How can I get individual image_urls from an Instagram album using oembed api call?

Question

I have been using the Instagram API to get images and videos, which works just fine. I then noticed the oembed API call, which does not require an access_token, and I decided to give that a try, which also worked just great as the thumbnail_url size is adequate for most uses. However, I noticed that the images retrieved from an album, all have a thumbnail_url that returns a 5xx Error from Instagram.

My thinking is that:

a) This is exactly how it is supposed to work and if I want images from a gallery/album, I need to use the media API call and access_token like most normal people

b) There is a way to access all images from a gallery/album and I just don't know yet. What if I want to embed the album? If this is the case, how can I check if it is an album or single image before making an API call?

Here is what I have so far:

Instagram permalink for album/gallery: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTHpAmzDHKR/

OEMBED API call: https://api.instagram.com/oembed/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fp%2FBTHpAmzDHKR%2F

thumbnail_url returned: https://scontent-dft4-2.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s612x612/e35/18012162_1608580785827161_2716056344971968512_n.jpg

media API working url for same image:

https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s640x640/sh0.08/e35/18012162_1608580785827161_2716056344971968512_n.jpg

This opens up to a 5xx Server Error

Is it possible or not using oembed call?

NOTE: I am trying this just out of curiosity and not for any real app.

Answer 1

Closing this out as my research has shown that oembed is for single media type only, not for carousel/albums. Instagram API call which uses tokens is required.