Wikimedia Commons Featured Pictures Scraper

Wikimedia Commons Featured Pictures Scraper

Scrape Wikimedia Commons featured pictures, up to a million per run. Every picture comes with its title, page ID, and namespace. No login or API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Wikimedia Commons hosts thousands of featured pictures, but browsing them manually through category pages is slow and you cannot export the list in bulk. This Actor reads the official public API to collect every featured picture entry from the Category:Featured_pictures_on_Wikimedia_Commons. It returns a structured dataset you can filter and download immediately.

Who uses it	What they scrape Wikimedia Commons for
Digital archivists	Building a complete index of Wikimedia Commons featured pictures for preservation.
Content creators	Finding high-quality, freely licensed images for articles, videos, or presentations.
Researchers	Analyzing the distribution of featured picture topics and authors over time.
Educators	Curating collections of outstanding images for teaching materials.

What it does

This Actor collects all featured picture entries from Wikimedia Commons and returns each one as a flat row with its title, page ID, and namespace.

• 📋 Bulk extraction: Pull every featured picture from the main category in one run.
• ⚙️ Simple configuration: Set a maximum number of items and let the Actor handle pagination.
• 📄 Structured output: Receive a clean dataset with pageid, ns, and title for each picture.

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

What you can do with Wikimedia Commons data

📸 Build a featured picture archive.

A digital archivist runs the Actor with a high maxItems limit to capture the full list of featured pictures for offline cataloging and long-term preservation.

🎨 Curate a high-quality image gallery.

A content creator scrapes the featured pictures list to source outstanding, freely licensed images for a website or publication.

📊 Analyze featured content trends.

A researcher collects the dataset to study which topics and contributors are most represented among Wikimedia Commons featured pictures.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key needed	The Wikimedia Commons API is public and requires no registration.
Complete list	Gets every entry from the featured pictures category, not a sample.
Structured data	Returns a clean JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML dataset ready for analysis.
Scalable	Collect up to a million items per run for paid users.

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://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/%22A%20mother!%20How%20odd!%22%20-%20Gordon%20Ross.%20LCCN2011648850-restored.jpg",
 "pageid": 196741603,
 "title": "File:\"A mother! How odd!\" - Gordon Ross. LCCN2011648850-restored.jpg",
 "namespace": 6,
 "scrapedAt": "2026-09-05T19:36:59.165Z"
}

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 by setting a maximum number of items to collect. The Actor reads the featured pictures category directly and returns each match in a fixed schema. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

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 with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Wikimedia Commons Featured Pictures 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-featured-scraper"

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

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting only 10 results?

Free users are limited to a 10-item preview. Upgrade to a paid Apify plan and increase the maxItems input value to collect more.

The run finished but my dataset is empty.

Check that the Wikimedia Commons API is reachable. If the category structure has changed, the API may return no members. Try the endpoint URL directly in a browser to verify.

Can I get the image URL or author name?

This Actor returns the basic category member data. To get image URLs, author names, or descriptions, you would need to query each file page individually using the pageid or title from this dataset.

The Actor is taking a long time to finish.

Large maxItems values will take longer because the Actor paginates through the API. Reduce maxItems or be patient; the Wikimedia API has rate limits that the Actor respects.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What data does this Actor return for each picture?	Each row includes the pageid, namespace, and title of the featured picture file. Additional metadata like author or description can be fetched by querying each file page individually.
Do I need a Wikimedia API key to use this?	No. The Actor uses the public Wikimedia Commons API, which does not require authentication or an API key.
How many featured pictures can I scrape in one run?	Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Paid users can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 to collect the complete list.
Can I filter by a specific subcategory of featured pictures?	This Actor targets the main Category:Featured_pictures_on_Wikimedia_Commons. For subcategories, you would need to modify the category title in the API call.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML format from the Apify platform.
Does this Actor download the actual image files?	No, it collects the metadata list of featured pictures. To download the image files, you would need to use the file URLs in a separate process.
Is the data from the official Wikimedia Commons API?	Yes, the Actor queries the official Wikimedia Commons API endpoint directly and returns the structured JSON response.
Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly?	Yes, you can set up a recurring schedule on Apify to run the Actor daily, weekly, or monthly to capture newly added featured pictures.

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.

Pricing

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.

⚠️ 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.