Download the images and videos of a web page

Eloshon Scraper can save the images and videos of a web page on your computer, and write down for each file the post it comes from: its address, its author, its date, its text and its hashtags. This page explains what to install, what to do, and what the Scraper will never download.

In short

You need two things: the Eloshon Scraper extension in your browser (Chrome or Edge), which reads the page, and the Eloshon Scraper software on your Windows computer, which downloads and files the media. To get every Eloshon Scraper feature, install the software too: the Download page.

Before you read a site

Check the site's terms of use and the rights to its content (text, photos, trademarks) before you read or reuse it. Each user remains responsible for how they use the data they read. This note is general information, not legal advice.

What it is for

You are looking at a page full of photos and videos: a brand's account on a social network, a feed of posts, a page of videos. You want to keep those files on your computer, and to know where each one comes from. The Scraper downloads them, puts them in a folder and writes a table (a file that Excel or LibreOffice can open) that ties each file to its post.

Why you need the extension and the software

The extension is a small program added to Chrome or Edge. It reads the page open in your browser, with your own connection, then sends the software the list of what it found.
The software Eloshon Scraper is installed on your Windows computer. It downloads the files on the list and files them in a folder.
The extension alone cannot save files on your computer, and the software alone cannot see the page you are looking at. The two work together, and the software has to be running.

What is downloaded

The images of the posts: photos and attached pictures. Profile pictures, emojis and small icons are left out.
The videos. Some are a whole file (an .mp4, for example). Others arrive as a stream: the page receives the video in small pieces described in a playlist (an .m3u8 or .mpd file). The software reads that playlist, takes the best quality on offer and puts the pieces back in order to make one file.
A video's cover picture (its poster), saved next to the video.

Step by step

Install the Eloshon Scraper software and the extension, then start the software and leave it open.
In Chrome or Edge, open the extension's panel (the side panel).
With the panel open, open the page whose files you want, or reload it if it was already open. This matters for videos: see below.
Scroll down to the posts you are interested in. The extension only reads what the page shows.
Play each video you want for a few seconds: this is how the extension hears the video arrive.
In the panel, start the download of the page's images and videos.
Let the software work: it downloads one file at a time, with a short pause between two files. You can stop whenever you like.
At the end, open the folder: your files and the medias.csv table are there.

Where the files are

By default, in your computer's Downloads folder, under Eloshon Scraper, with one folder per site, for example Downloads\Eloshon Scraper\example.com. These files are yours: updating the software does not touch them.

Each file name says where the file comes from: site__post__media.extension. For example example.com__1234567890__01.jpg is the first image of post number 1234567890 on example.com. When a video is downloaded in a specific quality, that quality is added to the name.

The medias.csv file: who is who

The folder holds two files that say the same thing: medias.csv, to open with Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets, and medias.json, for a program. Each row describes one file. These are the columns to know:

Column	What it holds
file	The file's name in the folder.
kind	The kind of file: image, video, the video's poster, or a sound track.
status	What happened: see the next table.
reason	A sentence that explains the status when it is not a plain success.
post_url	The address of the original post.
post_id	The post's number, as the site writes it in its address.
author	The post's author, as the page shows them publicly.
published_at	The date of the post.
post_text	The text of the post.
hashtags	The post's hashtags (the words that start with #).
source_url	The address the file was downloaded from.
quality, duration_s	The size of the image or video in pixels, and a video's length in seconds, when the page gives them.
bytes, sha256	The file's weight in bytes and its fingerprint: a code computed from its content. If the file is cut short or changed, the fingerprint changes.
downloaded_at, page_url	When it was downloaded, and the address of the page you were looking at.

In this version, the software writes the status column in French:

Status	What it means	What to do
ok	The file is downloaded.	Nothing: it is in the folder.
protégé (protected)	The video is encrypted (DRM-type protection). It is not downloaded.	Nothing: the Scraper never gets around a protection.
non capté (not picked up)	The video is played only by the page's own player: the extension did not hear its address.	Reload the page with the panel open, let the video start, then start the download again.
refusé (refused)	The site said no. The software stops, and nothing is forced.	Wait a while before trying again. If the site still refuses, that is its choice.
échec (failed)	The file could not be downloaded (a live broadcast, an empty file, an address that leads to neither an image nor a video…).	Read the reason column: it gives the cause.
non fait (not done)	You stopped the download, or it stopped before this file.	Start it again: files already downloaded are not downloaded twice.

Picture and sound: FFmpeg

Some streamed videos send the picture on one side and the sound on the other. FFmpeg is a small free program that can put the two together in one file. If it is installed on your computer, the Scraper uses it to make a single .mp4 file, without harming the quality. If it is not installed, you get two files: the video without sound, and the sound on its own. The medias.csv table says so. The Scraper does not install FFmpeg for you.

What is never downloaded

Protected videos. An encrypted video (DRM, protection key) is marked “protégé” and left alone. The Scraper never gets around a protection.
Live broadcasts. A live broadcast that has not ended is not downloaded.
Anything that needs a login. The software never reads your browser's cookies or passwords. A file reserved for signed-in people can therefore be refused.
Videos only the page can play. When a page plays its video with its own player, the extension only picks it up if the page was loaded with the panel open. Otherwise the table row says “non capté”.

The Scraper is not limited to social networks. It recognises the shape of a page, not one particular site, and it can scrape data from many kinds of web pages. Here are some examples, depending on the page's shape:

Car sites. Listings for cars, motorbikes and vans can be read too: make, model, year, mileage, fuel, gearbox, price, and their photos.
Online shops. Name, price, variants, barcodes and images of each product, to build a catalogue.
Video sites. The pages of a video platform or of a conference site: title, author, date and video.
Blogs and article pages. Title, cover image, tags and videos embedded in the page.
Lists of accommodation or bookings. The cards of a results list, with their photo and price.
Feeds and forums. Each post with its author, date, text, hashtags, images and videos.

This is not a promise for every site: a page can hide its data, ask for a login or change its shape overnight. When a page cannot be read, the Scraper says so, and never fills a field with an invented value.

X (Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Reddit… and the others

Many people look for a way to download a video from X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Vimeo, Dailymotion or Reddit, or for a “video scraper” to do it. The Scraper has no setting made for any one of these platforms: it reads the page as it is displayed (its posts, images and videos) and listens to what the page loads.

The result therefore depends on the page. These sites often change how they show videos, some protect them, others ask for a login. No platform is guaranteed. When a file cannot be downloaded, its row in the medias.csv table says why.

Your responsibilities

An image or a video generally belongs to the person who made or posted it, and copyright may protect it. Each site's terms of use may also forbid downloading its files. You remain responsible for what you download and for what you do with it. The Scraper does not check your rights.

If it does not work

What you see	What to do
The panel says there is no image or video to download on the page.	Scroll down to the posts, wait for them to appear, then try again. The extension only reads what the page shows.
The panel says a download is already running.	Wait for it to finish, or stop it. The software runs only one download at a time.
The software cannot be reached.	Start the Eloshon Scraper software on your computer, then try again.
A video has no sound.	Install FFmpeg, then start the download again: the sound is joined to the picture.
Several rows say “non capté”.	Reload the page with the panel open, play each video for a few seconds, then try again.