no records.
playable video file (archived files are surfaced when they exist).
Ethical Considerations
of persons shown); consider potential harm before republishing recovered
content, and minimise exposure of private individuals.
older title); verify against the linked archive snapshots before citing.
Guide
Step-by-step guides: https://tube.archivarix.net/guide/deleted-videos and
https://tube.archivarix.net/guide/subtitles
Tool provider
Archivarix (archivarix.com), a web-archiving and website restoration service
running since 2017. Based in Prague, Czech Republic.
Advertising Trackers
No advertising trackers; no third-party ads on the site.