How to Download Instagram Photos and Videos

Table of contents

Open Table of contents

• 1. Use these sites to download images or videos from Instagram
• 2. Use a bit of technical knowledge 
• 3. Feeling lazy? Just screenshot the image
• 4. Don’t need to download them? Just bookmark them for later viewing
• 5. Need to save all your images? Download an archive from Instagram
• Bottom line
• The shorter version

1. Use these sites to download images or videos from Instagram

To download an image or video using a third-party software, you first need to grab the url of the post. 

To do that, head to the post you are looking to download. 

On the mobile app:

1. Go to the post and tap on the 3 dots at the top right
2. Then tap copy link

On browser

1. Go to the post 
2. Copy the link that appears on the browser bar

Once you have the link, paste it on any of the following sites:

Here are the best sites to retrieve images from IG:

• ByClick Downloader
• iStaunch – Instagram Photo Downloader
• GramSave
• Dinsta
• DownloadGram (not linking to them since they send you through multiple ad links)
• Did I miss your tool? Message me so I can review it and add it. 

2. Use a bit of technical knowledge 

Feeling a bit technically savvy? Great, here’s how you can download your image(s).

(Following instructions are for Google Chrome but should be very similar on other browsers)

1. Go to the post you are looking to download 
2. Inspect element (you can right click on the page and then select Inspect or hit Cmd+Option+J)
3. Go to the Elements tab on the Console
4. Search for “jpg”, or “og:image” or locate the “KL4Bh” div class 
5. Copy the link under srcset, make sure you grab the entire link that should look like this
   • https://www.instagram.com/accounts/privacy\_and\_security/;
6. Paste the link in a new tab and hit enter
7. Right click on the image and hit “Save Image as…”
8. Done!

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3. Feeling lazy? Just screenshot the image

Sometimes you just want to save a screenshot to send a meme to a friend. Here’s how to take a screenshot with your device of your choosing.

On Laptop (i.e. Google Chrome):

1. Go to the post 
2. Hit Shift+Cmd+4 to trigger the screenshot tool
3. Use the tool to grab the entire image area and release 
4. The image should download on your Downloads folder

On iPhone, iPad

1. Go to the post
2. Screenshot it. (if you need further instructions, here they are depending on your device)

On Android

1. Go to the post
2. Screenshot it (instructions for android)

You can then crop the screenshot if you like. 

4. Don’t need to download them? Just bookmark them for later viewing

If you don’t want to use up your phone space, you can also bookmark your favorite posts so you can access them later. 

Here are the steps:

1. Go to the post
2. Tap the bookmark icon on the bottom right of the post 
3. Your photo is now saved
4. You can additionally tap on “Save to Collection” to further organize your bookmarks

To access your bookmarks in the future:

1. Go to your profile
2. Tap on the top right (3 horizontal bars)
3. Tap on Saved
4. From there you can further organize your bookmarks into collections

5. Need to save all your images? Download an archive from Instagram

Did you know that you can download all your Instagram profile info (posts, bio, comments, etc) directly from Instagram?

Here how you can do that.

On Browser:

1. Go to your profile on the browser version of instagram 
2. Click the gear icon next to Edit Profile (i.e. Settings)
3. Click on Privacy and Security or just follow this link 
4. On that page, under Data Download, hit request download
5. Fill your email and password and Instagram will email you your data archive once it’s ready

On the app:

1. Go to your profile
2. Tap on the top right (3 horizontal bars)
3. Tap on Settings
4. Tap on Security
5. Tap on Download Data
6. Fill your email and password and Instagram will email you your data archive once it’s ready

On either process, within 48 hours, Instagram will email you a link to a file with your photos, comments, profile information and more. (Likely it won’t take longer than 1-2 hours)

You can then use that link to download all your info and save all the posts you care about. 

Bottom line

Those are some of the best ways to download images from Instagram. If you know of any others, please tell us in the comments!

Remember that you should respect the original author’s privacy and copyrights, as well as follow Instagram’s terms of service. 

Also, let me know if you run into any issues while following any of the steps, I intend to keep this post updated. 

Other posts you should read:

• How to get the blue checkmark on Instagram (and Facebook)
• A step by step tutorial to download videos from Facebook

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The shorter version

If you’re reading this because the workflow it describes is eating your week, that’s the kind of loop I build AI agents for. Two build slots open at a time.