When you take a photo or video using the Facebook app on your mobile device, or save a photo or video from Facebook to your device’s camera roll, the Facebook app will save a copy of that photo or video to your device’s internal storage. Here’s a more in-depth look at exactly where and how the Facebook app saves photos and videos.
Where on your device does the Facebook app save photos and videos?
The specific location where the Facebook app saves photos and videos on your device depends on the type of device you are using.
On iOS (iPhone/iPad)
On iOS devices like iPhones and iPads, the Facebook app saves photos and videos to the Camera Roll in your Photos app. The Camera Roll is where all photos and videos taken with your device’s camera are stored by default. When you take a photo or video within the Facebook app, or save one from Facebook to your device, it gets saved to the Camera Roll along with all your other photos and videos.
On Android
On Android devices, the Facebook app saves photos and videos to a folder called “Facebook” within your device’s internal storage or SD card. This keeps photos and videos from the Facebook app separate from ones taken with your device’s camera app.
The specific path to the Facebook folder depends on your Android device and version, but it is usually something like: Internal Storage/DCIM/Facebook or SD Card/DCIM/Facebook.
On Desktop (Mac/PC)
When using Facebook on a desktop computer, like a Mac or PC, downloaded photos and videos are saved to the Downloads folder by default. On Windows this is usually C:\Users\[Your Username]\Downloads. On Mac it is usually in Users/[Your Username]/Downloads.
How does the Facebook app save photos and videos?
When you take a new photo or video within the Facebook app, it gets saved to your device’s storage through the same system-level APIs that a regular camera app would use. This allows it to be saved directly to the Camera Roll or DCIM folder.
When you download a photo or video file that already exists on Facebook’s servers, such as someone else’s profile picture, the Facebook app downloads it through its own internal storage system before then copying it over to your Camera Roll or Downloads folder.
Photo and Video Encoding
Photos and videos taken directly within the Facebook app are saved using the same encoding and compression as your device’s built-in camera. However, photos or videos downloaded from Facebook may go through an extra encoding step to optimize them for size and performance within the app.
This means downloaded images and videos may look slightly different in quality than ones taken directly, though Facebook tries to keep compression to a minimum for downloaded media.
Metadata
Along with the media file itself, the Facebook app will save additional metadata related to the photo or video, including the date created, GPS location if available, and additional data used by Facebook.
Photos taken within Facebook will contain camera metadata like ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc. Downloaded photos contain more limited metadata.
How does Facebook sync photos and videos to its servers?
In order for photos and videos you take or save to be synced to your Facebook account and made available through Facebook’s apps and website, the Facebook app needs to upload copies from your local device storage to Facebook’s servers.
There are two main ways this syncing happens:
- Live Sync – Photos and videos are immediately uploaded in the background as soon as you take or save them. A network connection is required for live syncing.
- Batch Sync – Photos and videos are synced in batches when requested, such as when opening the Facebook app when there are unsynced items. Still requires an internet connection.
You can control syncing behavior in the Facebook app settings. By default, syncing happens only on wifi to minimize mobile data usage.
Raw vs Compressed
By default, photos and videos are uploaded at a slightly compressed quality level to save space on Facebook’s servers. However, you can enable an option in settings to upload new photos and videos in their original, uncompressed quality if preferred.
Image Resizing
Facebook resizes photos to different optimized resolutions depending on where they are being displayed. Thumbnails and previews will be smaller file sizes, while full-size views will use the original resolution.
Permissions
The Facebook app needs permission to access your device’s photo storage in order to sync photos and videos to Facebook’s servers. You have to grant this permission manually the first time you use the Facebook app’s photo features.
Does the Facebook app delete local copies of photos and videos?
By default, the Facebook app maintains the local copies of photos and videos even after syncing them to Facebook’s servers. It does not automatically delete or remove anything from your Camera Roll, DCIM folder or Downloads folder.
However, there are some cases where local files may be deleted:
- If you manually delete a photo or video within the Facebook app itself, it will delete the synced copy on Facebook’s servers and also remove the local copy from your device storage.
- If you delete the Facebook app entirely, including cleansing all app data, any photos or videos saved exclusively to the Facebook folder may be removed as well.
- In some very rare bug cases, the app may improperly delete local files when operating in an unexpected state. But generally speaking the app will not proactively purge your local photos and videos.
Managing Storage
If you are running low on storage space on your device, you may want to manually remove the local copies of photos and videos that have already been synced to Facebook, as the online versions will remain accessible. You can do this in your device’s gallery/folder system outside of the Facebook app.
Backing up and restoring Facebook photos and videos
Since the Facebook app stores an extra copy of your photos and videos on your local device, it is important to consider these files as part of your device’s data when creating backups.
Backing Up Device Data
To make sure you have backups of all photos and videos taken or saved with the Facebook app, be sure to include your Camera Roll, DCIM folder and Downloads folder when doing device backups via iTunes, iCloud, Android backup services, or backup apps.
Restoring From a Backup
If restoring data from a device backup, such as when getting a new phone, be sure to reinstall the Facebook app and sign in to your account afterwards. This will reconnect the local photo/video files and the copies synced to Facebook previously.
Individual Photo Backup
The majority of photos and videos taken within the Facebook app or saved from Facebook will also exist independently online in Facebook’s storage. However, photos taken with your device’s native camera and then uploaded may only exist locally.
Be sure to back up any photos or videos you want to preserve independently of Facebook before deleting the Facebook app or your local files. Services like Google Photos can automatically backup all device folders containing photos.
Losing local Facebook photos and videos
In unfortunate cases where you may lose access to the device folder containing Facebook’s photos and videos, such as a failed hard drive, you still have options to try to recover that media.
Recovering From Facebook’s Servers
For any photos or videos successfully synced to Facebook in the past, you can download those files again from Facebook’s servers by using the “Download Your Information” tool in Facebook Settings. This will allow you to recover all of your previously uploaded media.
Professional Data Recovery
If the local files were lost due to a storage device failure, it may be possible for professional data recovery services to reconstruct the damaged drive and regain access to the original folders and data.
Preserving Facebook photos if you deactivate your account
If you deactivate or delete your Facebook account, you will lose access to any photos or videos that were only stored on Facebook’s servers, not locally on your device.
Before deactivating your account, be sure to use Facebook’s tools to download copies of all your photos and videos to store locally or in other cloud storage like Google Photos or iCloud.
With Facebook Deactivation
When deactivating your Facebook account, you have the option to preserve a limited-access copy of your Facebook photos and videos for later download. However, access to these expires after a certain number of days, so downloading before deactivation is highly recommended.
With Facebook Deletion
If fully deleting your Facebook account, this limited-access photo archive is NOT retained. All of your Facebook photos and videos will be permanently deleted as well. So be absolutely certain to download everything beforehand.
Conclusion
To summarize, the Facebook app stores copies of your photos and videos locally on your mobile device or computer. It saves them to your native photo storage like Camera Roll or Downloads. It needs permission to access these folders and sync content.
The app does not automatically delete your local files after syncing them to Facebook. It simply acts as another destination for photos and videos alongside your device’s native apps.
Be sure to include local Facebook media folders when backing up your device. And if you deactivate or delete Facebook, download all synced photos and videos first, as the online versions will be inaccessible afterwards.