Stig's Art Grabr

Grabbing big high resolution album cover-art from various sites

Author
Stig Nygaard
Daily installs
2
Total installs
3,231
Ratings
21 0 0
Version
2024.01.07.0
Created
2016-06-20
Updated
2024-01-07
License
N/A
Applies to

Fetch the original full-size cover-art versions, as uploaded to sites like AllMusic, Bandcamp, Deezer, iTunes(*), Last.FM, MusicBrainz, Qobuz, SoundCloud, TrackItDown and more...

The script works by "inline" replacing shown art with largest size found by fiddling with the image-urls. In many cases an image doesn't change display-size in browser, but behind the curtain it has been replaced with a larger image version (now downscaled in browser).

(*) Grabbing covers directly from the iTunes website doesn't work when using Stig's Art Grabr as a bookmarklet. It does however work with script installed and used as a userscript. If grabbing iTunes covers "indirectly" via musicdiner.com, fnd.io and labs.stephenou.com/itunes (which are also supported by script) it should work both ways.

The script can be used and activated in three ways:

  1. As a userscript. Activate functionality by Menu Command.
  2. As a bookmarklet running latest version of script as hosted here on Greasy Fork.
  3. As a bookmarklet running a specific version hosted in my GitHub repository.

How to install and activate the script is further described below, but first what happens when functionality of the script is activated:

  1. Once activated, an orange border appears on all images that the tool tries to re-load in originally uploaded versions...
  2. When finished loading original full-size version of an image (inline replaced), the border changes to red and if you hover your mouse over it, you should see a mouseover text showing you the image's real dimensions (Note, in many cases the images will not actually change the size shown with on the page).
  3. To see or save the full-size version of an red-bordered image, now right-click the image and choose view or save image (or whatever it is called in the browser you use). You might also be able to simply drag the big image to your desktop. Alternatively, if the image is not defined as a link on the page, you can usually also open it full-size simply by clicking on it.

How to set up...

For most people, one of the two first options will be the best choice:

Using the userscript

If installed as a userscript, you can activate the functionality on supported sites via your userscript manager addon's User Script Commands. When you are on a supported site, you should see the menu-item "Search big size cover art" be added to items in the addon's "toolbar menu". The script's functionality is not activated until you select this menu-item. With most userscript mangers, you will find commands in dropdown menu from userscript manager's icon in browser toolbar (aka. the "monkey menu"). Firefox tip: If you want to be able to start Art Grabr from browser's right-click contextmenu, go to the browsers advanced settings on the page about:config, find dom.menuitem.enabled and set this to True.

Note: It is, at least for the time being, possible to get support for contextmenu back via Firtefox's about:config page: Set dom.menuitem.enabled to True.

Using the Greasy Fork pointing bookmarklet

You can use Grabr via a bookmarklet pointing to the latest hosted script-version here on Greasy Fork. Simply create a bookmarklet having the following URL/location/address:

javascript:(function(){document.body.appendChild(document.createElement("script")).src="https://greasyfork.org/scripts/20771/code/StigsArtGrabr.js?t="+Date.now();}())

You activate the script simply by clicking the bookmark when on a supported site. Just like with userscripts, using Grabr this way ensures you always run the latest official version of Grabr. You don't need to install the userscript (or addons) to use the script via a bookmarklet.

Using the GitHub pointing bookmarklet

If you want full control over which version of Grabr you are running, you can create a bookmarklet pointing to a specific version in my GitHub repository. Right-click the "Raw" button on the source page of the specific wanted version of Stigs_Art_Grabr.user.js (Some basic GitHub knowledge probably needed to find version specific links) and copy the URL. Now edit the following bookmarklet to include the found URL:

javascript:(function(){document.body.appendChild(document.createElement("script")).src="https://github.com/StigNygaard/Stigs_Art_Grabr/raw/ded7cf4a580062d24612758409e43caf9eb998aa/Stigs_Art_Grabr.user.js";}())

For example above points to a version of the script from Nov. 11th 2017. I cannot change the content of a specific version hosted on GitHub. A new version of the script will get a new URL. So this gives you full control over what version you are using of the script. This is for the "paranoid people" (it's okay to be a bit paranoid on the internet, I'm not offended), but the downside is you will have to manually update the bookmarklet whenever you want to upgrade to a new version of Grabr.

Supported sites

Exactly how well and "wide" Stig's Art Grabr works on supported sites varies. The following sites are those my main attention has been towards. Links point to example pages to test the script:

But more sites are supported [See @match lines in top of source code!].

This userscript is partly based on tips found on wiki.musicbrainz.org/User:Nikki/CAA, but also on itunes-tip from jesus2099 and tips from Anton Fedorov on how to support Deezer, Qobuz and TrackItDown.

The script is primarily tested with Greasemonkey and Firefox, but should also work with f.ex. on Tampermonkey (Google Chrome, MS Edge, Opera and more).

You might want to try one of my other userscripts too:

/Stig