How to Back Up Your Own Facebook and Instagram Videos
Accounts get hacked, disabled by mistake, or simply abandoned. If the only copy of your videos lives on a social network, you are one login problem away from losing them. Every major platform offers an official way to export your data.
Facebook and Instagram
- Open Settings and go to Accounts Center.
- Choose Your information and permissions, then Export your information (older versions call it “Download your information”).
- Select the account, then choose between everything or specific types such as posts, Reels and stories.
- Pick a date range and set media quality to High.
- Submit the request. Meta emails you when the file is ready, which can take from a few minutes to a couple of days.
X (Twitter)
Go to Settings and privacy → Your account → Download an archive of your data. After confirming your password you receive a notification when the archive, including your media, can be downloaded.
When a single download is faster
The export gives you everything in one large archive, which is ideal for a full backup but slow if you only need one clip today. For a single public video of your own, copying its link into the Facebook or Instagram downloader takes seconds.
Storing the backup safely
- Keep two copies in different places, for example an external drive and a cloud account.
- Open a few files to confirm the backup actually works.
- Repeat the export every few months, or after any big project.
Better still: keep your originals
Platforms compress everything you upload. The file from your camera or editing app is always higher quality than what you can get back later, so save it before you post.