Facebook Media Downloader

📥 What does Facebook Media Downloader do?

Facebook Media Downloader downloads media from public Facebook video and reel URLs. Add one or more Facebook watch, reel, video, mobile, or share URLs and get a clean dataset with direct media links, thumbnails, captions, engagement counts, source URLs, and scrape timestamps.

Use it as a lightweight Facebook video downloader, Facebook reel downloader, or Facebook media extractor when you need structured data instead of a one-off browser download. The actor does not need Facebook cookies, a Facebook account, or a Meta API key.

This actor is built for public videos and reels only. Private, friends-only, deleted, expired, login-only, photo, and story URLs are skipped cleanly instead of being presented as successful downloads.

✅ What can you download?

• Public Facebook watch videos
• Public Facebook reels
• Public Facebook video URL variants
• Mobile Facebook video links
• Facebook share links that resolve to public videos or reels

The actor returns the best direct media URL it can find and keeps all available media versions in downloadLinks, including HD and SD links when Facebook exposes them publicly.

📊 What data do you get?

Each saved media item can include:

• facebookId - the public Facebook media identifier
• mediaType - video, reel, or unknown when Facebook does not expose a clearer type
• url and sourceUrl - the submitted URL and resolved source URL
• downloadUrl - the preferred direct media download link
• downloadLinks - all discovered media versions with quality labels
• thumbnailUrl - preview image when available
• caption, authorName, and publishedAt - public post details when exposed
• durationSeconds, width, and height - media metadata when available
• engagement - public reaction, comment, share, and view counts when available
• scrapedAt - timestamp for the extraction run

Enable technical metadata if you also want lightweight details such as bitrate tags, file extension, or parsed dimensions from the media URL.

🚀 How to use it

1. Paste one or more public Facebook video or reel URLs.
2. Choose the maximum number of media items to save.
3. Pick the preferred quality: best available, HD when available, or SD when available.
4. Run the actor and open the dataset.

For a quick first run, start with one URL and the default settings. Once the output shape looks right, add up to 100 URLs and run the actor on a schedule or through the Apify API.

🔌 API and automation

Facebook Media Downloader works well in no-code and developer workflows. You can run it manually in Apify Console, schedule recurring downloads, call it from the Apify API, or connect the dataset to webhooks, Make, Zapier, Google Sheets, cloud storage, or your own data pipeline.

The output is available as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, and HTML through Apify dataset exports. That makes it easy to build a Facebook video API workflow without maintaining your own scraper, proxy setup, or media parsing logic.

💾 Optional file storage

By default, the actor returns direct media links found on the public Facebook page. If you enable file saving, it also downloads the primary media file and stores it in the run key-value store, giving you an Apify storage URL for that run.

Use file saving when you need a more durable run artifact. Leave it disabled when direct download links are enough and you want the lightest, fastest run.

⚖️ Limits and privacy

This actor only works with public Facebook media that can be accessed without logging in. It does not bypass Facebook privacy controls, does not use internal Facebook authentication, and does not fetch private posts, friends-only posts, private group content, or account-only stories.

Some public Facebook pages may expose captions, thumbnails, engagement counts, or HD links differently. When a field is not publicly available, the actor leaves it empty and still saves the usable media item when a direct media URL is found.

💸 Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing. You are charged only for each public media item that is found and saved. Skipped, unsupported, private, deleted, or login-only URLs do not create paid media-item events.

The Free plan price is set for low-cost testing, and paid Apify plans get a lower per-item price for production use.

❓ FAQ

Can it download private Facebook videos?

No. It only downloads public Facebook videos and reels that Facebook exposes without login. It does not use your account, cookies, or internal authentication.

Does it support Facebook photos or stories?

No. The public contract is videos and reels. Photo and story URLs often require login or short-lived access, so they are treated as unsupported unless Facebook exposes usable public media on the page.

Can I choose HD or SD?

Yes. Use the preferred quality setting to promote the best available, HD, or SD version as the primary downloadUrl. All discovered versions are still kept in downloadLinks.

Can I run it from code?

Yes. Run the actor through the Apify API, pass your Facebook URLs in the urls input field, and read the default dataset when the run finishes.

📝 Changelog

• 0.1: Initial release.

🆘 Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, file a ticket and I'll fix or implement it in less than 24h 🫡

🔗 Other actors

• Instagram Downloader API ↗ - Download public Instagram post and reel media with metadata.
• TikTok Video Downloader ↗ - Save TikTok video and audio media from public video URLs.
• Pinterest Video Downloader ↗ - Download Pinterest pin videos and images from public pin URLs.
• Facebook Reviews Scraper ↗ - Extract public Facebook Page reviews for brand and location research.
• TikTok Story Viewer ↗ - Export active public TikTok stories with media links and metadata.

Made with ❤️ by Maxime Dupré