Wikimedia Commons Category Files Scraper
parseforge/wikimedia-commons-category-files-scraper
Other
- Total users
- 2
- Monthly active
- 1
- Total runs
- 5
- Bookmarked
- 0
- Rating
- Not rated yet
- Last modified
- 3 days ago
Overview

๐ผ๏ธ Wikimedia Commons Category Files Scraper
๐ Export every file in a Wikimedia Commons category, with image URLs and license, in seconds.
This Actor reads the official MediaWiki API and returns every file in a Wikimedia Commons category with its direct image URL, license, author, dimensions, MIME type, uploader, and dates. No login, no API key, no HTML scraping.
Wikimedia Commons holds over 100 million freely licensed media files. Point this Actor at any category and get a clean, structured dataset you can filter, join, and reuse (with attribution).
| For | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Researchers & educators | Collect openly licensed images by topic |
| Designers & media teams | Source public-domain and CC media with author + license |
| Data teams | Build image datasets with rich metadata |
๐ What it does
- Lists all files in a Wikimedia Commons category via the MediaWiki API.
- Returns each file with its direct download URL and metadata.
- Paginates automatically up to your
maxItems.
๐ก Why it matters: every row carries the license and author, so you can reuse the media correctly.
๐ Output
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
๐ผ๏ธ imageUrl |
Direct file URL on upload.wikimedia.org |
๐ title |
File title |
๐ pageId |
Commons page id |
๐ descriptionUrl |
File description page |
๐๏ธ mime |
MIME type (image/jpeg, etc.) |
๐ width / height |
Pixel dimensions |
๐พ sizeBytes |
File size in bytes |
๐ค uploader |
Uploading user |
๐ uploadTimestamp |
Upload time |
๐ license |
License short name (e.g. CC BY-SA 4.0) |
โ๏ธ artist |
Author / creator |
๐ท๏ธ credit |
Credit line |
๐
dateOriginal |
Original date of the work |
Sample record:
{
"imageUrl": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/example.jpg",
"title": "File:Example.jpg",
"mime": "image/jpeg",
"width": 4342,
"height": 1995,
"uploader": "Podzemnik",
"license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"artist": "Michal Klajban"
}
๐ How to use
- Create a free account w/ $5 credit.
- Enter a
category(without theCategory:prefix) andmaxItems. - Run it and download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.
โ FAQ
Do I need an API key? No. The Actor uses the public MediaWiki API.
Where is the category name from? Any category page on commons.wikimedia.org, e.g. "Featured pictures on Wikimedia Commons".
Can I reuse the images? Yes, subject to each file's license (see the license and artist fields). Always attribute per the license.
How fresh is the data? Every run reads the MediaWiki API live.
๐ Recommended Actors
๐ก Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection for more data Actors.
This Actor is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation. It reads publicly available data from the MediaWiki API. Respect each file's license and Wikimedia's terms.
Input
| Field | Type | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| category | string | Wikimedia Commons category name (without the 'Category:' prefix). Every file in the category is returned with its metadata. | Featured pictures on Wikimedia Commons |
| maxItems | integer | Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000 | 10 |
Pricing
from $3.62 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| result | Single result in the default dataset. | $0.00362 to $0.004 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~wikimedia-commons-category-files-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
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Issues
We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.
Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.
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