Tumblr Video Downloader

Resolve directly downloadable native video URLs from supplied public Tumblr posts.

Tumblr Video Downloader turns public post permalinks into typed records with the direct media URL, post identity, blog, caption, thumbnail, format, dimensions, duration, and source provenance. It is designed for recurring archival, creator asset retrieval, and downstream media-processing workflows. No Tumblr login, cookies, or API key is required.

The Actor returns URLs and metadata in the default Apify dataset. It does not copy large video binaries into Actor storage, so your workflow can decide when and where to download each asset.

What does Tumblr Video Downloader do?

For every supplied public Tumblr post URL, the Actor:

1. validates that the URL is a supported Tumblr permalink;
2. normalizes blog-subdomain URLs to a canonical Tumblr post URL;
3. fetches the anonymous public post page;
4. finds native Tumblr video blocks in the post and public reblog trail;
5. extracts unique direct video media URLs;
6. adds post, blog, caption, thumbnail, format, and provenance fields;
7. writes one dataset record per resolved video.

The resulting mediaUrl can be sent to authorized storage, transcoding, transcription, cataloging, or backup systems.

Who is this Tumblr video downloader for?

• Creators retrieving copies of their own public Tumblr video assets.
• Archivists preserving authorized public collections with source identity attached.
• Media teams feeding direct MP4 URLs into review, transcoding, or transcription tools.
• Researchers building reproducible datasets of selected public Tumblr video posts.
• Automation developers resolving batches of post URLs through the Apify API or schedules.
• Social teams keeping source post, blog, caption, and thumbnail context alongside each asset.

Why use this Actor?

Direct media output

The primary result is the directly downloadable public media URL, not raw HTML or a browser screenshot.

Typed source provenance

Every row identifies the supplied URL, normalized permalink, post ID, blog, and whether the video came from the requested post body or its reblog trail.

Lightweight HTTP workflow

The Actor uses Tumblr's public server-rendered post data. It does not launch a browser or enable an automatic paid proxy fallback.

Bounded batch processing

Process up to 50 unique public post URLs and stop after a configured number of video records. Duplicate input permalinks are normalized and processed once.

What data can I extract?

Field	Type	Meaning
postId	string	Stable Tumblr post identifier.
postUrl	URL	Public post permalink reported by Tumblr.
sourceUrl	URL	Exact supported Tumblr URL supplied in the input.
canonicalPostUrl	URL	Normalized www.tumblr.com URL used for retrieval.
blogName	string	Tumblr blog that owns the requested post.
caption	string, optional	Public summary or text caption when available.
mediaUrl	URL	Directly downloadable native Tumblr video URL.
format	string	Detected format, normally mp4.
mimeType	string, optional	Media MIME type reported by Tumblr.
width	integer, optional	Video width in pixels.
height	integer, optional	Video height in pixels.
durationSeconds	number, optional	Duration reported by Tumblr.
thumbnailUrl	URL, optional	Public poster or thumbnail image.
provider	string, optional	Video provider reported by the post block.
videoIndex	integer	One-based video position in this post's output.
provenance	string	post or trail.
retrievedAt	datetime	UTC retrieval timestamp.

Optional fields are omitted when Tumblr does not publish them for a specific video.

How to download a video from Tumblr

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Add one or more public Tumblr post permalinks to Tumblr post URLs.
3. Set Maximum videos to the largest number of records you need.
4. Click Start.
5. Open the default dataset when the run finishes.
6. Copy or export each mediaUrl to your authorized download or processing system.

A working input is prefilled, so you can test the output before adding your own URLs.

Input parameters

startUrls

Required array of 1–50 public HTTPS Tumblr post URLs.

Supported forms include:

https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160/it-wimdy
https://viralfrog.tumblr.com/post/818114486493921280

The Actor intentionally rejects arbitrary websites, HTTP URLs, tag feeds, search pages, dashboard URLs, and post URLs without a valid blog name and numeric post ID.

maxItems

Optional integer from 1 to 200. The default is 20. The Actor stops exporting after this many unique video records, even if more input posts remain.

Example input

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160/it-wimdy"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://viralfrog.tumblr.com/post/818114486493921280"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 2
}

Example output

This representative row comes from the current public prefilled post:

{
  "postId": "788607775569756160",
  "postUrl": "https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160/it-wimdy",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160/it-wimdy",
  "canonicalPostUrl": "https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160",
  "blogName": "heartwarminganimals",
  "caption": "It wimdy",
  "mediaUrl": "https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_sz511n6JJM1zug3u3.mp4",
  "format": "mp4",
  "mimeType": "video/mp4",
  "width": 854,
  "height": 484,
  "durationSeconds": 19,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_sz511n6JJM1zug3u3_frame1.jpg",
  "provider": "tumblr",
  "videoIndex": 1,
  "provenance": "post",
  "retrievedAt": "2026-08-31T06:00:00.000Z"
}

Use the dataset's JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or API export according to your downstream tool.

How much does it cost to resolve Tumblr video URLs?

Pricing uses one one-time Run started event plus one Item extracted event for every useful Tumblr video dataset record. Posts that fetch successfully but contain no supported native video do not incur an item event. Failed and duplicate records are not item-charged.

Current item tiers decrease with account level:

Tier	Price per Tumblr video
Free	$0.0025944
Bronze	$0.0022560
Silver	$0.0017597
Gold	$0.0013536
Platinum	$0.0009024
Diamond	$0.00063168

The one-time Run started event is $0.0125 per run. At the Free tier, 1 resolved video costs about $0.0151, 10 videos cost about $0.0384, and 100 videos cost about $0.2719 including one Run started event. Your Apify plan, run limits, and any downstream video transfer or storage costs are separate.

Reliability, retries, and failure behavior

• Network failures, HTTP 429, and temporary Tumblr 5xx responses receive at most two bounded retries with backoff.
• Stable 4xx responses are not retried blindly.
• Invalid inputs fail the run with a non-zero status before any post is fetched.
• If one post fails, other valid posts can still produce results.
• The run fails if every requested Tumblr post fetch fails.
• A valid public post with no native downloadable video produces no row and no item event.
• External embeds are not misrepresented as native downloadable Tumblr files.

Use run logs to distinguish an invalid URL, deleted post, temporary upstream response, and a public post without a native video.

Supported and unsupported content

Supported:

• anonymously reachable public Tumblr posts;
• Tumblr-hosted native video blocks;
• canonical www.tumblr.com and *.tumblr.com/post/* permalink forms;
• native videos found in the requested post body or public reblog trail.

Not supported:

• private, draft, login-only, or deleted posts;
• arbitrary custom-domain blog URLs;
• Tumblr search, tag, dashboard, or blog-feed discovery;
• DRM-protected or access-controlled media;
• guaranteed extraction from third-party players such as YouTube or Vimeo embeds;
• copying video binaries into the Actor's key-value store.

Archive public Tumblr videos

A repeatable archival workflow can:

1. supply an approved list of public post URLs;
2. schedule the Actor daily or weekly;
3. export rows to a dataset or webhook;
4. deduplicate downstream by postId plus mediaUrl;
5. download authorized media to your chosen object store;
6. preserve sourceUrl, blogName, caption, and retrievedAt as provenance.

Tumblr can change, remove, or restrict media after retrieval. Store the files and provenance you are authorized to preserve rather than treating a media URL as permanent storage.

Media-processing integrations

Transcoding

Send mediaUrl to FFmpeg, a transcoding service, or a media pipeline after validating that your use is authorized. Use format, mimeType, width, and height to choose a processing profile.

Transcription

Pass mediaUrl to a speech-to-text workflow and retain postId as the correlation key.

Spreadsheets and databases

Export the dataset to CSV or Excel, or connect Apify integrations to Google Sheets, Airtable, Make, Zapier, or your database.

Webhooks

Attach a run-succeeded webhook to notify a downstream worker when a batch is ready. The worker can retrieve dataset rows using the run's default dataset ID.

Run with the Apify API using cURL

Replace APIFY_TOKEN with your Apify token:

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~tumblr-video-downloader/runs?token=APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startUrls": [
      {"url": "https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160/it-wimdy"}
    ],
    "maxItems": 1
  }'

Wait for completion, then use the returned run's defaultDatasetId to fetch items.

Run with JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/tumblr-video-downloader').call({
  startUrls: [
    { url: 'https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160/it-wimdy' },
  ],
  maxItems: 1,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items[0].mediaUrl);

Run with Python

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('automation-lab/tumblr-video-downloader').call(run_input={
    'startUrls': [
        {'url': 'https://www.tumblr.com/heartwarminganimals/788607775569756160/it-wimdy'},
    ],
    'maxItems': 1,
})

for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item['mediaUrl'])

Use Tumblr Video Downloader with MCP

Add the Apify MCP server to Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http apify \
  "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/tumblr-video-downloader"

Claude Desktop setup

For Claude Desktop, add this remote server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/tumblr-video-downloader"
    }
  }
}

Cursor setup

In Cursor, open Settings → Tools & MCP → New MCP Server and use the same Apify MCP URL shown above.

VS Code setup

In VS Code with MCP support enabled, add the same remote HTTP server URL to the workspace MCP configuration and authorize it with your Apify account.

Example prompts:

• “Resolve the native video URL and thumbnail from this public Tumblr post.”
• “Process these approved Tumblr permalinks and return post ID, blog, media URL, duration, and provenance.”
• “Prepare dataset rows for my authorized Tumblr video archive, stopping after 20 videos.”

Responsible use and legality

Only process content that you are authorized to access and use. Public availability does not remove copyright, privacy, publicity, contractual, or platform-policy obligations. Respect creators' rights, Tumblr's terms, applicable law, takedown requests, and data-retention requirements. Do not use the Actor to bypass login, privacy controls, access restrictions, DRM, or other technical protections. You are responsible for deciding whether downloading, storing, transforming, or redistributing a specific video is permitted.

Troubleshooting

Why did a public post produce zero rows?

The post may contain only images, text, audio, or a third-party embed rather than a native Tumblr video. Check the run warning and verify that the anonymous public post visibly contains a Tumblr-hosted video.

Why was my URL rejected?

Use a public HTTPS post permalink with a Tumblr blog name and numeric post ID. Search pages, tag pages, arbitrary custom domains, and non-Tumblr URLs are intentionally rejected.

Why is durationSeconds missing?

Tumblr does not publish duration in every public video block. The direct media URL can still be valid when optional metadata is absent.

Why did the run fail after retries?

Tumblr may have returned a temporary 5xx/429 response, removed the post, or rejected anonymous access. Review the exact status in the run log and retry later only for a genuinely transient response.

Does the Actor store the downloaded video?

No. It exports the direct public media URL and metadata. Your authorized downstream system controls binary download, transfer, retention, and storage cost.

Related Actors

• Tumblr Tagged Posts Scraper discovers and exports public posts from supported Tumblr tagged feeds.
• Video to Text Transcriber can turn an anonymously accessible direct video URL into timestamped text.
• Public Webpage HTML Downloader stores raw or rendered HTML when your authorized workflow needs page snapshots rather than media records.

Use the tagged-post Actor for discovery, this Actor for selected post-to-video resolution, and downstream tools for authorized binary processing.

FAQ

Can I process more than one video in a post?

Yes. The Actor emits one row for every unique native video it finds, subject to maxItems.

Does it support reblogged videos?

Yes. Public native video blocks in the reblog trail are emitted with provenance: "trail".

Do I need a Tumblr account?

No. The Actor supports only anonymously reachable public posts.

Does it use a proxy?

No automatic proxy or residential fallback is enabled. The current implementation uses direct HTTP retrieval of public Tumblr pages.

Can I schedule recurring archives?

Yes. Use Apify schedules and integrations, then deduplicate downstream with stable post and media identifiers.

Is the direct media URL permanent?

No guarantee is made. Tumblr can change or remove public media URLs, so authorized archival workflows should retrieve required assets promptly and retain their provenance.