LibriVox Audiobook Scraper

Search LibriVox — the largest catalog of free, public-domain audiobooks read by volunteers. Get full metadata, complete chapter/section listings with direct MP3 download URLs, reader names, cover art, and genre tags. Powered by LibriVox's official public API — no login, no cost.

What this actor does

• Five modes: search (by title), byAuthor (exact last name), byGenre (147 curated genres), byIds (direct lookup), recent (catalogued since a given date)
• Full chapter/section data — every audiobook record includes its complete list of sections, each with a direct, permanent MP3 URL, reader name, and playtime
• Filters: language (106 languages), duration range, copyright year range, keyword search
• Empty fields are omitted — every field present in a record is guaranteed to have real data

Output fields

Field	Description
bookId	LibriVox numeric project id
title, description
language	Recording language, e.g. English
copyrightYear	Original work's copyright year
numSections, totalTime, totalTimeSecs	Chapter count and total audio length
authors[]	{authorId, firstName, lastName, name, birthYear, deathYear}
translators[]	Same shape as authors, when the work is a translation
genres[]	{genreId, name}
sections[]	{sectionId, sectionNumber, title, listenUrl, playtimeSecs, readers[]} — one entry per chapter, each with its own direct MP3 URL
coverArtUrl, coverArtThumbnailUrl, coverArtPdfUrl	Cover art at various sizes/formats
rssFeedUrl	Podcast-style RSS feed for the whole book
zipDownloadUrl	Direct link to a ZIP of all chapter MP3s
librivoxUrl	The book's LibriVox project page
textSourceUrl	Link to the original text (usually Project Gutenberg)
internetArchiveUrl	The book's Internet Archive details page
projectUrl	Background-reading link LibriVox associates with the work (often its Wikipedia article), when provided
sourceUrl	Same as librivoxUrl

Every record also has recordType: "audiobook" and scrapedAt (UTC ISO timestamp).

Input

Field	Type	Applies to	Description
mode	select	all	search / byAuthor / byGenre / byIds / recent
titleQuery	string	search	Book title — matches from the start (auto-prefix), or an exact full title
authorLastName	string	byAuthor	Exact author last name, case-insensitive
genre	select	byGenre	One of LibriVox's 147 genres/sub-genres
bookIds	array	byIds	LibriVox numeric book IDs
sinceDate	string	recent	YYYY-MM-DD — return audiobooks catalogued on/after this date
language	select	all	Filter to one of 106 recording languages
minDurationSeconds / maxDurationSeconds	integer	all	Total audiobook length filter
copyrightYearMin / copyrightYearMax	integer	all	Original work's copyright year filter
containsKeyword	string	all	Case-insensitive match against title / description / author / genre
maxItems	integer	all	Hard cap on emitted records (1–2000, default 30)

Example: search by title

{ "mode": "search", "titleQuery": "Sherlock Holmes", "maxItems": 20 }

Example: everything by an author

{ "mode": "byAuthor", "authorLastName": "Twain", "maxItems": 50 }

Example: short poetry collections in English

{
  "mode": "byGenre",
  "genre": "Poetry",
  "language": "English",
  "maxDurationSeconds": 3600,
  "maxItems": 25
}

Example: lookup specific books by ID

{ "mode": "byIds", "bookIds": ["52", "47"] }

Example: recently catalogued audiobooks

{ "mode": "recent", "sinceDate": "2026-05-01", "maxItems": 30 }

Use cases

• Audiobook apps — bulk-import a free public-domain audiobook catalog with ready-to-stream chapter URLs
• Podcast tools — repurpose rssFeedUrl as a podcast feed per book
• Digital libraries — pair with textSourceUrl to cross-link the audio and text editions of a work
• Language learners — filter by language to build a practice-listening library
• Literary research — analyze genre/author/era coverage of the public-domain audiobook catalog

FAQ

Do I need a LibriVox account or API key? No. LibriVox's audiobook API is fully public; this actor uses no cookies, API key, or paid proxy.

Why does titleQuery need to match from the start of the title? LibriVox's search API only supports exact-title or "starts with" matching, not free-text substring search. The actor automatically anchors your query as a prefix match, so "Pride and" will find "Pride and Prejudice" — but a mid-title fragment like "and Prejudice" won't match. Use mode=byAuthor or mode=byGenre for broader discovery.

Why does authorLastName require an exact match? This mirrors a limitation of LibriVox's own API — it only accepts an exact last name (case-insensitive), not partial or fuzzy matches.

Can I get the actual audio, not just links? This actor returns direct, permanent MP3 URLs (hosted on archive.org) for every chapter — download them separately with your own HTTP client.

Are these audiobooks really free to use? Yes — LibriVox only records works that are in the public domain, and all recordings are released to the public domain as well.

How fresh is the data? LibriVox adds new recordings continuously; since this actor queries the live API on every run, results reflect the current catalog.

What does mode=recent return? Audiobooks that LibriVox catalogued on or after the sinceDate you provide, using LibriVox's own since API parameter — handy for tracking new additions to the catalog over time.