Instagram Audio Scraper

Search Instagram's sound catalogue, or point at a reel and get the exact sound behind it. Every sound comes with its artist, duration, cover art, a direct audio URL, and the number of reels using it across all of Instagram.

No login, no cookies, no browser.

Why Use This Scraper?

• Both directions. Keyword search finds sounds by name. Post lookup goes the other way: give it a reel that is doing well and it names the sound driving it.
• Original audio too. A creator's own recording has no catalogue entry, so no keyword search will ever find it. Reading it off the post is the only way, and this actor does that.
• A real trending number. totalReelsUsingSound is Instagram's own catalogue-wide count, not how many reels this run happened to fetch. 43,904 reels means something; "we found 24" does not.
• The reels, not just the sound. Turn on expansion and each sound brings the reels actually using it, with play counts and creators, so you can see who picked it up and how it performed.

How It Works

Three input paths, mixable in one run:

1. Search terms query Instagram's sound catalogue and return matching tracks.
2. Post or reel URLs are resolved to their media and the sound is read off it — licensed track or the creator's own audio.
3. Expansion, when on, walks the reels using each sound found by either path.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
queries	array	One of the two	—	Words to search the sound catalogue for: a song title, an artist, a phrase.
postUrls	array	One of the two	—	Reels or posts whose sound you want named.
maxSoundsPerQuery	integer	No	unlimited	Cap on sounds per search term.
includeReelsUsingSound	boolean	No	false	Also return the reels using each sound, as reel rows.
maxReelsPerSound	integer	No	24	Cap on reels per sound when expansion is on.

At least one of queries or postUrls must be given.

Example input

{
    "queries": ["lofi"],
    "postUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dcy-7IJhWAP/"],
    "maxSoundsPerQuery": 10,
    "includeReelsUsingSound": true,
    "maxReelsPerSound": 24
}

Output

Three row shapes in one dataset, told apart by rowType.

sound — a track matching a search term:

{
    "rowType": "sound",
    "source": "lofi",
    "trackId": "1234567890",
    "audioClusterId": "9876543210",
    "title": "Cozy Day (Lofi)",
    "artist": "The Machinist Beats",
    "durationMs": 148000,
    "isExplicit": false,
    "isOriginalAudio": false,
    "coverArtworkUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...",
    "audioDownloadUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...",
    "totalReelsUsingSound": 43904,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-09-03T21:15:00.000Z"
}

post-sound — the sound behind a post you supplied. isOriginalAudio: true means the creator's own recording, and artist is then their handle.

reel — a reel using one of the sounds, carrying reelUrl, reelCaption, playCount, likeCount, commentCount, videoUrl, creatorUsername, creatorIsVerified, plus soundTrackId and soundTitle so it can be grouped back to its sound.

Key fields

Field	What it is
totalReelsUsingSound	Instagram's catalogue-wide count of reels using this sound. Filled only when expansion is on, because that is the only route that returns it.
isOriginalAudio	true for a creator's own recording, false for a licensed catalogue track.
audioDownloadUrl	A direct link to the audio file. An Instagram CDN URL, so it expires.

Error rows

An input the run could not answer for comes back as { source, error, message } and is never charged:

error	Meaning
invalid_post_url	The input is not a post or reel URL.
post_unavailable	The post is private, deleted, or age-restricted.
no_sound	The post carries no sound. Photos and carousels never do, and some videos are silent.

Pricing

Pay per event. Posts that carry no sound, and URLs that are not posts, are never charged.

Event	When it fires	Free tier	Diamond tier
Sound	One sound, from a search term or from a post you supplied	$0.004	$0.0028
Reel using the sound	One reel, only when expansion is on	$0.0015	$0.001
Actor start	Once per run, per GB of memory	$0.005	$0.005

A 1,000-sound run costs about $4 on the free tier. Reels are billed separately because they are opt-in.

What Makes This Richer Than the Competition

Capability	Other audio scrapers	This actor
Search the sound catalogue	Yes	Yes
Artist, duration, cover art, audio URL	Yes	Yes
Name the sound behind a given reel	No	Yes, via postUrls
A creator's own audio	Unreachable by search	Identified, with the creator as the artist
Catalogue-wide reel count	No	totalReelsUsingSound
The reels using each sound	Partial	Opt-in, with plays, likes and creator
Search terms and post URLs in one run	No	Yes

The post-to-sound direction is the one a keyword search cannot serve. A reel using a creator's own recording has no catalogue entry, so no amount of searching will ever find it — reading it off the post is the only route.

Notes & Limitations

• totalReelsUsingSound is null unless includeReelsUsingSound is on. The count comes back on the reels route and nowhere else, so asking for it without asking for the reels is not possible.
• audioDownloadUrl, coverArtworkUrl and videoUrl are Instagram CDN links and expire. Download what you need during or shortly after the run.
• Original audio is identified by the creator who recorded it. It has no catalogue entry and cannot be found by searching.

FAQ

Can I find which sound a specific reel uses?

Yes — that is what postUrls is for, and it is the only way to identify a creator's own audio.

Does it download the audio file?

It returns a direct URL to it. The URL is an Instagram CDN link that expires, so fetch it promptly.

Why is totalReelsUsingSound empty?

Because expansion was off. Instagram returns that count on the reels route, so it arrives only when the reels are being fetched.

🤖 For AI Agents & LLM Apps

Input: { "queries": ["lofi"], "postUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123/"], "includeReelsUsingSound": true }

Output: rows discriminated by rowType — sound, post-sound, reel. Sound rows carry trackId, audioClusterId, title, artist, durationMs, isExplicit, isOriginalAudio, coverArtworkUrl, audioDownloadUrl, totalReelsUsingSound. Post-sound rows add postUrl, postShortCode, postAuthor. Reel rows carry reelId, reelUrl, reelCaption, playCount, likeCount, commentCount, videoUrl, creatorUsername, creatorFullName, creatorIsVerified, soundTrackId, soundTitle. Failures return { source, error, message }.

Notes for agents: branch on rowType before reading fields; totalReelsUsingSound is null unless expansion ran; media and audio URLs expire.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This scraper collects only data Instagram publishes publicly, without logging in and without accessing private content. Audio files remain the property of their rights holders — returning a URL is not a licence to reuse the recording. Use this in line with Instagram's terms, with copyright law, and with the data-protection law that applies to you.

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