Bulk Image Downloader

Description

The Bulk Image Downloader is a powerful Apify actor that extracts and downloads images from web pages or processes direct image URLs in bulk. Whether you need to download a single image or thousands of images from multiple websites, this tool handles it all efficiently.

Key Features:

• Flexible Input: Process webpage URLs to extract all images OR direct image URLs to download specific images
• Bulk Processing: Handle anywhere from 1 to 10,000+ URLs in a single run
• Multiple Output Formats: Get results as a list, single ZIP file, or separate ZIP files per URL
• Smart Image Detection: Finds images in HTML, CSS, lazy-loaded content, srcset attributes, meta tags, and more
• Two Crawling Modes: Fast HTML-only mode or slower JavaScript-enabled mode for dynamic content
• Image Filtering: Automatically filters out non-image files (fonts, documents, etc.)
• Multiple Image Types: Supports png, jpeg, jpg, svg, bmp, webp, ico, bmp formats.
• Retry Logic: Built-in retry mechanism for failed downloads

Use Cases

1. Website Asset Migration

• Download all images from an old website before migration
• Backup image assets from multiple domains
• Archive visual content for compliance purposes

2. Market Research & Competitive Analysis

• Collect product images from competitor websites
• Analyze visual trends across multiple e-commerce sites
• Build image datasets for market research

3. Content Creation & Media Libraries

• Build stock photo libraries from multiple sources
• Collect reference images for design projects
• Create training datasets for machine learning models

4. Digital Marketing & SEO

• Audit image assets across multiple client websites
• Download images for social media campaigns
• Collect visual content for blog posts and articles

5. Academic & Research Projects

• Gather images for academic research
• Create visual datasets for analysis
• Archive web-based visual content

6. Bulk Image Processing

• Download specific images using direct URLs
• Process image lists from spreadsheets or databases
• Batch download images for offline processing

Input Example

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/gallery"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://another-site.com/products"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://direct-image-url.com/image.jpg"
    }
  ],
  "resultsType": "zipPerUrl",
  "crawlerType": "fast",
  "deviceResolution": "Desktop (1920x1080)",
  "includeSrcset": "yes",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "maxItems": 100
}

Settings Explanations

startUrls (Required)

• Webpage URLs: Enter any webpage URL (e.g., https://example.com/gallery) to download ALL images found on that page
• Direct Image URLs: Enter direct image URLs (e.g., https://site.com/image.jpg) to download specific images
• Bulk Processing: Add 10, 100, or even 10,000+ URLs for bulk processing

resultsType

• "list": Returns a detailed list of all downloaded images with metadata
• "zip": Creates a single ZIP file containing all images from all URLs
• "zipPerUrl": Creates separate ZIP files for each input URL

crawlerType

• "fast": HTML-only parsing using Cheerio (recommended for most cases)
• "slower": JavaScript-enabled browsing using Puppeteer (for dynamic content)

deviceResolution (only with slower crawler)

• Choose screen resolution for JavaScript-enabled crawling
• Options: Desktop (1920x1080), Desktop 4K, Laptop, Tablet, Mobile

includeSrcset

• "no": Download only main image sources
• "yes": Include responsive images from srcset attributes

proxyConfiguration

• Set "useApifyProxy": true to use Apify's proxy service
• Helps avoid rate limiting and blocking on target websites

maxItems

• Maximum number of pages to process (0 for unlimited)
• Useful for controlling costs and execution time

Output Example

List Format Output

[
  {
    "fileType": "jpg",
    "filename": "product-image-1.jpg",
    "fullUrl": "https://example.com/images/product-1.jpg",
    "previewImage": "data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEA...",
    "pageUrl": "https://example.com/products",
    "size": 156789
  },
  {
    "fileType": "png",
    "filename": "logo.png",
    "fullUrl": "https://example.com/assets/logo.png",
    "previewImage": "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEU...",
    "pageUrl": "https://example.com/products",
    "size": 45123
  },
  {
    "fileType": "webp",
    "filename": "hero-banner.webp",
    "fullUrl": "https://another-site.com/images/hero.webp",
    "previewImage": "data:image/webp;base64,UklGRiQAAABXRUJQVlA...",
    "pageUrl": "https://another-site.com/home",
    "size": 234567
  }
]

ZIP Format Output

[
  {
    "fileType": "zip",
    "filename": "images.zip",
    "fullUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/store-id/records/images.zip",
    "pageUrl": "All URLs",
    "size": 15678900
  }
]

ZIP Per URL Format Output

[
  {
    "fileType": "zip",
    "filename": "images_example_com_products_0.zip",
    "fullUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/store-id/records/images_example_com_products_0.zip",
    "pageUrl": "https://example.com/products",
    "size": 5234567
  },
  {
    "fileType": "zip",
    "filename": "images_another_site_com_home_1.zip",
    "fullUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/store-id/records/images_another_site_com_home_1.zip",
    "pageUrl": "https://another-site.com/home",
    "size": 7891234
  }
]

Output Fields Description

• fileType: Image format (jpg, png, gif, webp, etc.) or "zip" for archives
• filename: Generated filename for the downloaded image
• fullUrl: Complete URL where the image was found OR download link for ZIP files
• previewImage: Base64-encoded thumbnail preview (only for individual images)
• pageUrl: Source webpage where the image was discovered
• size: File size in bytes

NEED HELP?

Have Questions or Need Additional Features?

We're here to support you! Whether you need help with setup, have questions about interpreting results, or want to request additional features for the Bulk Image Downloader, we've got you covered.

Contact Us

Just fill out the form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsKyzZ3nRED7mML47I4LAfNh_mBwkuFMp1FgYYJ4AkDRgaRw/viewform?usp=dialog, and we'll try our best to help as quickly as possible.

Common Questions We Can Help With:

• Setting up the crawler for specific websites
• Choosing the right settings for your use case
• Troubleshooting download issues
• Processing large datasets efficiently
• Custom feature requests
• Integration with other tools and workflows