How to Download Threads Profile Pictures and Videos – Free Methods

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Threads has no download button. Not for profile pictures, not for photos, not for videos — on iPhone, on Android, or on the web. The post menu lets you save a post inside the app, copy its link, or share it, but the media file itself stays on Meta’s servers. So how do you actually save a Threads profile picture or a video you liked? You can — with the right method for the right thing. A profile picture tops out at 640×640 pixels and can be saved from a public profile in seconds. A video from a public post can be saved through a downloader site or a browser extension. And your own photos and videos are best recovered through Meta’s official export. This guide covers Threads profile picture download and video saving step by step, with the honest limits: what works, what does not, and what to avoid.

What Can You Actually Download from Threads?

What you want	Can you download it?	How
A profile picture (avatar)	Yes — 640×640 JPG at most	Downloader tool or page source
A video from a public post	Yes	Downloader site or browser extension
A photo from a public post	Yes	Downloader site or browser extension
Your own photos and videos	Yes — full quality	Official export (Accounts Center)
Media from a private post	No	Nothing can fetch it

The profile picture deserves a note of its own: 640×640 is the largest size Threads publishes for an avatar. Meta signs the size into the image URL, so any tool promising a 1080p profile picture is upscaling it — the extra pixels are invented, not real detail.

Method 1 – Download a Threads Profile Picture

A Threads profile picture (pfp) is the small circular avatar on a profile. Here is how to save it at full size.

1. Open the profile on Threads — in the app or at threads.net/@username in a browser.
2. Use a profile-picture downloader: enter the @username (or paste the profile link) and press download. The avatar appears as a 640×640 JPG with its own download button. No login or sign-up is needed for a public profile.
3. Save the JPG to your device.

Two things worth knowing. First, Threads keeps a profile’s picture public even when its posts are not, so entering a private account’s @username can still show the avatar — even though the post export is blocked. Second, never enter your Threads or Instagram login into a downloader site: a legitimate one only needs the username.

One example is PostCopilot’s downloader.

Method 2 – Download a Video from a Public Post

For videos (and photos) inside public posts, use a Threads downloader site or a browser extension.

1. Open the Threads post and tap Share, then “Copy link”. On a computer, copy the address from the browser bar.
2. Open a Threads downloader in your browser, paste the link, and press download. The video appears with a save button.
3. Save the file — on a phone it lands in Downloads (iPhone: Files app; Android: Downloads folder and gallery); on a computer it goes to your Downloads folder.

On a desktop browser, a Threads media downloader extension is the smoother option: it adds a download button to the profile’s Media tab (for bulk saving) and to single posts, and everything runs locally in your browser with no external service. Whichever route you take, it only works for public posts. And keep the quality expectation honest: you get the file Threads serves, which is usually the same quality as the post you watched.

For a detailed walkthrough of the official export and the iPhone/Android options, see the ghacks guide.

Method 3 – Get Your Own Photos and Videos Back (Official Export)

If the media is yours, do not use a third-party tool at all. Meta lets you export a copy of your Threads information, and it is the only official way to get your own photos and videos back at full quality.

1. In Threads, open the menu and go to Settings, then Account, and look for “Download your information”. (In Instagram, the same request lives under Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Export your information, because Threads profiles are tied to an Instagram account.)
2. Choose to export to your device, pick the format — HTML is easier to browse, JSON is better for tools — and set media quality to high.
3. Wait for the export to be prepared (it is not instant), then download it and look for your photos and videos in the media folder of the archive.

This is the right method for a backup, a move to another platform, or recovering a video you deleted from your phone. It does not work for other people’s posts — only your own.

Method 4 – Screen Recording and Screenshots (The Fallback)

When nothing else works, your device’s own tools still do.

• Video: use screen recording — on iPhone, add Screen Recording to Control Centre and start it before playing the video; on Android, use the screen recorder in Quick Settings. It is meant for personal reference.
• Profile picture or photo: take a screenshot and crop it in your photos app.

Quality is only as good as your screen, so this is a fallback, not a first choice. It is also the only built-in option on a phone, since Threads offers no download button of its own.

Why Do Some Threads Downloaders Fail?

Third-party Threads downloaders are unofficial — they are not made by Meta — and they break often. The usual reasons:

• Threads changed something. Downloaders depend on how Threads serves media, and that changes without notice. A tool that worked last month can stop working overnight.
• The post is private. Private posts cannot be fetched by any website, no matter what the tool promises.
• The link is wrong. A copied link with a tracking parameter, or a link to a profile instead of a post, can fail. Copy the link again from the post itself.
• The site is shady. Some downloader pages are covered in pop-up ads, fake download buttons, or install prompts. If a site asks you to install something, log in, or enter a code, close it.

If one downloader fails, try another — or use the official export for your own media and a screen recording for everything else.

Is It Legal to Download Threads Pictures and Videos?

Downloading for personal use — a reference, a backup of your own post, a video you want to watch offline — is normally fine. Republishing is different: the photo or video belongs to the person who posted it, and saving it does not give you the right to repost it, use it in an ad, or pass it off as yours. If you want to reuse someone’s work, ask them first. And never re-upload someone else’s profile picture as if it were you — that is impersonation, and it is exactly what the platform’s rules forbid.

Threads will probably never add a download button, but you do not need one for most jobs: a public profile picture saves at 640×640 in seconds, a public video saves through a downloader or an extension, and your own media comes back through the official export. Keep the two rules in mind: public posts only, and never hand your login to a downloader site. The same idea applies on other apps too — see our guides on WhatsApp profile pictures and Instagram thumbnails for the equivalent steps there. For more free online tools, browse the full collection on our tools page.