To download a copy of your Facebook data, open Accounts Center, go to Your information and permissions, choose Download your information, and request a download of the profile you want. Meta builds an archive in the background, emails you when it is ready, and holds the file for a limited window before deleting it. The two choices that matter most are the format, HTML if you want to browse it or JSON if you want to process it, and the date range, because “All time” on an old account can run to several gigabytes.
Below is the full path, what the two formats actually give you, what the archive leaves out, how to send a copy straight to another service instead of downloading it, and how to handle the failures people hit most often.
Where the download tool lives
Meta consolidated data controls for Facebook, Instagram and Messenger into Accounts Center, so the tool is no longer buried in Facebook’s own settings tree. On desktop, click your profile picture, choose Settings & privacy, then Settings. In the left rail, open Accounts Center. Inside Accounts Center, choose Your information and permissions, then Download your information.
On the mobile app the route is the same after you reach the menu: tap the hamburger or profile icon, then Settings & privacy > Settings > Accounts Center > Your information and permissions > Download your information.
You can also go directly to accountscenter.facebook.com/info_and_permissions, which skips the menu hunting entirely. Bookmark that if you export regularly.
Setting up the request
After you choose Download your information, Facebook asks which account the export covers, since Accounts Center can hold a Facebook profile, an Instagram account and more. Pick one, then decide between downloading all available information or selecting specific types.
Selecting types is worth the extra minute. If you only want your photos, or only your posts, or only your Messenger history, the archive drops from gigabytes to megabytes and finishes in minutes instead of hours.
Then set three options:
| Option | Choices | Pick this when |
|---|---|---|
| Date range | All time, or a custom start and end date | Narrow it unless you genuinely need the whole history. Custom ranges finish far faster. |
| Format | HTML or JSON | HTML to read it in a browser. JSON to search, script or import it elsewhere. |
| Media quality | Low, medium or high | High if the archive is your only copy of old photos. Low if you just want the text record. |
Media quality is the biggest lever on file size. A decade of photos at high quality can be many gigabytes. The same archive at low quality is a fraction of that, but the images are recompressed, so do not treat a low quality export as a photo backup.
HTML or JSON: which format to choose
HTML produces a folder of linked pages you open in a browser, starting from an index file. It is readable immediately and needs no tools. It is a poor choice if you plan to search across thousands of messages or feed the data into anything else, because the markup is inconsistent and the pages are heavy.
JSON produces machine readable files, one set per category, with predictable keys. Use it when you want to grep for a name, count posts by year, load messages into a database, or migrate content to another platform. One quirk to know: text in the JSON export has historically been encoded in a way that renders accented characters and emoji incorrectly unless you decode it as UTF-8 after reading it as Latin 1. If names look garbled, that encoding step is the fix, not a corrupted download.
Both formats contain the same underlying content. You can request one now and the other later without losing anything.
What the archive includes and what it leaves out
The export is comprehensive on your own activity and thin on other people’s. Expect to find your posts, comments, reactions, photos and videos you uploaded, Stories, your profile information, your friends list, groups and Pages you follow, events, Marketplace activity, search history, ads topics and advertisers who uploaded a list containing your contact information, login activity, and Messenger conversations.
What it does not include: other people’s posts that merely mention you, content posted in groups by others, messages other people deleted from their side, and the internal inferences Meta draws about you that are not surfaced as a user visible setting. Photos you were tagged in but did not upload are generally not part of your media export either.
If the reason you are exporting is that something looks wrong on the account, pull the archive first and then work the security checklist in our guide to recovering a hacked Facebook account. The login activity in the export is useful evidence of when a strange session started.
Transferring a copy instead of downloading it
Alongside the download option, Accounts Center offers Transfer a copy of your information. That sends selected categories directly to a supported third party service without the archive ever touching your device. The list of destinations changes over time and has included cloud storage and photo services, so check what is offered when you open the flow.
Before you export, it is worth tightening what the account shows publicly, since the archive reflects your current settings: our notes on hiding your friends list on Facebook and on turning off Facebook notifications cover the two controls people usually revisit at the same time. Transfers are handy for photos and videos when your laptop does not have the free space for a multi gigabyte zip. They are less useful for posts and messages, since the receiving service usually stores them as generic files rather than something you can browse.
Downloading the file and how long you have
When the archive is ready, Meta sends a notification and an email. Return to Download your information and open the Available downloads tab. Facebook asks for your password again before it releases the file, which is deliberate: anyone who walks up to an unlocked session should not be able to take your entire history.
Archives are available for a limited period, on the order of a few days, and then Meta deletes them. If you miss the window, request a new one. Large exports are split into multiple numbered zip files. Download all of them into the same folder and extract them together, because a single part on its own will not open correctly.
Troubleshooting
The request has been pending for days. Very large all time exports at high media quality can take a long time. Cancel it, then request a narrower date range or fewer categories. Several small archives beat one that never finishes.
The download link fails partway through. Browser downloads of multi gigabyte files are fragile. Use a wired connection, avoid sleeping the machine, and retry the specific part that failed rather than starting the whole set again.
The zip will not extract. Either a part is missing or a part is truncated. Compare the file sizes against what the Available downloads tab lists, redownload anything that looks short, and keep every part in one folder before extracting.
Names and emoji look like nonsense in the JSON. That is the encoding quirk described above. Read the bytes, then decode as UTF-8. In Python, s.encode('latin-1').decode('utf-8') repairs most strings.
A category you expected is empty. Either you did not select it, the date range excluded it, or the data genuinely is not part of the export. Rerun with all time and all categories for that one item before concluding it is missing.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the export take?
A narrow request with a few categories can be ready in minutes. An all time archive with high quality media on an account that is over a decade old can take many hours or longer. Meta gives no promised time, so narrow the request if you need it soon.
Does downloading my data delete anything from Facebook?
No. The export is a copy. Your posts, photos and messages stay exactly where they are. If deletion is the goal, that is a separate flow in Accounts Center, and you should download the archive first so you keep a record.
Can I download data for a Page I manage?
Page content is handled separately from personal profile data. Page exports and insights come from Meta Business Suite, not from Accounts Center, and the available fields differ. Your personal archive only covers your own account activity.
Is Messenger history included?
Yes, if you select the messages category. You get your side of every conversation you have not deleted, including attachments depending on the media quality you chose. Messages the other person deleted from their own account may not appear.
Can I request a download without a password?
No. Meta requires a password confirmation before releasing the file, and on accounts with two factor authentication you may be asked for a second factor too. That is a security feature, not a bug, given what the archive contains.
The bottom line
Downloading your Facebook data is a short request in Accounts Center, but the settings decide whether you end up with something useful. Choose JSON when you plan to work with the data, HTML when you just want to read it, and narrow the date range unless you truly need everything.
Grab the archive within the few day availability window, keep every part of a split zip together, and store the result somewhere encrypted. Then treat the export as a periodic habit rather than a one time panic move, because the copy you already have is the one that helps when an account goes wrong.
