How to Save a Video from Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world. Beyond this, it is also one of the most popular websites in the world. It continually changes to provide new services to users in order to keep them engaged. Up until recently, those who wanted to share video content needed to turn to YouTube, which allowed a user to post videos of varying lengths, but now people are interested in how to save a video from Facebook, as well.

As YouTube is not only a social media platform, but also a popular search engine, Facebook wanted to compete with the video sharing feature and to maintain user traffic within Facebook. Until this point, if someone wanted to share a long video they would post it to YouTube, then share a link. This means all viewers were using YouTube and, along with it, all money through advertisements on the videos went back to YouTube. To compete with this, Facebook allowed the posting of both shared and live video.

There will be times where you view a live Facebook video and you want to save it. You might want to save a video you posted or save a video someone else posted. Either way is possible. You just need to know how to save a video from Facebook.

There are several ways you can learn how to save a video from Facebook. It depends on what platform you're using. However, there will be times where you posted a video to Facebook and you want to download the video back to your own device. After all, it is your own video, and you may wish to save it onto a mobile phone or have it for storage, just in case. Downloading a video from your own Facebook profile is no different from downloading files from someone else's profile. So this will not change.

There are a few different ways you can go about downloading the videos. The main difference will be if you want to download the content to your computer or download the content to a mobile phone. By taking advantage of these different ways on how to save a video from Facebook, you'll always have the video on hand.

Why Would You Want to Download Your Own Video?

There are several reasons you'd want to download your own videos. First, you might have live streamed the video. If you live-streamed the video, it means you didn't record the video before uploading it. It went live on Facebook. Facebook records the video and allows subscribers and followers to see the video at a later time. Since you didn't record the video first, you won't have it on your phone prior. With this feature you can download the videos from Facebook back to a computer or mobile device.

The second reason is you might have uploaded the video from your phone but no longer have the video. Maybe you lost your phone, it was damaged, or you accidently deleted the video. If you want it back, you'll be able to pull it from Facebook. That is at least one benefit of posting content up to Facebook; you're able to save the videos and access the content whenever you'd like to later on.

The last reason you may need to download your own video files is if you want to delete your Facebook account. You can temporarily disable your Facebook account, which does not delete anything, but if you need a mental break from Facebook, you're able to take advantage of this feature. Should you want to completely delete Facebook, there is an option for this.

There is also an option to download all of your personal user data. If you've been on Facebook for a while that will be a very large file, and you may have no interest in this kind of information. That is why it is better for you to download the individual video files you might want instead of downloading the massive file.

Added Download Options

When you want to download your own videos you have an extra option from Facebook. With the other options you'll download the native file as-is. However, when you download your own video, you have the option to download it as either standard definition or high definition. To do this, you'll want to right-click on your own video, then choose the SD or HD download option.

One of the easiest ways for how to save a video from Facebook is to download the content directly to your computer. This is a straight forward process and doesn't require any  special applications or features to do it. With that said, Facebook doesn't like to just give the files away, so you must use a workaround to download the content to your computer (which is simple enough.)

First, you'll want to open Facebook on your computer and navigate over to the video you want to download. Once there right-click the video (you can do this anywhere on the displayed video.) This will bring up a new pop-up menu over top the video. From here choose "Show Video URL."

This brings up a new pop-up window that will show you the URL for the video. Click on the displayed URL to highlight it, then copy the URL. You can do this by right-clicking the URL and choosing "Copy." You can also press down "CTRL" and "C" on your Windows computer or "Command" and "C" on your Mac.

Tricking Facebook

You need to trick Facebook into thinking you're viewing the video on a mobile device as it doesn't want to let you to directly download the video right out of the native Facebook website. With the copied URL open a new tab in your Internet browser and paste the copied URL.

Don't send the video request just yet (don't push "Enter.") Instead, go up to the URL. Remove the "www" portion of the URL and replaced it with an "m." So, instead of using the "www.facebook..." URL, it will look like "m.facebook...". This shows to Facebook that you are viewing the file from a mobile device.

Now, push "Enter" to bring up the new page.

When the video plays, right-click the video. A new pull-down menu will appear. Choose "Save video as," to launch a save window. Select the location you want to save the video to then click "OK." The video will now download to your computer.

You don't need to have a computer for how to save a video from Facebook. You can use your mobile device and use Android or Apple iOS for how to save a video from Facebook.

Downloading for Android

To download a video to your Android device, you must use the application "Friendly." This is a free app you can download from Google Play. Once you have downloaded the app, open up Facebook and head over to the video you want to download. Push the "Play" option and allow the video to play. While it's playing a new pop-up will appear (thanks to the Friendly application.) This pop-up will provide you with a "Download" button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Select the "Download" option and the video will download to your Android device. You'll be able to find the file in your media folder. The Friendly application will work on all Android-based devices.

Downloading For Apple iOS

As with Android, you'll want to download the free Friendly application from the App Store on your iOS device (this works for your iPhone, iPad, and an iPod Touch.)

After installing the application, open your Facebook app and select the video you want to download. Unlike with the Android application you don't need to pay the video though. You'll see a new custom button next to the "Share" feature on any post that has a video. It will have a cloud icon on it with a down arrow. Press this button.

A new download option will appear. Choose "Download Video to Camera Roll." Friendly will ask to be granted access to your photo library. Select "OK" and the video will download to your Apple iOS device. You'll just need to open your Camera Roll to view the video. This is all you need to know about how to save a video from Facebook to an Apple device.

Facebook is a great location for posting and sharing videos. There will be times where you'll want to download a video file to your computer or mobile device though. There are several ways you can do this, none of which cost you money. So if you have a video of a friend you want to keep, or want to back up files you already uploaded to Facebook, now you know how to save a video from Facebook, and you'll never again need to worry if you can protect the video and have your own personal copy.