🎙️ Instagram Transcript Scraper — Native Reel Captions

🔗 View on Apify Store | 🇺🇸 English | 🇧🇷 Português

Extract native Instagram transcripts from Reels and videos: audio transcription, captions and WebVTT subtitles exactly as Instagram exposes them. Plus metadata (caption, duration, plays, owner). No Meta API key. No Whisper — this actor never invents speech.

✨ Features

• 🎙️ Native transcript — clips_metadata.audio_transcription, captions list, VTT
• 🔗 Profiles or Reel URLs — discover Reels from a handle, or pass permalinks
• 🌍 Original language — whatever Instagram stored on the Reel
• 🍪 Optional cookies — for login walls / private profiles
• 🔄 Cascade — media API → VTT → XHR on the Reel page → “View transcript” UI
• 🛡️ Honest empty — has_transcript: false and transcript: null when the creator has no captions
• 🌐 Proxy — datacenter default; residential only after a confirmed block
• ✅ PPE — only transcript or metadata rows are billed; diagnostics are free

🧭 Capabilities & Limits

Discover by	Supported?	Notes
Handle (profiles)	✅ Yes	Finds Reels on the public profile grid
Direct Reel / post / TV URL (reelUrls)	✅ Yes	Best for a known permalink
Keyword / hashtag search	❌ No	Use Instagram Keyword Search
Whisper / local speech-to-text	❌ No	Instagram native text only. Use Video Transcriber for AI

📥 Input

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
profiles	string[]	one-of	["cristiano"]	Usernames (with or without @)
reelUrls	string[]	one-of	—	https://www.instagram.com/reel/XXXX/
maxReels	integer	No	10	Max Reels per profile (1–50)
maxResults	integer	No	—	Alias of maxReels
cookies	object[]	No	—	{name,value,domain} session cookies
proxyConfig	proxy	No	Apify DC	Datacenter default

{
  "reelUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTfS7SMEk8B/"],
  "maxReels": 1
}

📤 Output

Field	Type	Description
url	string	Reel permalink
shortcode	string	Instagram shortcode
has_transcript	boolean	True only when Instagram returned real text
transcript	string | null	Native transcript / captions / VTT text
transcript_language	string | null	Language code when exposed
caption	string | null	On-post caption
video_duration	number | null	Seconds
play_count	integer | null	Plays
published_at	string | null	ISO 8601
owner_username	string | null	Owner
source	string	api / api_vtt / xhr / dom
_dataQuality	string	transcript, metadata_only, url_only, diagnostic

Output Example

{
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTfS7SMEk8B/",
  "shortcode": "DTfS7SMEk8B",
  "has_transcript": true,
  "transcript": "Welcome back to the trail...",
  "transcript_language": "en",
  "caption": "Golden hour #travel",
  "video_duration": 18.4,
  "play_count": 120400,
  "owner_username": "citywalks",
  "source": "api",
  "_dataQuality": "transcript",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-16T20:40:00Z"
}

📋 Use Cases

• 📝 Subtitle archives of a creator’s Reels
• 🔍 Searchable text on spoken content
• 🌐 Language detection on a niche
• 🤖 Seed text for your own NLP (this actor does not run an LLM)

❓ FAQ

Q: Why is transcript null? A: The creator did not enable Instagram captions / audio transcription, or the media is not a video. We never fabricate speech.

Q: Do you use Whisper? A: No. Only text Instagram already stored. For speech-to-text on downloaded audio, use Video Transcriber.

Q: Who pays compute and proxy? A: You. Pay per event + usage. Events cover each billed Reel; CU and Apify proxy go to the run owner.

Q: Do I need to log in? A: Public Reels often work after homepage cookie seeding. Login wall → pass cookies.

💰 Pricing

Pay Per Event + platform usage (client pays CU, traffic, Apify proxy):

Event	Price
apify-actor-start	$0.00005 (default; 1× per GB)
reel-transcripted	$0.002 per Reel with transcript or metadata ($2.00 / 1,000)

url_only and diagnostic rows are not charged. Free-plan users are capped at 12 Reels/run.

🔗 Related Actors

• Instagram Keyword Search — posts by keyword
• Instagram Reels & Posts Scraper — profile grid + engagement
• Video Transcriber — Whisper on any video URL

📝 Changelog

v1.1 (Current)

• Store README (9 sections, PT/EN)
• Incremental PPE, owner-skip, client-paid platform usage
• UAG-SG only on confirmed block / empty origin
• Residential only after a confirmed block
• Default run 2048 MB / 600 s
• proxyConfig in input

v1.0

• Native transcript cascade (API / VTT / XHR / DOM)

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🎙️ Instagram Transcript Scraper — Legendas nativas de Reels

🇺🇸 English | 🇧🇷 Português

Extraia transcrições nativas do Instagram: áudio, captions e VTT como o Instagram expõe. Sem chave da Meta. Sem Whisper — este actor nunca inventa fala.

✨ Funcionalidades

• 🎙️ Transcrição nativa (audio_transcription, captions, VTT)
• 🔗 Perfis ou URLs de Reel
• 🌍 Idioma original do criador
• 🍪 Cookies opcionais
• 🔄 Cascata API → VTT → XHR → botão “Ver transcrição”
• 🛡️ Sem texto inventado
• 🌐 Datacenter padrão; residencial só após bloqueio
• ✅ PPE só em transcript/metadata

🧭 Capacidades e Limites

Descobrir por	Suportado?	Observações
Handle (profiles)	✅ Sim	Reels da grade pública
URL de Reel (reelUrls)	✅ Sim	Melhor para permalink conhecido
Keyword / hashtag	❌ Não	Use o Keyword Search
Whisper	❌ Não	Só texto nativo. Use o Video Transcriber para IA

📥 Entrada

profiles ou reelUrls. maxReels default 10. proxyConfig = datacenter.

📤 Saída

has_transcript só é true quando o Instagram devolveu texto real. transcript null = criador sem legendas, não falha do actor.

💰 Preços

Pay per event + usage (você paga CU e proxy):

Evento	Preço
apify-actor-start	$0.00005
reel-transcripted	$0.002 / Reel com transcript ou metadata

📝 Changelog

v1.1 (Atual)

• README da Store, PPE incremental, user-pays, UAG-SG block-gated, 2048/600