How to Save Instagram Videos

Any device, anywhere — keep that video to watch later

Updated on August 05, 2020

Although Instagram is known for its user-shared photos, videos are a big part of the social media service's content. In some cases, you may want to keep an Instagram video to watch later or store it on your computer or mobile device for posterity. Here's how to save Instagram videos.

How to Save Your Instagram Stories

Downloading and storing stories or videos you previously uploaded or created on Instagram can be done by taking the following steps.

Instagram currently does not allow you to save your Instagram video posts as standalone video files. To do that, you need a third-party app. You can retrieve videos using the browser workaround described in the next section.

Open the Instagram app.
Open the story you'd like to save.
Select More, the three dots located in the lower-right corner.
Tap Save.
Choose Save Story.

To save the photo without the text or effects you added to it, tap Save Photo.

How to Save Another User's Instagram Videos

While it can be useful to retrieve your Instagram stories, you may want to download videos shared by others. On a Mac or PC, this can be done in the web-based version of Instagram. On Android and iOS devices, you'll need a third-party app or the workaround described below.

Save Videos From Instagram to Your Computer

Open a web browser and navigate to the page containing the Instagram video that you would like to download.
Right-click anywhere on the page outside of the video post.
When the context menu appears, select View Page Source or Inspect Element. This option varies based on the browser.
A new tab appears that displays the source code for the page. To open the browser's Find field, press Ctrl+F (on Windows) or Command+F (on macOS).
When the search field appears, enter .mp4.
Several results are highlighted, each accompanied by a complete URL. Copy the first URL.

Depending on the browser, you may need to select the URL to open it in a new tab or window.
Open a new tab and paste the copied URL into the address bar. Then, press Enter.
The video loads in a standalone player. Right-click anywhere within the video window and select Download Video or Save Video.

To rename the file before you download it, select Download Video As or Save Video As.
You can now specify the filename and location where you want to store the MP4 video file on your computer.

Save Videos From Instagram to Your Phone or Tablet

Android and iOS users may have the option to save other users' Instagram videos to their device's camera roll. However, this must be done through a third-party app. The majority of these apps do not deliver as promised, and many include malware or other unwanted software.

If you want to save an Instagram video and transfer it to your smartphone or tablet, download it on a computer using the instructions above. Then, transfer it to your device through email or another sharing method.