Facebook has no download button on other people’s videos, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight. What it does give you is a complete export of your own content, and a Save feature for watching things again later. Those two cover almost every legitimate reason to want a video off Facebook — and they cost you nothing, unlike the download sites that fill the search results.
Downloading your own videos
Anything you uploaded is yours to take back, in full quality, through Facebook’s own export tool.
1. Open Settings and privacy, then Settings.
2. Find Download your information.
3. Deselect everything except Posts or Videos — the list is long and you rarely want all of it.
4. Choose High media quality, pick a date range, and request the file.
5. Wait for the notification, then download the archive and open it.
The archive contains your original uploads rather than the compressed versions the feed plays, which matters if you are recovering footage you no longer have elsewhere. Requests can take anything from minutes to a day depending on how much you have asked for, which is why narrowing the selection is worth the extra thirty seconds.
Saving a video to watch later
If the aim is simply to find it again, use Save video from the three-dot menu on the post. Saved items collect under Saved in the menu, they stay there indefinitely, and the original poster is not told. This is what most people actually want when they go looking for a downloader — a way back to the video, not a file.
The limitation is that a saved video still needs a connection to play, and it disappears if the person who posted it deletes it or narrows their audience.
Why the download sites are a poor trade
This article used to recommend one of them. That recommendation is gone, and the reasoning is worth setting out.
These sites make money from the advertising wrapped around the download, and that advertising is frequently the least controlled on the web — fake download buttons, pages that push browser notification permissions, and installers dressed up as codecs. You are handing a page you know nothing about a URL and then clicking whatever it puts in front of you, which is the exact pattern most malware relies on.
There is also the question of what you are downloading. A video posted by someone else is their work. Saving a friend’s clip for yourself is a different act from redistributing it, but Facebook’s terms do not distinguish by intent, and reposting someone’s video without permission is a copyright matter regardless of which tool produced the file.
The practical middle ground for personal reference is your phone’s built-in screen recorder. It captures what you can already see, produces a lower-quality file, and involves no third party at all.
If you need a video someone else posted
Ask them. It sounds glib, but a message asking someone to send you the original takes less time than finding a working downloader, and it produces a better file than any capture. For a business asking to reuse a customer’s video, written permission is worth having anyway.
Frequently asked questions
Does Facebook have a download button for videos?
Not for other people’s videos. Your own content is available through Download your information, and any video can be kept for later using Save video.
Can I download a Facebook video in original quality?
Only your own, through the export tool with media quality set to High. Anything played in the feed has already been compressed.
Are Facebook video downloader sites safe?
Generally not. They rely on aggressive advertising, commonly serve fake download buttons and notification prompts, and give you no way to know what the file actually is.
Is it illegal to download someone else’s Facebook video?
Downloading for personal viewing sits in a grey area and breaches Facebook’s terms. Republishing someone else’s video without permission is a straightforward copyright issue.
Does the person know if I save or download their video?
No. Neither saving nor downloading produces any notification.
How long does Download your information take?
Anywhere from a few minutes to about a day, depending on how much you requested. Selecting only Videos or Posts makes it considerably faster.
Related reading
The same export tool is worth knowing about before deactivating or deleting a Facebook account, and protecting yourself from cybersecurity threats covers the download-site risk more generally.
1 Comment
Cool App, but I tried Torch browser with FB few days ago and it was awesome, much more simple and fast. If someone is interested in downloading FB videos you should definitely give it a shot.