Facebook Reels Scraper

Facebook Reels Scraper

The Facebook Reels Scraper is a profile-based Facebook Reels data scraper that collects public Reels from the profiles you choose and streams structured records into your Apify Dataset. It solves the hassle of manually browsing Reels by automatically discovering, fetching, and parsing each Reel’s metadata and media context. Built for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers, this Facebook Reels API alternative scales from quick checks to large collections, helping you scrape Facebook Reels videos and extract insights at speed. 🚀

What data / output can you get?

Below are the primary fields this Facebook Reels video extractor saves per Reel. These are pushed to the run’s Dataset as each Reel is processed.

• Field: startUrl
  • Description: The profile URL you provided for discovery.
  • Example: https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/
• Field: facebookUrl
  • Description: Resolved base profile URL for the Reel’s owner.
  • Example: https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/
• Field: inputUrl
  • Description: The requested Reel page URL that was fetched.
  • Example: https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345
• Field: topLevelUrl
  • Description: Top-level post URL constructed from the post ID (if available).
  • Example: https://facebook.com/123456789012345/posts/undefined/
• Field: topLevelReelUrl
  • Description: Canonical shareable Reel URL (trailing slash normalized).
  • Example: https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345/
• Field: text
  • Description: Reel caption extracted from page structures.
  • Example: Saving turtles on the reef 🌊
• Field: time
  • Description: ISO timestamp (UTC) derived from publish/creation time.
  • Example: 2025-01-01T12:00:00.000Z
• Field: play_count_reduced
  • Description: Facebook’s rounded play count label when present.
  • Example: 1.2M
• Field: playCountRounded
  • Description: Numeric play count parsed from play_count_reduced.
  • Example: 1200000
• Field: shareable_url
  • Description: Shareable Reel URL surfaced by Facebook.
  • Example: https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345
• Field: video_owner_type
  • Description: Owner type classification from the page (e.g., FACEBOOK_USER).
  • Example: FACEBOOK_USER
• Field: is_passive_content
  • Description: Boolean flag carried from the short_form_video_context.
  • Example: false
• Field: video_owner
  • Description: Object with owner details surfaced in the context (name, id, url, etc.).
  • Example: { "name": "Example Page", "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/" }
• Field: playback_video
  • Description: Object with playback and thumbnail fields (e.g., id, permalink_url, image).
  • Example: { "id": "123456789012345", "permalink_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345/" }
• Field: video
  • Description: Video object (e.g., id, playable_duration_in_ms, embeddable, thumbnails).
  • Example: { "id": "123456789012345", "__typename": "Video", "embeddable": true }
• Field: attachments
  • Description: Array of attachment nodes surfaced for the Reel.
  • Example: []
• Field: tracking
  • Description: Tracking dictionary parsed from page JSON (e.g., top_level_post_id).
  • Example: { "top_level_post_id": "123456789012345" }
• Field: if_should_change_url_for_reels
  • Description: Object with shareable_url override when Facebook suggests it.
  • Example: { "shareable_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345" }
• Field: fb_shorts_reshare_context
  • Description: Object indicating reshare context when provided.
  • Example: {}
• Field: remix_info
  • Description: Object for remixability/status when available.
  • Example: {}
• Field: soundtrack_info
  • Description: Object describing soundtrack metadata (type set to CUSTOM_AUDIO when original audio is detected).
  • Example: { "type": "CUSTOM_AUDIO" }
• Field: track_title
  • Description: Track title; falls back to “{Owner} · Original audio” when applicable.
  • Example: Example Page · Original audio
• Field: music_album_art_uri
  • Description: Album art URI if provided by Facebook.
  • Example: https://example.cdn/album_art.png
• Field: self_view_boost
  • Description: Numeric flag value surfaced in context when present.
  • Example: null
• Field: http_status
  • Description: HTTP status code for the Reel page if non-200.
  • Example: 429
• Field: parse_error
  • Description: Parser warning string when critical page JSON is missing.
  • Example: short_form_video_context not found in page JSON
• Field: request_error
  • Description: Request exception name when the Reel page request fails.
  • Example: RequestException

Note: Every row is written to your run’s Dataset as soon as it’s saved, so you can export progressively. Use the Apify Dataset to export your results (e.g., for Facebook Reels to CSV workflows).

Key features

• 🔎 Accurate profile-to-Reels discovery
  • The actor resolves your profile inputs and discovers Reel IDs from profile and reels tab HTML, then composes canonical Reel URLs for fetching.
• 📆 Flexible time filtering
  • Use the Only posts newer than filter with absolute dates (YYYY-MM-DD/ISO) or rolling phrases like “7 days” or “2 weeks” to skip older Reels.
• 🔢 Per‑profile limits up to 10,000
  • Control scope with Max Reels per profile (resultsLimit), ideal for targeted audits or Facebook Reels bulk downloader scenarios.
• ⚡ Streaming dataset writes
  • Records are pushed to the Dataset as each Reel is processed — no need to wait for the entire run to finish.
• 🔒 Robust proxy support
  • Configure proxyConfiguration; residential Apify Proxy is recommended to reduce blocks, enabling a stable Facebook Reels crawler.
• 🔁 Resilient pagination & retries
  • Uses GraphQL pagination (when available), controlled concurrency, request retries, and pacing between profiles to balance speed and reliability.
• 🧩 Rich media & metadata extraction
  • Extracts captions, timestamps, play_count_reduced, numeric playCountRounded, owner info, and playback_video/media details — a practical Facebook Reels metadata scraper.
• 🛠️ Developer-friendly & automation-ready
  • Built as an Apify Actor in Python (requests-based). Integrate via the Apify platform as a Facebook Reels API alternative in larger automation pipelines.

How to use Facebook Reels Scraper - step by step

1. Create or log in to your Apify account.
2. Open the Facebook Reels Scraper actor.
3. Add input under “Profile URLs” (startUrls):
   • Paste full Facebook profile links (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/) or bare usernames (e.g., LeonardoDiCaprio).
4. Set limits and filters:
   • resultsLimit: cap the number of Reels per profile (1–10,000).
   • onlyPostsNewerThan: leave blank for no cutoff, or use absolute (YYYY‑MM‑DD) or relative (“7 days”, “2 weeks”) values.
5. Configure Proxy (optional but recommended):
   • Set proxyConfiguration; Apify Residential Proxy helps minimize blocks for this Facebook Reels automation tool.
6. Start the run:
   • The actor discovers Reels and fetches them in parallel. You’ll see logs per profile and per saved Reel.
7. Monitor and export:
   • Open the run’s Dataset to view streaming results and export when ready for Facebook Reels to CSV or JSON workflows.

Pro Tip: Schedule runs on Apify to keep your Facebook Reels insights extractor up to date for periodic trend tracking.

Use cases

• Trend tracking for social teams
  • Monitor new Reels from selected profiles to spot format, audio, and topic patterns over time.
• Influencer and creator research
  • Build datasets of public Reel posts (with captions and plays) to inform partnerships and benchmarking.
• Content analysis & planning
  • Study creative patterns from high-performing profiles and plan your own content format and timing.
• Media archiving & audits
  • Create reproducible archives of public Reels for compliance or editorial review.
• Developer pipelines (API alternative)
  • Treat the actor as a Facebook Reels API alternative in ETL jobs, sending Dataset exports downstream for BI.
• Academic & market research
  • Collect structured public Reels data for studies on engagement patterns, topics, and creator behavior.

Why choose Facebook Reels Scraper?

The actor is engineered for precision at scale — streaming clean, structured records with resilient pagination and proxy support.

• 🎯 Accuracy-first extraction: Targets the short_form_video_context and related nodes to surface consistent, structured fields.
• 🧭 No login required: Works on public profiles without cookies or session authentication.
• 📈 Scales with you: From a handful of profiles to thousands of Reels per run, with per-profile caps and concurrency control.
• 🔌 Developer-ready: Built on Apify; easy to slot into pipelines as a Facebook Reels URL scraper and metadata source.
• 🔒 Stability via proxies: Compatible with Apify Proxy; residential IPs recommended for fewer blocks.
• 💸 Cost-effective automation: Use scheduling and Dataset exports to automate a Facebook Reels analytics tool workflow without custom infrastructure.

In short, this isn’t a fragile browser extension — it’s a production-ready Facebook Reels data scraper designed for reliability.

Is it legal / ethical to use Facebook Reels Scraper?

Yes — when done responsibly. This actor fetches publicly available Reels without login and does not access private or authenticated content.

Guidelines to stay compliant:

• Only process public Reels and publicly exposed metadata.
• Avoid collecting or using sensitive personal data.
• Respect platform rules and applicable laws (e.g., GDPR/CCPA).
• Use proxies responsibly to reduce request noise and throttling.
• Consult your legal team for edge cases or jurisdiction‑specific questions.

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/people/Emily-Olivia/61563061022550/",
    "LeonardoDiCaprio"
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 10,
  "onlyPostsNewerThan": "7 days",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Parameters reference

• startUrls (array of string, required)
  • Description: One profile per line — full Facebook profile links or bare usernames. Usernames without https:// work too.
  • Default: none (must provide at least one)
• resultsLimit (integer, optional)
  • Description: Stop after this many Reels from each profile (newest‑first where available).
  • Range: 1–10,000
  • Default: 10
• onlyPostsNewerThan (string, optional)
  • Description: Time filter. Absolute date (YYYY‑MM‑DD or ISO) or relative window like “7 days” or “2 weeks”. Leave blank for no cutoff.
  • Default: "" (no cutoff)
• proxyConfiguration (object, optional)
  • Description: Route traffic through Apify Proxy (recommended for fewer blocks). Residential proxy is suggested for Facebook.
  • Default: { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }

Example JSON output (successful Reel)

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/",
  "facebookUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345",
  "topLevelUrl": "https://facebook.com/123456789012345/posts/undefined/",
  "topLevelReelUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345/",
  "text": "Saving turtles on the reef 🌊",
  "time": "2025-01-01T12:00:00.000Z",
  "play_count_reduced": "1.2M",
  "playCountRounded": 1200000,
  "shareable_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345",
  "video_owner_type": "FACEBOOK_USER",
  "is_passive_content": false,
  "video_owner": {
    "name": "Example Page",
    "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/"
  },
  "playback_video": {
    "id": "123456789012345",
    "permalink_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345/"
  },
  "video": {
    "id": "123456789012345",
    "__typename": "Video",
    "embeddable": true
  },
  "attachments": [],
  "tracking": {
    "top_level_post_id": "123456789012345"
  },
  "if_should_change_url_for_reels": {
    "shareable_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345"
  },
  "fb_shorts_reshare_context": {},
  "remix_info": {},
  "soundtrack_info": { "type": "CUSTOM_AUDIO" },
  "track_title": "Example Page · Original audio",
  "music_album_art_uri": "",
  "self_view_boost": null
}

Example JSON output (request error for a Reel URL)

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/SomePage/",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/987654321098765",
  "request_error": "RequestException"
}

Example JSON output (profile-level error)

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/SomePage/",
  "error": "Network timeout",
  "type": "profile_error"
}

Notes:

• When page parsing misses required JSON, you may see parse_error and/or http_status attached to the row.
• For public Reels with original audio, soundtrack_info.type is set to CUSTOM_AUDIO and track_title can default to “{Owner} · Original audio”.
• Export your run’s Dataset for downstream use in analytics or reporting.

FAQ

Do I need to log in or provide cookies to run this scraper?

No. The Facebook Reels Scraper works on public Reels and does not require login or cookies. It uses standard HTTP requests and optional proxy routing.

How many Reels can I scrape per profile?

Up to 10,000 per profile using the resultsLimit input. The actor stops after this many Reels are discovered and fetched for each profile.

Can I filter Reels by date or recency?

Yes. Use onlyPostsNewerThan with absolute dates (YYYY‑MM‑DD/ISO) or relative phrases like “7 days” or “2 weeks” to skip older Reels.

Does this work as a Facebook Reels downloader?

It provides a Facebook Reels video extractor workflow by returning the shareable_url, playback_video object (e.g., id, permalink_url, image), and other media context you can use to download externally. The actor itself writes structured metadata to the Dataset.

Can I export the results to CSV for analysis?

Yes. Open the run’s Dataset and export to your preferred format for reporting (e.g., Facebook Reels to CSV) or further processing.

What inputs are supported — profiles, usernames, or Reel URLs?

Provide profiles via startUrls: full Facebook profile links or bare usernames. The actor discovers and fetches Reels from those profiles automatically.

What data about engagement is included?

Play counts are exposed via play_count_reduced and the numeric playCountRounded. Other engagement counts like likes or comments are not parsed by this actor.

Should I use a proxy?

Using Apify Proxy — especially a Residential group — is recommended for stable runs with fewer blocks. Configure this via proxyConfiguration.

Closing CTA / Final thoughts

This Facebook Reels Scraper is built to collect public Reels from the profiles you choose and stream structured, analysis-ready records to your Dataset. With date filtering, per-profile limits up to 10,000, proxy support, and resilient pagination, it’s a reliable Facebook Reels API alternative for marketers, analysts, developers, and researchers. Developers can plug it into automation pipelines as a Facebook Reels URL scraper and metadata source; teams can export results to power dashboards, audits, or content planning. Start extracting smarter with a fast, dependable, and scalable Facebook Reels data scraper today.