(Credit: Shutterstock/DenPhotos)
Popular video sites often make it difficult to download content, usually for copyright and revenue reasons. Instead, they prefer you share a direct link or post it on your feed, where it'll continue to rack up those pre-roll ad dollars. But if you're looking to secure a permanent copy of a clip you spotted on Facebook—something not your own—you probably have your reasons. And since we trust you, we're here to tell you how to download them. (If you only want a copy of the photos and video you personally uploaded, read How to Download Your Facebook Data.)
If you have desktop software in place to download YouTube videos, such as 4K Video Downloader, try that. Most of the tools that work for YouTube, Vimeo, and others also work with Facebook URLs. But there are other methods.
Direct Desktop Downloads
Facebook provides a "Save Video" link in the ellipsis menu next to almost every video. But that's not for saving the video to your local storage—it only "saves" it on Facebook to a section of your account called "Saved Videos," where you can create collections to watch later. If the owner deletes the video, you won't have access to it anymore.
The steps to putting a Facebook video on your computer are a bit convoluted, but not difficult. First, in your browser, click the three-dot ellipsis menu on a video and select Copy link. (You may not see this option if the video is listed as private.)
Paste that into a new browser tab and watch it forward the shortened link (starting with https://fb.watch/) to something that starts with https://www.facebook.com/watch/. In the address bar, change the "www" to "mbasic."
That forces the browser to load the mobile version of the page for you. Right-click the video, and select Open link in new tab. In this new third tab, all you'll see is the video, and you can right-click again and select Save video as to put it on your PC.
The downside here is you're not getting a particularly hi-res video this way. But there is an easy way to get a higher-quality video from Facebook.
Crank Up the Resolution Via a Web Helper Site
Skip the complicated process above and use FDown.net. It's ad-supported to keep the lights on, but some are ad-traps with boxes saying "Start," "Start Download," or "Continue," so don't click on those.
Paste in the Facebook URL you snagged by selecting Copy Link from the ellipsis menu. The site will parse all content for you and provide links to grab either the "Normal Quality" version (the same as you get with the steps above) or an "HD Quality" video. I used it to grab a movie trailer and the normal quality was a blocky 4.6MB file; the HD was a gorgeous 27MB file. I had similar results with even the PCMag video in the examples above.
You can click the links or right-click to select Save link as. The More Options box can try to force a standard definition or high-definition download, and also do an audio fix.
If you use a Chromium-based browser like Edge or Chrome, and find you're using FDown.net a lot, consider grabbing its extension called Video Downloader PLUS. It puts a download button right on the video if it's downloadable. That is one of many extensions from many developers that allow Facebook downloads. Try out a few and pick a favorite.
Make Mobile Downloads
FDown.net shines on mobile devices as well, be it on Android or iOS. In the past it had some issues with Safari and Chrome and they recommended using mobile Firefox. In new tests it worked fine on any mobile browser tried. (This won't work on private/non-public videos, but you may not know they're private until the last step. Even then, try again, there were some false positives on "private" videos in testing.)
Find a video on Facebook (in any browser). Even if it's a Reels video. Click the ellipsis to get a Copy Link or click the option to Share it. At the share screen, look for the option to Copy Link. In the browser, load FDown.net, paste in the URL, and press download.
You'll see the options to get a video in Normal Quality or HD Quality again; tap and hold your finger on whichever you prefer for an option that says Download Link, then a Download Now confirmation.
With Safari on iOS, this puts the video in the Files app. If you use Firefox it goes to browser's Downloads section. You can access that via the Firefox hamburger menu on the lower right (the three lines). Click on the link for the video—it'll probably look like a long string of numbers. Tap Save Video to put it in the camera roll on your device. If the video is private or not public, you'll see the warning below.
How to Download Videos from Facebook
Like What You're Reading?
Sign up for Tips & Tricks newsletter for expert advice to get the most out of your technology.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Sign up for other newsletters
