How to Download Facebook Data: Photos, Posts and Messages (2026)
Did you know you can download Facebook data, including all your photos, videos, posts, comments and messages, and save a copy on your computer? Facebook has kept a record of your activity since the day you joined, and it lets you download everything for free. The menus have moved into Meta’s Accounts Center, so here is how to download Facebook data step by step in 2026.
Quick answer: Go to Facebook Settings & privacy > Settings > Accounts Center > Your information and permissions > Download your information. Choose your Facebook profile, pick “All available information” or specific types, set the date range, format (HTML to browse, JSON to import elsewhere) and media quality, then create the file. Facebook notifies you when it is ready to download, usually within a few hours to a day.
Table of Contents
How to download your Facebook data
- Log in to Facebook on a computer and click your profile picture at the top right.
- Choose Settings & privacy > Settings.
- Open Accounts Center, then Your information and permissions.
- Click Download your information, then Download or transfer information.
- Select your Facebook profile (and Instagram, if linked and you want both).
- Choose Available information for everything, or Specific types of information such as just photos or messages.
- Pick Download to device, then set the date range, format (HTML or JSON) and media quality.
- Click Create files. You get a notification and email when your download is ready.
- Return to the same page, click Download, and re-enter your password. The file is available for a few days.
What is included?
- Posts, photos and videos you shared
- Comments, reactions and friends list
- Messenger conversations (end-to-end encrypted chats may need a separate download from Messenger’s secure storage)
- Profile information, groups, pages and events
- Ads information and logged activity
HTML or JSON: which format?
- HTML: open index.html in a browser and click through your data like a mini website. Best for most people.
- JSON: a data format for importing into other apps or analysing with code.
Transfer photos directly to another service
Instead of downloading, you can choose Transfer to destination and send photos, videos or posts straight to Google Photos, Dropbox and other supported services.
Keep your Facebook data safe
- The file contains private messages and personal details. Store it on an encrypted drive or in secure cloud storage.
- Do not download it on a shared computer.
- Make sure your account is secure first; see how to secure your Facebook account.
Why download your data?
- A personal backup of years of photos and memories.
- Before deleting or deactivating your account. See how to delete your online persona.
- To see what Facebook knows about you.
Back up other networks too: here is how to download all your Twitter (X) posts.
FAQ
How long does it take to download Facebook data?
Small requests can be ready in minutes; large accounts with many photos and videos can take a day or more.
Is downloading Facebook data free?
Yes, completely free.
Can I download data from a deleted Facebook account?
No. Download your information before you delete the account.
Have you downloaded your Facebook archive? Tell us what surprised you in the comments.
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Is that option still available in facebook..? I haven’t seen it …
Thanks for sharing! i was just unable to do so from past some days!but thanks to you
wow! its awesome…! will it also download the comments made me in different group activities. and the also the photos in which i’ve been tagged !
Thanks for share. I know about this, but never tried. Now have to download my Facebook data.
Oh thank you dear friend… I have just followed this guide and have downloaded all of my facebook data to my hard disk to keep it safe…:)
Glad it worked for you.
Doses anybody know if i open a new account can i upload all data on it ?
Wow, now that’s like super interesting. I recently created a Facebook page and put some good content for testing, but decided to delete it later one. I hope the archive covers Facebook pages as well.
This is one of the best options by Facebook. Thank You for this great tutorial.
yes it is really a good post, i am sharing with my friends.
Thanks For ur post .I didn’t know about this before. I will Try this………..
I did that last year. I will do it again now. Thanks for recall.
You can take any type Facebook help contact Facebook Customer Care. it’s toll free
I don’t like this facebook policy, to make copy of messages. This is not so good. but little bit interesting!
but how to delete it from fb servers?
Thank you so much for this post i was worried for this issue from last week now i got the solution
This is very much nice as it helped me to download all the data from my facebook account, its like back up my FB account!
Very informative article. Facebook is now one of our daily life. If we can save our profile data it will be great.Thanks for sharing it.
This is very useful post.Thanks for it.
Any idea if Page archives can also be downloaded?
The content is great, and it is very quick and easy to follow along. I really look forward to seeing more post like this.Thanks for sharing.
The quality and content is great, I learned a lot.Now i am download all the Facebook data.Thanks for sharing.
Good news for those who was worried about facebook data. I really got happy after seeing this post. Liked it a lot. Huge Thanks to the Author.
Hello brother, I will definitely download all the data of my facebook account. Thanks for sharing this tricks with us.
This will come in handy one of these days, I can feel it. I am one of those people who also didn’t know this so I am glad that I ran across this post. I wonder what else I don’t know about Facebook.
Face book is one of the best site for connecting people any where in world as well as to share the thoughts.
this post is really nice.I download all my face book data.
Very good post, congratulations! I did not know anything at all about that. That is great. I read somewhere once that once you post something on Facebook that is in reality Facebook’s property. It is good to know there is a way to get your stuff back on your computer.
Cheers
I dont like this facebook policy, to make copy of chat, and messages. This is not so good. :S
Its a awesome article. Facebook is now one of our daily life. If we can save our profile data it will be great.Thanks.
wow, I didn’t even know that this was possible. thanks for the tipp… probably one reason more to leave facebook if you ask me..
I recently decided to convert a profile page of one of my clients into a business page..Its really important to download Facebook data before any one implements such a change because once the conversion is done, the timeline data and other crucial data cannot be retrieved..Thanks for discussing this topic.
Last time I tried to download my FB data and I waited for about twenty minutes. I was frustrated, closed that page and forgot about that thing. :P
Now they will send you an email when it is done.
I don’t know it’s possible I download all data superb article I ill try and I’m saving my all data Thanks
Did you know you can download Facebook data with your Facebook albums, photos, videos, wall posts and messages and save on your computer. All these years, Facebook has saved your Facebook activity and will allow you to save and download all your Facebook activity for free.
Thanks for sharing! i was just unable to do so from past some days!but thanks to you