Instagram Media Summary Scraper

A lightweight Instagram media scraper that extracts post summaries, media download links, and engagement metadata from public profiles. It helps developers, researchers, and marketers quickly collect structured Instagram post data without login or complex setup.

     

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Introduction

This project extracts recent public Instagram posts from multiple usernames and returns direct media URLs with rich metadata. It solves the problem of quickly accessing usable Instagram post data for analysis, archiving, or integration, without manual browsing. It is designed for developers, analysts, students, and social media professionals who need simple, reliable access to public content.

Public Instagram Content Extraction

• Works with public profiles only and requires no authentication
• Supports up to 10 usernames per run with up to 12 posts each
• Extracts images, videos, and carousel cover media
• Returns engagement metrics and timestamps in structured format

Features

Feature	Description
Multi-user support	Process up to 10 Instagram usernames in a single run.
Media extraction	Collect images, videos, and carousel cover images.
Direct download links	Provides real media URLs ready for download or processing.
Engagement metadata	Extracts likes, comments, views, and timestamps.
Lightweight workflow	Fast startup and minimal configuration required.

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What Data This Scraper Extracts

Field Name	Field Description
username	Instagram username that owns the post.
postUrl	Direct URL to the Instagram post or reel.
mediaDownloadUrl	Downloadable URL of the image or video media.
mediaType	Type of media: image, video, or carousel.
title	Caption title or headline text of the post.
description	Full or partial post caption text.
likes	Total number of likes on the post.
comments	Total number of comments on the post.
timestamp	Original posting time in ISO format.
scrapedAt	Time when the data was collected.
dimensions	Width and height of the media asset.
videoViewCount	Total views for video posts, if available.

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Example Output

[
      {
        "username": "nick_saraev",
        "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNj0JScvl7j/",
        "mediaDownloadUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/video.mp4",
        "mediaType": "video",
        "title": "Comment \"VIDEO\" to get this free open-source AI video model",
        "description": "Comment \"VIDEO\" to get this free open-source AI video model...",
        "likes": 2278,
        "comments": 1746,
        "timestamp": "2025-08-20T02:12:16.000Z",
        "scrapedAt": "2025-08-20T22:36:56.082Z",
        "dimensions": {
          "width": 640,
          "height": 1137
        },
        "videoViewCount": 19224,
        "success": true
      }
    ]

---

Directory Structure Tree

instagram-media-summary-scraper/
├── src/
│   ├── main.py
│   ├── scraper/
│   │   ├── profile_fetcher.py
│   │   ├── post_parser.py
│   │   └── media_resolver.py
│   ├── utils/
│   │   ├── time_utils.py
│   │   └── http_client.py
│   └── config/
│       └── settings.example.json
├── data/
│   ├── input.sample.json
│   └── output.sample.json
├── requirements.txt
└── README.md

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Use Cases

• Social media managers use it to analyze recent posts across multiple accounts, so they can compare engagement performance quickly.
• Researchers use it to collect public Instagram data, so they can study content trends and user interaction patterns.
• Developers use it to integrate Instagram media into applications, so they can automate content aggregation workflows.
• Students use it for academic projects, so they can work with real-world social media datasets.

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FAQs

Does this work with private Instagram accounts? No, only publicly accessible profiles are supported. Private accounts are intentionally excluded.

How many posts can be extracted per user? Up to 12 recent posts per username are collected in each run to keep extraction lightweight.

Are carousel posts fully extracted? Carousel posts return the cover image as a basic representation. Individual carousel items are not fully expanded.

Do media URLs expire over time? Yes, media download links may expire and should be used or stored shortly after extraction.

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Performance Benchmarks and Results

Primary Metric: Average extraction completes within seconds for 5–10 public profiles under normal conditions.

Reliability Metric: Consistently achieves a high success rate on public accounts with valid usernames.

Efficiency Metric: Minimal resource usage due to limited post count and streamlined requests.

Quality Metric: Captures core engagement and media data accurately for the most recent posts.

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