Tools
X (Twitter)
When a video comes past on X (formerly Twitter) and you want to keep it, there is no save button anywhere in the app. Bookmarking is an option, but the bookmark goes with the post if it is ever deleted, and none of it plays where there is no connection, so there are plenty of occasions where you want the file itself.
Search for a way to save them and the tools themselves are everywhere. When I was looking, though, a lot of them capped how long a video could be and charged money beyond that cap. The cap always seemed to bite exactly when I wanted to keep a long broadcast archive, so I ended up building my own.
This article walks through saving a video as MP4 with the X Video Downloader I built. It works the same from a PC or a phone, and it needs neither an app install nor an account.
- What you need: the URL of the post containing the video, and a browser
- What you do not need: an app install, an account, a payment, or a cap on video length
What can and cannot be saved
To set the scope straight away: what can be saved is public video, and only public video.
Type | Shape of the URL | Saved |
|---|---|---|
Video attached to a post | https://x.com/username/status/○○○ | Yes |
Live broadcast archive | https://x.com/i/broadcasts/○○○ | Yes |
Video from a private account | — | No |
Video from a deleted post | — | No |
Live broadcast (broadcast) archives are covered because wanting to watch a stream you missed is a real situation, and both kinds of URL go into the same field with no difference in how you use them.
Videos from private accounts cannot be saved
I know there is demand for saving video from locked accounts, but this is not supported, and I have no plans to support it.
Making an account private means the person posting has chosen who gets to see it, so building a mechanism that pulls it back out against that choice strikes me as wrong on principle. It is not a question of whether it is technically possible; it is a decision not to build it.
How to save a video
Download archives of X (formerly Twitter) live broadcasts and videos attached to posts as MP4. Save streams and replays you missed to your PC (Windows, Mac) or phone (iOS, Android) in high quality. Just paste a URL. No account, free.
There are only three steps: copy the URL, paste it, and press "Execute".
- Open X Video Downloader in your browser.
- Paste the URL of the post containing the video into the input field.
- Press "Execute" and the request joins the queue; once processing finishes, the "Video (mp4 format)" button becomes clickable.
The output is MP4, and the highest quality available is picked automatically, though if the original video was uploaded at low quality then that is naturally what you get.
On a PC
Use the share icon at the top right of the post and choose "Copy link to post" to put the URL on your clipboard; copying it from the browser address bar while the post is open gives you the same thing.
On a phone
Tap the share icon on the post and choose "Copy link". Both iOS and Android work straight from the browser, so there is no need to install an app for this.
Longer videos take longer
How long processing takes comes down to the length of the video and how fast the data comes back from X’s delivery network. A short video finishes while you wait, but a long live broadcast can take anywhere from tens of minutes to about an hour.
Processing runs through a queue to keep the load on the server down, so requests may be turned away if a lot of them arrive in a short window.
Each row shows "Pending", "Encoding" or "Completed", and the download button only becomes clickable on rows that have finished. Rows still encoding also show progress and an estimate of the time left, which is enough to decide whether to wait.
Finished videos are deleted from the server after 24 hours. The limit exists to keep the disk from filling up, though it also means that if someone else requests the same video within that window it can be handed over without fetching it from X again. Either way, download it promptly once it is ready.
Your request history lives in the browser’s local storage, so it survives closing the page, and you can clear entries from the list with "Delete" whenever you want.
When a video will not save
If pasting a URL does not start anything, or the job fails, the cause is usually one of the following.
Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
Rejected with an error | The URL shape is not supported. Check whether it is a post link or a broadcast link |
Starts but fails | The original post was deleted, or switched to private |
Missing from the list | Browser data was cleared. The history lives in local storage |
Cannot download | More than 24 hours passed since completion and the file was deleted |
Changes on X’s side can also make something that used to work stop working. I fix those when I notice them, but waiting a while and trying again sometimes gets it through.
What you can do afterwards
Once the MP4 is on your machine, it is yours to work with. I also run a separate set of tools that stay inside the browser, so a saved video can go straight into them.
- Pull out just the audio as MP3
- Make the file smaller
- Cut out only the part you need
- Turn it into a GIF
- Transcribe it and build subtitles
None of them send the video outside your device, so there is no upload to wait through. Loading a file straight after saving it is the fastest route, and the one I use myself.
If you want to save a Space recording
This article is about video. Saving the recorded archive of an X Space (audio broadcast) means a different tool, so see the article covering that instead. The shape of the URL you paste is different as well.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free?
It is. No account or login is required, and no cap is placed on how long a video can be.
Do I need to install an app?
No. It runs straight from the browser on iOS and Android, and works the same way on Windows and Mac.
Can I save videos from private accounts?
No. The person posting has chosen who gets to see them, so there are no plans to support it.
What format do I get?
MP4. The highest quality available is selected, but if the video was uploaded to the post at low quality, that is the quality you get.
Can I use the saved video however I like?
Watching it yourself is fine, but the video belongs to the person who posted it, so you cannot redistribute it or publish it as your own work. Treat saving as something you do to watch it privately.
Using it for anything illegal, or in a way that infringes someone else’s rights, is of course prohibited. If it is used for unauthorized reposting, resale, or spreading material to harass someone, that responsibility falls on the person who did it. I built this tool so that things worth keeping can be kept.
Processing never finishes
Long broadcast archives take time, so watch the queue status in the list and wait it out. If nothing changes after several hours, check whether the URL is one of the supported shapes.
Summary
Saving a video from X needs no app install and no account. Paste a URL, wait, and it lands on your machine as MP4.
- Videos attached to posts and live broadcast archives are both supported
- Videos from private accounts cannot be saved, and there are no plans to change that
- Longer broadcasts take longer, and finished files are deleted after 24 hours
- The saved MP4 goes straight into compression, trimming, GIF conversion or transcription
- Keep it to watching privately. Redistribution and illegal use are prohibited
Convert, compress and edit images, audio and video entirely in your browser, with AI upscaling and background removal. Free, no upload, no size limit, no sign-up.
media.tools.ryusei.io
Until June 2022, recorded archives of Twitter Spaces were deleted after a month. The specification then changed so that they are kept indefinitely, meaning that as long as the host keeps them public, they can be replayed almost permanently.
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