Transferring photos from Facebook to your computer is a common task that many users want to do. There are a few different ways to download Facebook photos, depending on your preferences and needs.
Why Download Facebook Photos?
Here are some of the main reasons you may want to save Facebook photos to your computer or device:
- To have a backup of your photos in case they are ever deleted from Facebook
- To edit or print the photos using image editing software
- To save storage space on your Facebook account
- To preserve important memories or events
- To use the photos in other projects or share them in other ways
Downloading your Facebook photos gives you more control over your images and ensures you will still have copies if they are ever removed from your Facebook profile for any reason.
Method 1: Download Facebook Photos on Computer
One of the easiest ways to save Facebook photos is to use your computer browser to manually download albums or images from the Facebook website.
Here are step-by-step instructions for downloading Facebook photos on a computer:
- Go to www.facebook.com and log into your Facebook account.
- Navigate to the album or image you want to download. For a single photo, you can often right-click on the image and choose “Save As” to download just that photo.
- To download an entire album, click on the album title or cover photo. Then click the 3-dot menu in the upper right and choose “Download Album.”
- This will open a pop-up window showing all the photos in that album. Click the blue “Download” button at the top of the window.
- Choose if you want to download the Original, Medium or Small file size options. The original will be the highest quality.
- Pick a download location on your computer to save the zip file to. The photos will be downloaded in a zip folder to make it easy to save them all at once.
- Once the download is complete, unzip the folder and you will have all your Facebook photos saved to your computer!
This manual method works great for one-time downloads. However, it can get tedious if you want to regularly backup your Facebook photos.
Method 2: Use Facebook Tools to Download Photos
Facebook also offers some built-in tools to make it easier to export all your Facebook photos.
Here are two options for using Facebook’s own tools:
Option 1: Facebook Photos Archive
The Facebook Photos Archive lets you download your entire photo library all at once. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings
- Click on “Your Facebook Information” in the left menu
- Select “Download Your Information” and click “View” to customize your archive
- Make sure Photos and Videos is checked under the “Your Information” section
- Click “Create File” to start generating your archive
- You’ll get an email when your archive file is ready to download (usually within 24 hours)
- Download the file from the link in the email and unzip it to access your photos
This gives you one neat package with all your Facebook photos included. But it takes some time to compile and is a fairly large download.
Option 2: Facebook Save Photos Chrome Extension
If you use Google Chrome, the Facebook Save Photos extension makes it easy to regularly export your latest Facebook photos.
To use it:
- Get the Facebook Save Photos Chrome extension
- Add it to Chrome and click the puzzle icon to pin it
- When viewing a photo on Facebook, click the extension icon to save the image
- Click “Export” in the extension to download all your saved photos
This gives you an easy way to grab your latest Facebook pictures whenever you need them.
Method 3: Use Third-Party Apps to Download from Facebook
In addition to Facebook’s own tools, there are many third-party apps that make it easy to download and backup photos from Facebook.
Here are some of the best third-party Facebook photo downloader apps:
4K Download
4K Download is a premium software specifically focused on downloading videos and photos from Facebook. The $15 photo downloading tool lets you download all your Facebook albums with one click or schedule regular backups.
Koofr
Koofr is a cloud storage service that offers a neat Facebook backup feature. You can connect your Facebook account and copy all your photos to Koofr cloud storage with the click of a button.
SaveFrom.net Helper
SaveFrom.net Helper is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that adds a download button to Facebook photos and videos. Just click the button on any image to save it.
Social Share
Social Share is an open source program for Windows, Mac and Linux that can download albums from Facebook. It allows filtering photos and regex search queries.
These apps provide user-friendly interfaces and scheduling options to make downloading Facebook photos a breeze. The premium options like 4K Download offer the most robust feature sets.
How to Download Specific Facebook Photos
If you don’t want to download your entire Facebook photo library, here are some tips for downloading specific photos from Facebook:
- Go to that photo on Facebook and right-click > Save As to download just that image.
- Go to that photo album and click the 3-dots > Download Album to get just those photos.
- Use the SaveFrom.net Helper browser extension to cherry pick certain photos.
- Use 4K Download to pick and choose albums or date ranges to selectively download.
This lets you grab just the Facebook photos you want without getting everything. Useful if you just need certain profile pictures, albums from an event or trip, or photos of friends and family.
How to Download Facebook Photos to Your Phone
You don’t have to use your desktop computer to download and save photos from Facebook. Here are some options for getting Facebook photos on your iPhone, Android or other smartphone:
Use the Facebook App
The official Facebook mobile app for iOS and Android lets you save photos. Open a photo, click the 3-dot menu button, and choose “Save Photo.” You can access it in your device’s Photos storage afterwards.
Save Photos from the Mobile Website
Open www.facebook.com in your device’s browser, navigate to the photo, touch and hold on it, then choose “Download image.” It will save to your device’s Downloads folder.
Use a Third-Party Facebook Downloader App
Apps like 4K Download offer iOS and Android versions with the ability to login to Facebook and download albums right to your device. This gives you all the features of the desktop apps in an easy mobile package.
Connect Your Device to a Computer
Lastly, you can use the computer methods above to download the Facebook photos first, then transfer them to your mobile device later using a USB connection, cloud storage, etc.
How to Download Facebook Videos
In addition to photos, you may also want to download videos you’ve uploaded or shared on Facebook. The process is very similar:
- Right-click the video and choose Save Video As to download the MP4 file.
- Use the Facebook Save Photos Chrome extension to save videos.
- Use the Facebook Photos Archive or 4K Download to export your full video library.
The same principles apply for downloading single videos or your entire collection from Facebook to your computer or device.
Important Things to Know When Downloading Facebook Photos
Here are some important tips, limitations and factors to be aware of when downloading your Facebook photos:
- Downloaded photos may be lower resolution than the originals uploaded to Facebook for space savings.
- Private photos shared just with friends may not download unless your account owns the photos.
- Videos may download without sound or need to be merged with the audio file.
- Albums with over 1000 photos will be split into multiple zip files.
- Facebook’s terms technically prohibit bulk downloading other user’s photos.
- Use authorized apps instead of automated scraping tools to avoid bans.
So in summary:
- Focus on downloading your own uploaded photos to avoid issues.
- Stick to official tools like the Facebook archive downloader versus unofficial scrapers.
- Don’t share or redistribute other user’s photos without permission.
Following these best practices helps ensure you stay within Facebook’s rules while downloading your own memories and photos.
How Much Time Do Facebook Photo Downloads Take?
The time it takes to download your Facebook photos depends on a few key factors:
- Number of photos – More photos means longer downloads.
- Connection speed – Faster internet speeds will be much quicker.
- Tools used – Browser versus API-based tools greatly affects speed.
- File sizes – Downloading original quality takes longer.
As a general guideline for an average user:
- A few photos: Just seconds per photo using the browser.
- One album: Up to a couple minutes for 50-100 photos.
- Entire library: From minutes to hours depending on photo count and app used.
Apps like 4K Download that leverage the Facebook API are significantly faster than the Browser Archive method. But your connection speed is still the biggest factor influencing download times.
| Number of Photos | Estimated Download Time Range |
|---|---|
| 0 – 500 | 1 – 10 minutes |
| 500 – 2000 | 10 – 30 minutes |
| 2000 – 5000 | 30 min – 2 hours |
As you can see from the table, downloads for a few hundred photos will just take minutes. But many thousands of photos could run over an hour depending on your connection.
Conclusion
Downloading your Facebook photos to your computer, phone or other device gives you a backup of your memories while freeing up space on your Facebook account.
The easiest manual way is just to right click and “Save As” on the Facebook website. But for regular backups, the Facebook archive tool or third-party apps provide the most features and efficiency.
Focus on downloading your own uploaded photos rather than grabbing other user’s content without permission. And be aware of the limitations around download quality and private photos when exporting from Facebook.
Following these best practices allows you to securely save your Facebook images so you always have access to those memories, regardless of what happens to your account.