# Instagram Reels Transcript Extractor — Audio to Text (`seemuapps/instagram-reels-transcript-scraper`) Actor

Turn Instagram reels into text — full spoken transcript with timestamps, on-screen text overlays, caption, and engagement stats for any public reel. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/instagram-reels-transcript-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Andrew](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, AI, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $50.00 / 1,000 reel transcripts

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Instagram Reels Transcript Extractor — Audio to Text

Turn any public Instagram reel into text: the full spoken transcript with timestamps, on-screen text overlays, and the reel's caption and engagement stats — no login, no cookies.

### What you get

- **Full spoken transcript** of the reel, verbatim, in 100+ languages with automatic language detection
- **Timestamped segments** (`MM:SS`) for subtitles, quoting, and content repurposing
- **On-screen text overlays** — hooks, captions, and titles burned into the video
- **Reel metadata**: username, caption, posted date, duration, like/comment/play counts
- Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets directly from the Apify console

### Use cases

- Content research — study viral reel hooks, scripts, and structures at scale
- Content repurposing — turn reels into blog posts, newsletters, and captions
- Competitor analysis — monitor what topics and phrases competitors use
- Accessibility — generate transcripts and subtitles for your own reels
- Trend mining — extract what creators in a niche are actually saying

### How to use

1. Paste one or more **Reel URLs** (up to 50 per run)
2. Leave **Language** on `auto`, or set an ISO code like `en` / `es` if you know the spoken language
3. Run the actor — one record per reel appears in the **Dataset** tab

### Output format

```json
{
  "inputUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123/",
  "shortcode": "ABC123",
  "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123/",
  "username": "instagram",
  "caption": "a moment for the fluffy boots…",
  "takenAt": "2026-08-05T16:02:11.000Z",
  "durationSeconds": 15,
  "likeCount": 152340,
  "commentCount": 1834,
  "playCount": 2450000,
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": "Okay so these are the boots everyone keeps asking about…",
  "segments": [{ "start": "00:00", "text": "Okay so these are the boots…" }],
  "onScreenText": ["the boots everyone is talking about", "link in bio"]
}
```

### FAQ

**Does it work on any reel?** Any public reel or video post. Private accounts and deleted posts return a clear per-item error without stopping the run.

**What about reels with no speech?** You still get the on-screen text overlays and full metadata; the transcript comes back empty.

**How accurate is it?** Transcription uses a state-of-the-art speech model with automatic language detection — accuracy is comparable to professional subtitle services.

# Actor input Schema

## `reelUrls` (type: `array`):

Instagram reel or video post URLs (e.g. https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123/) or bare shortcodes. Maximum 50 per run.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Expected spoken language as an ISO 639-1 code (e.g. 'en', 'es', 'pt'), or 'auto' to detect automatically.

## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`):

Include the transcript broken into timestamped segments (\[{start: "MM:SS", text: …}]) in addition to the full transcript string.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "reelUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbvqPafyqY-/"
  ],
  "language": "auto",
  "includeSegments": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One record per reel: transcript, timestamped segments, on-screen text overlays, detected language, plus reel metadata (username, caption, duration, likes, comments, plays).

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "reelUrls": [
        "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbvqPafyqY-/"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/instagram-reels-transcript-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "reelUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbvqPafyqY-/"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/instagram-reels-transcript-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "reelUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbvqPafyqY-/"
  ]
}' |
apify call seemuapps/instagram-reels-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,seemuapps/instagram-reels-transcript-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/4jzjUUvokEdZZIu7n/builds/R4MgDuyTayYHdeTtG/openapi.json