Data scraping, also known as web scraping, is a technique where a computer program extracts data from human-readable output coming from another program. This technique is used to transfer data between programs when there is no other mechanism for data interchange available. Data scraping is most often done either to interface with a legacy system that has no other compatible mechanism with current hardware or to interface with a third-party system that does not provide a more convenient API.

Data scraping involves ignoring binary data, display formatting, redundant labels, superfluous commentary, and other information that is either irrelevant or hinders automated processing. Data scraping is generally considered an ad hoc, inelegant technique, often used only as a "last resort" when no other mechanism for data interchange is available.

Data scraping is different from web crawling, which looks very closely at the code within the page, and the device might even skip over pages altogether if the programmer includes the proper tag. Data scraping tools ignore most code, and those tools pay no attention to the structure of the page.

Data scraping is used to import information from a website into a spreadsheet or local file saved on your computer. It is one of the most efficient ways to get data from the web and in some cases to channel that data to another website. Popular uses of data scraping include price comparison websites, research, and data analysis.

Data scraping tools are available, and some of them are Data Scraper, ParseHub, Octoparse, and WebHarvy. These tools are easy to use and do not require any coding knowledge.