Snapchat Spotlight Video Link & Caption Downloader

A Snapchat Spotlight link on its own doesn't give you a file you can save or embed. This actor turns one or more of those links into a direct video URL alongside thumbnail, caption, creator info, and engagement counts — with AI-generated descriptions, a WebVTT transcript, comment threads, and related videos available on request. No login or cookies required.

What this actor does

• Resolves a Spotlight link (including short t.snapchat.com links) into a direct, downloadable video URL
• Captures caption, creator info, and full engagement stats — shares, likes, comments, recommendations
• Adds AI-generated title, description, keywords and detected languages, on request
• Parses the video's WebVTT transcript into timestamped segments, on request
• Can also pull comment threads and up to 24 related Spotlight stories from the same feed
• Leaves a field out of the record when Snapchat didn't provide a value for it, rather than sending it empty

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
spotlightUrls	string[]	Yes	—	One or more Snapchat Spotlight URLs to process
includeTranscript	boolean	No	true	Parse WebVTT transcript into timestamped segments
includeAiMetadata	boolean	No	true	Include LLM title, description, keywords, context cards, detected languages
includeComments	boolean	No	false	Decode comment threads from the page
includeRelatedStories	boolean	No	false	Include up to 24 related Spotlight stories
proxyConfiguration	object	No	—	Optional proxy settings

Supported URL Formats

https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/{id}
https://www.snapchat.com/@{username}/spotlight/{id}
https://t.snapchat.com/{id}

Short links (t.snapchat.com) are resolved automatically before scraping.

Output Fields

Core Fields (always present on success)

Field	Type	Description
snapId	string	Unique Spotlight snap identifier
inputUrl	string	The URL you provided as input
videoUrl	string	Direct CDN video URL (expires — download promptly)
thumbnailUrl	string	Thumbnail image URL
caption	string	Caption or description text on the snap
creatorUsername	string	Creator's Snapchat username
profileUrl	string	Full profile URL (snapchat.com/@username)
creatorDisplayName	string	Creator's display name
durationSeconds	number	Video duration in seconds
uploadedAt	string	ISO 8601 upload timestamp
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when this record was collected
shareCount	integer	Number of times the video was shared
commentCount	integer	Number of comments
likeCount	integer	Number of likes (boosts)
recommendCount	integer	Number of recommendations
mediaPreviewUrl	string	Preview/thumbnail variant URL
width	integer	Video width in pixels (video snaps only)
height	integer	Video height in pixels (video snaps only)
restricted	boolean	Whether the content is age-restricted
isAttributed	boolean	Whether the snap is attributed to Snapchat's own feed

viewCount is omitted for very recent videos — Snapchat returns -1 as a sentinel value for posts still accumulating views.

AI Metadata (when includeAiMetadata: true)

Field	Type	Description
llmTitle	string	LLM-generated title for the video
llmDescription	string	LLM-generated description of the video content
llmKeywords	string[]	LLM-generated keyword tags
textMetadataKeywords	string[]	Text-based keyword tags extracted from metadata
hashtags	string[]	Hashtags associated with the snap
contextCards	object[]	Context cards shown on the snap (sound info, creator card, etc.)
detectedLanguages	object[]	Detected languages with confidence scores (languageCode, score)

Transcript (when includeTranscript: true)

Field	Type	Description
transcript	object[]	Array of {startTime, endTime, text} WebVTT segments
transcriptUrl	string	URL of the raw WebVTT transcript file

Comments (when includeComments: true)

Each item in comments[]:

Field	Type	Description
commentId	string	Unique comment identifier
snapId	string	ID of the snap this comment belongs to
replyText	string	Comment text
reactionCounts	object[]	Array of {reactTypeId, count} reaction tallies
commenterDisplayName	string	Commenter's display name
approvalState	any	Moderation approval state
postedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when the comment was posted

Related Stories (when includeRelatedStories: true)

Each item in relatedStories[]:

Field	Type	Description
thumbnailUrl	string	Thumbnail URL of the related story
storyPageUrl	string	Full Spotlight URL of the related story
durationSeconds	number	Duration of the related story in seconds
creatorUsername	string	Creator's username

Error Records

If a URL fails, an error record is saved instead of a video record:

Field	Type	Description
inputUrl	string	The URL that failed
snapId	string	Snap ID if it could be extracted
error	string	Human-readable error message
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp

Example Input

{
  "spotlightUrls": [
    "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZmRwYmVqcm5wAZ8Kxg_vAZ8Kxgn9AAAAAQ",
    "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZG5iaHJuY2phAZ8KF10GAZ8KETc1AAAAAQ"
  ],
  "includeTranscript": true,
  "includeAiMetadata": true,
  "includeComments": false,
  "includeRelatedStories": false
}

Example Output

{
  "snapId": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZG5iaHJuY2phAZ8KF10GAZ8KETc1AAAAAQ",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZG5iaHJuY2phAZ8KF10GAZ8KETc1AAAAAQ",
  "videoUrl": "https://bolt-gcdn.sc-cdn.net/v/udlVbjK0wdjHbPx1FRph0.27.IRZXSOY?...",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://bolt-gcdn.sc-cdn.net/v/udlVbjK0wdjHbPx1FRph0.256.IRZXSOY?...",
  "caption": "Another Spotlight Snap brought to you by Snapchat",
  "creatorUsername": "waqarzaka",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.snapchat.com/@waqarzaka",
  "creatorDisplayName": "Waqar Zaka",
  "durationSeconds": 130.23,
  "width": 540,
  "height": 960,
  "shareCount": 0,
  "likeCount": 3,
  "commentCount": 0,
  "recommendCount": 0,
  "uploadedAt": "2026-06-27T17:12:08.245000+00:00",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-28T06:43:34.588497+00:00",
  "isAttributed": true,
  "textMetadataKeywords": ["bitcoin", "hacker", "crypto", "cryptocurrency", "blockchain"],
  "contextCards": [
    {
      "contextType": 3,
      "title": "Waqar Zaka",
      "subtitle": "waqarzaka",
      "url": "https://www.snapchat.com/@waqarzaka",
      "thumbnailType": 0,
      "hasBadge": true,
      "id": "36d0088b-39d5-4765-a237-bb147a292272"
    }
  ],
  "detectedLanguages": [
    { "languageCode": "hi", "score": 0.910262405872345 }
  ]
}

FAQ

Does this require a Snapchat account or cookies? No. All data is extracted from public Snapchat Spotlight pages. No login, no cookies, and no proxy are required in most regions.

Do video URLs expire? Yes. Snapchat CDN URLs include signed tokens that expire after a short period. Download the video as soon as the actor completes — do not store the URL and try to fetch it later.

Why is viewCount missing from some records? Snapchat returns -1 as a sentinel for videos that are too new to have an accurate view count. The actor omits this field rather than storing a misleading -1.

Are width and height always present? Only for video snaps. Some Spotlight posts are images or have incomplete metadata, in which case these fields are absent.

Can I scrape a large batch of URLs at once? Yes. Provide all URLs in the spotlightUrls array. The actor processes them sequentially with a short delay between requests to stay respectful of rate limits.

What is the isAttributed flag? When true, Snapchat itself attributed the snap to its own Discover/Spotlight feed rather than to a specific creator account.

Can I get comments from all videos? Set includeComments: true. Comments are decoded from data embedded in the page, so availability depends on what Snapchat includes per snap.

Is this affiliated with Snapchat? No. This is an independent data extraction tool and has no connection to Snap Inc.