Wikimedia Commons Valued Images Scraper

Wikimedia Commons Valued Images Scraper

Scrape valued images from Wikimedia Commons. Every image entry comes with its page ID, namespace, and title. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Wikimedia Commons hosts millions of freely licensed images, but its API requires technical setup and pagination handling. This Actor reads the MediaWiki API directly, pulling every image in a category such as Valued images, and returns each entry in a clean, flat schema. No authentication, no rate-limit headaches.

Who uses it	What they scrape Wikimedia Commons for
Researchers	Build datasets of valued images for analysis or archival.
Content curators	Discover high-quality, community-recognized images for reuse.
Developers	Populate image galleries or train models with a curated image list.

What it does

This Actor collects image entries from any Wikimedia Commons category, defaulting to Category:Valued_images, and returns each one as a row with page ID, namespace, and title.

• 🖼️ Category targeting: Pull from any Wikimedia Commons category, including subcategories like Valued_images_by_subject.
• 🔢 Max items control: Set a limit to match your dataset size.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Wikimedia Commons data

📚 Build a valued images dataset.

Researchers scrape the full Valued images category to analyze trends in image quality or compile a reference set.

🖼️ Curate a gallery of recognized images.

Content teams pull valued images by subject to feature high-quality visuals on their platforms.

🤖 Train image recognition models.

Developers collect a large list of valued image titles to use as training data or for benchmarking.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Clean schema	Each image entry is a flat row with page ID, namespace, and title.
No login	Uses the public MediaWiki API, no authentication required.
Scalable	Scrape up to a million entries in a single run for paid users.
Export ready	Get results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

What a Wikimedia Commons record looks like

Every record returns as one flat JSON row. Here is a real one from a run:

{
 "imageUrl": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Balbuzard_pecheur_Lac_de_Tunis.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
 "pageId": 148285587,
 "namespace": 6,
 "title": "File:Balbuzard pecheur Lac de Tunis.jpg",
 "pageUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABalbuzard%20pecheur%20Lac%20de%20Tunis.jpg",
 "type": "file",
 "imageDescription": "Balbuzard pêcheur (Pandion haliaetus) au lac sud de Tunis",
 "author": "<a href=\"//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:El_Golli_Mohamed\" title=\"User:El Golli Mohamed\">El Golli Mohamed</a>",
 "credit": "<span class=\"int-own-work\" lang=\"en\">Own work</span>",
 "licenseUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0",
 "licenseShortName": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
 "dateOriginal": "2023-10-20 09:40:43",
 "uploader": "El Golli Mohamed",
 "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
 "width": 4384
}

Every value above comes from a real run. A field a record does not have comes back as null.

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a category title and a maximum item count. The category determines which images are scraped, and the limit controls how many entries are returned. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10,
 "categoryTitle": "Category:Valued_images"
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200,
 "categoryTitle": "Category:Valued_images"
}

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account.
2. Open the Wikimedia Commons Valued Images Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Wikimedia Commons through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/wikimedia-commons-valued-images-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Verify the category title is spelled exactly as it appears on Wikimedia Commons, including the 'Category:' prefix. Also check that the category is not empty.

The run stops at 10 items even though I set a higher maxItems.

Free users are limited to 10 items. Upgrade to a paid plan to scrape up to 1,000,000 items.

The output contains duplicate titles.

The API may return duplicate entries if the category has subcategories. Use the page ID to deduplicate, or target a specific category without subcategories.

The category title I entered is not found.

Make sure the category exists on Wikimedia Commons. You can browse categories at commons.wikimedia.org to confirm the exact title.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What are valued images on Wikimedia Commons?	Valued images are images that are considered the most valuable illustration of their subject within Wikimedia Commons, as judged by the community.
Do I need an API key?	No, the Actor uses the public MediaWiki API, which does not require authentication.
Can I scrape subcategories?	Yes, you can specify any category title, including subcategories like Category:Valued_images_by_subject.
How many items can I scrape?	Free users are limited to 10 items for preview. Paid users can scrape up to 1,000,000 items per run.
What data is returned for each image?	Each image entry returns the page ID, namespace, title, imageUrl, pageUrl, type, imageDescription, author, credit, licenseUrl, licenseShortName, dateOriginal, uploader, mimeType, width, height, fileSize, and scrapedAt.
Can I export the data to Excel?	Yes, the Actor supports export to CSV, JSON, Excel, and XML.
Is the data up to date?	The Actor fetches live data from the Wikimedia Commons API at the time of the run, so results reflect the current category membership.
What if I get no results?	Check that the category title is correct and that it exists on Wikimedia Commons. Also ensure the maxItems is set above zero.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

💰 How much does it cost to scrape Wikimedia Commons Valued Images?

This Actor uses pay-per-result pricing: $0.004 per result collected. You are billed only for the results you receive, so a run that returns nothing costs nothing.