Save the Viral Tweets: How to Download Twitter Videos

You might not think that Twitter is synonymous with video. It’s all a bunch of pithy text, right? Not quite: 2 billion videos are viewed daily on the service, according to Twitter(Opens in a new window). Much of this is advertising, of course, but it’s strayed a long way from the old limit of 140 characters.

Whether or not Elon Musk is forced to buy Twitter, the service is unlikely to disappear anytime soon and video usage on the platform will only increase.

You probably saw a video on Twitter that you wanted to save to watch offline, much like you can on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. You have your reasons; We trust that you are not violating any copyright or Twitter Terms of Service. Here is how you can download these clips.

The problem with Twitter is that unlike images, you can’t just right-click (on the desktop) or long-click (on the mobile apps) to save videos you see on Twitter. You have to use third party software or apps, helper websites or browser extensions to get what you want. As a bonus, these steps usually work for downloading animated GIFs from Twitter too.

(Image credit: PCMag)

The first step is to get the address of the video. In most cases, you will need this URL to paste it and start the download process. Right-click on the Twitter video itself and select it Copy video address, which captures the same URL you get when you click the tweet itself. Paste this into the software or help pages below.

---

desktop software

The most powerful tools for downloading videos from the Internet, including Twitter, tend to be dedicated desktop software. They’re especially useful when you download a lot of videos in bulk, but to avoid limitations, you’ll probably have to pay for them.

Among the best that work with Twitter is VideoProc converter(Opens in a new window) ($25.95 for 1 year/3 PCs at launch; Windows or macOS). It’s also one of our top YouTube download recommendations — if you pay for it, it works with over 1,000 sites that show videos. Once you’ve pasted the “Analyze” URL, you can add a video, GIF, or even a live(Opens in a new window) from Twitter in MP4 or other formats.

(Image credit: VideoProc)

You might assume that other previously recommended video downloaders, like our favorite for YouTube called 4K Video Downloader, would also get videos from Twitter. 4KVD but not. So check the specs or try a free version with twitter video urls before buying desktop software. Other programs that say they support Twitter videos are Videoder(Opens in a new window) and SnapDownloader(Opens in a new window).

---

helper pages

There are many websites that make downloading videos a breeze. They also easily become a playground full of annoying ad traps – buttons in the ads that look like you’re getting a downloaded video, but that’s not the download the ads offer. Be careful where you click on help pages.

A few are specifically geared towards downloading Twitter videos. The cleanest seems to be Downloader4twitter.com(Opens in a new window)which has no advertising.

SaveTweetVid(Opens in a new window) has a fairly uncluttered interface, despite the ads, and a few extras in addition to storing videos – it offers a QR code on the download page that you can scan with your mobile device to complete the download on your phone or tablet, as well as a Button for this sends the high-end version of the video directly to Dropbox. Some, but not all, video downloads on SaveTweetVid also offer an option to download directly as plain MP3 audio.

Other decent looking help sites you can try are TWSaver(Opens in a new window), SSSTwitter(Opens in a new window)and TWDown.net(Opens in a new window) (companion to champion facebook video downloader FDown.net).

Advertising traps aside, remember that these sites come and go with the wind. Don’t be surprised if the above links stop working overnight. On the other hand, they grab videos straight from Twitter’s servers, so you get them unadulterated and without watermarks. Helper sites also have the added feature that they work quite well on mobile devices. More on that below.

---

Browser Extensions

If you hate the idea of ​​cutting and pasting an entire URL, then a browser extension that puts the download options on your toolbar or on the page itself might be the way to go. In fact, many of the sites mentioned above, like SSSwitter, have a companion extension(Opens in a new window)usually for the Chrome browser.

The Chrome Web Store is littered with extensions, many with mediocre reviews from very few users, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. The one extension we can recommend – we’ve done it for YouTube downloaders before – is Video DownloadHelper(Opens in a new window). It not only downloads from multiple sites(Opens in a new window)it also offers extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

---

Mobile options

Maybe you want a Twitter video saved right in your photo collection on your phone or tablet. As we mentioned earlier, the easiest way to do this is to use a help site like the one above. However, to get the video URL, you need to fetch the tweet you want and find the share button underneath it – it looks like a box with an arrow shooting out of it. Choose copy link. Then you need to paste something into the help page that you open in the mobile browser.

(Image credit: PCMag)

On iOS, With the sandboxing that the operating system performs between apps, the downloads are not always saved correctly. It’s a security feature, not a bug. Try installing a file management app that you can save to, e.g. B. Documents(Opens in a new window). You can also try to paste the URL into the AnySave app(Opens in a new window).

A cool way to download on iOS is to use Shortcuts app. You need to install a shortcut code on it for this to work. Visit tvdl.app(Opens in a new window) in your Safari browser and click the Get the shortcut button to get the code. Give it permission to appear in your sharesheet – this is the page that appears when you click a share button in iOS. After that, click the Share button under any video in the mobile version of Twitter and you’ll be taken through several steps including options to download the video in different sizes. (You may also be prompted to open PayPal to make a donation).

Say yes to everything (except the donation if you’re not willing to raise cash) and the video will be sent to your Photos app (camera roll). Note that it may not appear as if it exists since the shortcut downloads the video with the creation date intact. You may have to search through the photos/videos to find them. Keep the link updated as they are released or they may stop working.

On Android, of course, things are simpler. The helper download websites should work just fine. There are also recent apps for downloading videos from Twitter, like the aptly named Downloader for Twitter(Opens in a new window) (of which there are several imitators). As with the help sites, cut and paste the URL of the video or animated GIF. Like the websites, even such a highly rated app is completely ad-ridden and confusing. But at least it’s free.