Instagram Reels Downloader

An Apify Actor that extracts metadata and downloads video files from public Instagram Reels. It processes /reel/ URLs, outputs structured data, and can save media files directly to storage.

Key Features

• Targeted Extraction: Works exclusively with Instagram /reel/ links; other URLs are ignored.
• Configurable Output: Choose video resolution (1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p) and decide whether to download files or just extract metadata/URLs.
• File Merging: Automatically merges separate video and audio streams into a single file when merge_if_ffmpeg is enabled and FFmpeg is available on the platform.
• Access Support: Optional cookie file input for downloading private or age-gated Reels.
• Proxy Ready: Built-in support for proxyConfiguration for secure, scalable runs.

How to Use

Apify Console (Quick Start)

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Paste your Instagram Reel links into the Start URLs field.
3. Configure optional settings: add a cookie file path for private Reels, select desired_resolution, and toggle download on/off.
4. Click Run Actor. Results populate the Dataset.

Programmatic Execution

Run the Actor via the CLI or API using a JSON input.

CLI:

apify run --actor <ACTOR_ID> --input input.example.json

Python (apify-client):

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient('<APIFY_TOKEN>')
run = client.actor('your-username/instagram-reels-downloader').call(input=input_json)

Input

The Actor accepts a JSON object with the following fields:

Output

Results are saved to the Actor's Dataset as individual JSON items. Each item contains:

{
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5xAbCdE123/",
  "title": "A short clip",
  "uploader": "creator_handle",
  "thumbnail": "https://.../thumb.jpg",
  "duration": 15,
  "requested_resolution": "1080p",
  "download_links": {
    "merged_video": "https://.../media.mp4",
    "video_without_audio": "https://.../video.mp4",
    "audio": "https://.../audio.mp4"
  },
  "downloaded_file": "A_short_clip_merged.mp4"
}

If download is enabled, media files are saved to the run's Key-Value Store or default storage.