Nowadays Facebook has become a place where we basically live day by day. We almost routinely go live in many life situations and our Facebook accounts and fan pages. Videos sections grow big day by day. Sometimes we want to download these videos onto our home computers, or work laptops, even to the new smartphone we just purchased, to watch the old live videos and remember those events once more.
In this article we will learn how to download your videos from Facebook to back them up and enjoy any time, anywhere, free of extra data usage. Below are the 3 situations we might find ourselves in, and instructions on how to download videos from facebook for each of them.
Download your personal live facebook videos
To download your personal live Facebook video, open your Facebook page and head to the Videos section. It can be accessed via the main page menu. When in that section, click on Your Videos tab if it is not yet active. Below is a screenshot of possible layout:
Now locate the video you want to download and click on it. A special video page opens up, as a modal or popup. On that page look to the bottom right, next to the Like, Share and Comment buttons. There will be a three-dot menu icon, - click on it.
In the menu that opens up, simply select Download Video and the download starts. Please, keep in mind, downloaded video will be in the format you're watching it now, so if you need the 720p HD video (given it exists) - then first select the format by pressing the cog icon, then go into the menu and download the video. Here's an example setup screenshot:
In some situations, the download will not start and instead, the video will open up in its own page and start playing. No worries, it's a normal behavior of any browser. Simply look at the bottom right of the video window and find the download icon there. If it is not present, - right click on the video and select the download option.
Download videos from facebook fan page
The second situation we might encounter is when videos are located on our own fan page. This is a normal thing, as many of us have our own fan clubs and communities based on some special facebook (fan) pages. Downloading videos from those is also very easy. There are 2 methods really, and both are described below.
The first method is to act as if the page is simply you, and the video is under your name. You are the owner of both page and video anyways, so this just makes sense. Click on your page, then go into Videos section. Now click on any video in there, a slightly differently formatted page will show (as opposed to your personal video section described above), but it will retain same functionality - comment, like, share, and extra options. Click on the three-dot icon and enter similar menu as above, which has a Download Video option. Check it out below how this looks like for me. See how the menu is now on the right...
Again, the video will download in the format you're watching it. So if higher or lower quality is needed, simply click on the options cog on the video and select a different format. When it starts playing, initiate the download as shown above. Now, this requires going into each and every video.
It is not so with the second method we are going to try. It begins the same way, enter the Videos section of your fan page, then go to Video Library. From here you can actually go live as your Facebook page by pressing +Live button. Your can also Upload new videos here. But for now, we're simply going to concentrate on the table of videos that shows up below the menu.
Now to download any video directly from the Video Library, simply click on the table row containing the video, or mark the checkbox next to it, whatever feels right. The row will be marked. Look up and see the Actions menu right above the videos table. Click on it and in the menu that opens select Download HD Video or Download SD video, which ever you want to download. HD is usually the highest possible quality available. SD will be the lowest, or almost the lowest..
Keep in mind, facebook offers more than 2 formats, so if you're looking for "midsize" videos, it's best to download them using "first part" of this article section... Below is a possible layout of a video library with all the selections and buttons shown...
Well, this pretty much covers how to download videos that you own and have most likely posted yourself. How about the live video you did with your friends while playing some online game, and now you want the video for yourself, cause it was your friend who did it... Or maybe your favorite school fan page has released a new 1hr long local made Prom video that you're in and now you want it on your computer? We know how to get it! Check more below...
Download any publicly available facebook video
Yes, videos that are publicly available and visible without logging in to Facebook can be downloaded even if they don't belong to you, but to your friends, family, school or simply last nights live feed of your car club meetup. The video can be easily snatched from the fan page of the club. All you need is the URL address of the page that contains such video. This URL can be obtained via many different methods....
Desktop + mouse: right click on the Facebook video, in the menu that shows, select the Show Video Link option, then in the little window box that opens up, right click on the (blue) selected text and in the menu select Copy to copy the URL to clipboard.
Desktop + buttons: right click on the video, same as above, but now instead of using the mouse, simply press CTRL+A to select text if it is not selected, and then CTRL+C to copy it to clipboard. If you're on a smartphone, mobile - tap-n-hold the video, in the menu select the video link by tap-n-hold-ing the text in the box, then selecting Copy from the menu that shows up. The video URL address box i described may look as this:
From here we have 1 more step and download will begin! Now we need some Facebook Video Downloader site, and there are dozens of those. I personally like fbvid.org - it has https to make things secure, it is not burdened with ads or popups, and it works really fast.. All we do now is open this website, and in the white box in the center we enter the video URL. It can be done differently again with youtube mp4, which works with 100s of other sites...
Desktop: right click in the box with the mouse, then in the menu select Paste to paste the video URL into the box. Your can also simply click in the box and press CTRL+V to paste the URL. On mobile devices, tap-n-hold the screen in the box, then in the menu select Paste, usually the only option that shows (if the box is empty)... That's all! Now simply press Download, and on the next page see the download button show up, like on the screenshot below:
Now for HD video, you can simply Right Click on the red button, and in the menu that shows select Save Link As option. The download will start! If you want a different format, click the green cog with the number and in the menu select the format you want, including m4a audio only format. Some formats may have no sound, so always check the downloaded video for sound.
If you simply (left-) click Download HD Video button, the download may sometimes not start. It is a normal browser behavior, no worries, just act as described above in the first section when the download doesn't start and video opens in new tab.. All you need to do is right click on the video and select Download link, or look to the bottom right for the download icon there. And to avoid all this, always use right click and save the link, or CTRL+Right CLick - seems to work just fine too in most browsers.
I like this method not only because it works for all videos, but also because this is a platform independent method that doesn't require a Facebook account or anything like that. I know recently many people have dropped their Facebook accounts due to all privacy scandals.. Well, do not leave Facebook without first downloading all your (live) videos! You can do it on any device with a browser, including smartphones and game consoles... Even a fridge can help, if it has a smart panel... =)
Hopefully, you find this information useful. Have a great downloading session!
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