How to download an Instagram video?

Go to Instagram, go to the video you want to download, then click on the three dots in the top right corner.

Click on “copy link“

Download Instagram videos

It’s very simple. paste a link of an Instagram video (or even photo) in the text field, and then click “start”. Then you will come to a screen that says “download and” if you click on it, you will automatically download the video (or photo).

Instagram is a popular video & image-sharing social media platform owned by Facebook. With more than a billion accounts, Instagram has made its way into the hands of almost every smartphone user. Instagram provides a common ground for celebrities, musicians, athletes, social media stars, and photographers to share & connect with their fans. It also serves as a marketplace for small to large businesses, organizations, tech firms, and marketing agencies. In 2021, Instagram has become a byword and everyone from casuals to professionals and teen to adults are a part of this community.

Can we download Instagram videos?

Instagram is filled with fun and creative videos that make our day. Users upload a wide range of videos of different categories such as entertainment, education, religion, motivation, or tutorials. You can easily surf Instagram and watch your favorite videos online. However, what if one wants to save a certain video on its device?

Why download Instagram videos?

Sometimes we come across a random video on Instagram that we enjoy watching. We want to download that video on our devices to watch it later. Or maybe we wish to dedicate a video to a friend that doesn’t use Instagram. Also, we often want to share a video from Instagram to other social media applications like Whatsapp, YouTube, or TikTok. In all the above scenarios, doing so is not possible without downloading that video first. However, Instagram doesn’t allow downloading private or public videos on its platform. 

Why can’t we download Instagram videos on the app?

One might wonder, why would a world-popular social media application bar its users from downloading videos. It comes as a big inconvenience that we can’t download our favorite videos on Instagram. Shouldn’t user comfort be the main concern for such big tech giants?

Well, it turns out that there are certainly good reasons why Instagram doesn’t allow downloading videos. The first main concern is privacy as otherwise, everyone would have the freedom to download any video they come across. One can further misuse or steal the contents of the video. 

Secondly, if Instagram allows downloading video from their sites, it would put a huge burden on their servers that would result in lags and slow response on the user’s end. Downloading videos will engage the servers more and hence increase the cost. 

How to download Instagram videos

However, this is not the end of the story just yet. You can still download & watch Instagram videos by alternate methods. Below is the explanation of each method you can adopt to get your favorite Instagram videos downloaded on your device. 

1. Download Instagram video from related websites 

The quickest and simplest way to download Instagram videos is by making use of many unofficial websites offering this service. Simply open a browser on your PC or smartphone and search “download Instagram videos” and your display will be bombarded with numerous results. How these websites work is quite simple. All you need to do is head over to the Instagram video you wish to download. Copy the URL address of that video and paste it in the search bar of that website. Hit ENTER and the website will first search for the video and display its name when found. It will then ask for you to confirm whether this is the video you wish to download. Hit the download and voila! Your Instagram video will begin downloading and it will be automatically saved in your device’s storage.  

2. Use third-party video downloader software

For PC users, downloading Instagram is a breeze when using third-party video downloader software. Such software can easily be downloaded from the internet. Again, search “Instagram video downloader” in the search bar of your browser. The results will display a lot of websites from where you can download such software. Note that the software doesn’t need to be named strictly as ‘Instagram video downloader’ or something related. It can have different names according to its brand or developing company.

After downloading, install the software and you are good to go. The rest of the story is the same. Copy & paste the URL address of the Instagram video in the search bar and the software will get your video downloaded. Such video downloader software is not usually limited to downloading videos from Instagram only. They can do the same for other social media platforms such as Facebook. 

3. Save personal Instagram videos

It seems as Instagram finally has something to offer when it comes to downloading videos. However, this perk is limited to only your videos that you upload on your profile or story. After you are done making & uploading the video, Instagram gives you an option to save the very video you just created. 

As you create the video using your device’s camera, a save button appears on the extreme top-center of the screen. Before uploading the video you created, you can tap the button the save it on your device. Let it be clear that this option is only for the videos you created on your device, you still cannot download videos uploaded by other users on Instagram. 

Even after you have uploaded the video to your profile or story, you can still save it. Go to your story or profile & view the video. On the lower-right corner, click on the ‘more options’ symbol depicted by three dots (…).

Clicking on this symbol will display you a bunch of different options among which there’ll be a ‘save’ button. Simply hit the save option and the video will be downloaded. 

4. Capture Instagram video by screen recording

If indulging in third-party software and websites is not your thing, you can try another clever way of obtaining the video you need so badly. Instagram has no restriction on-screen recording videos and photos. For those who find this term alien, screen recorder applications let you capture a video of whatever is on the screen of the device it is operating on. Most of the smartphones, either android or iPhone, already have a pre-installed screen recording application. You can access it from the top-down menu or search for it in the setting>application manager>all apps.

If your phone lacks a built-in application, you can download one from any app store. Simply search for ‘screen recorder’ on either app store and download any application that seems feasible. You can also get an “apk” file of the screen recorder application from any browser. 

Once installed, using a screen recorder is as simple as starting and pausing the recorder with few clicks. Simply run the Instagram video you wish to record and turn on the screen recorder. The footage of the whole screen will be saved to your phone. This tactic might seem a bit funny as Instagram doesn’t allow taking a screenshot of some private pictures and videos. However, with a screen recorder, you can first record a video and then take a screenshot from there. 

5. Use a third-party app

Just like we used an Instagram video downloader software for PC, for smartphones we can use any related app from the store to download Instagram videos. The process is the same; install an app, paste the URL, and download the video.

Download Instagram video on iPhone

The reason why downloading Instagram videos on iPhone can be a little tricky is that iPhone doesn’t have access to some related apps that we found on the Google play store. As you might know, iPhone has its app store by the name of Apple store. However, the Apple store lacks some of the Instagram video downloader apps available on the play store.

Secondly, iPhones usually come with certain security restrictions as well. However, that shouldn’t prevent us from downloading Instagram videos on our iPhone.

You can get your video saved into your iPhone by following any of the methods mentioned above. The process of doing so might differ a bit, however. Apple store hasn’t accommodated some third-party apps for downloading Instagram videos. Instead. A better way of downloading the video on iPhone is using a web browser-based video downloader. No, I’m not talking about the websites available on the internet. Apple store has some cool web browsers that can easily download Instagram videos on iPhone. All you need is to paste the video URL on the search bar and hit download. You’ll get another option asking to export the video to the camera roll to which you say yes.

If that doesn’t work for you, any other options such as a screen recorder, Instagram video downloader app, or a website is a fine alternative. 

How to download private Instagram videos

Now comes the tricky part; can we download private Instagram videos? By private, we mean videos uploaded by those users who have a strict privacy policy and have restricted their content only to themselves or their friends. So, even if you can view a private video, you can’t necessarily download it by using any of the above-mentioned methods. If you try to do so, the software/website will show an error saying that the video is private and hence, it can’t be downloaded. 

However, there is a way around this hurdle as well. Before going forward, it is important to mention that respecting each other’s privacy is important to keep our community safe. It’s best not to obtain content that others consider private. Even if you already have your hands on it, don’t misuse it in any way. Cybercrimes are increasing day by day and are punishable following the law no matter which country you live in. 

However, you can still download the Instagram video you are hell-bent on obtaining. The process of doing so is a bit complex though. 

In your browser, search for ‘private Instagram video downloader and it will display a bunch of websites offering this service. Go ahead and open any one of them. The step-by-step process will be mentioned there as well but let me summarize it for you. 

• Copy & paste the URL of the video on the search bar of the website and hit ENTER. 
• Doing so will generate another link in the bar below. Again, copy that link and run it in the search bar of your BROWSER. 
• As a result, the browser will open another webpage where a bunch of code is written. 
• Copy that code and head back to the website again. Now, there will be an additional bar asking for the code you just copied. 
• Paste the code in that bar and it will download the private Instagram video that you wanted. 

You might find alternate methods on the internet as well but this is the most common of them all. Again, make sure not to invade too much of someone’s privacy, or else who knows, the FBI might come looking for you (pun intended).

How to download an Instagram video in HD

Unfortunately, no magic would let us download all our desired videos in HD quality. The quality of the Instagram video you are downloading depends all upon the quality of the original video. If the video already had specs, I’m afraid you can’t download it in better quality. 

However, if the original video was actually in HD quality then the app or website you are using might give you an option to download that Instagram video either in low quality or HD quality. 

Final words

Downloading Instagram videos is not as complicated as one might think. Or, at least after going through this article, hopefully, you’ll have all figured it out. You can opt for any of the below methods that you find feasible. 

• Download  Instagram video from related websites
• Use third-party video downloader software
• Save personal Instagram videos
• Capture Instagram video by screen recording
• Use third-party app