How to Download Facebook Videos For Free

Using an Online Downloader

Go to the Facebook video you want to download. Because Facebook is always changing their code to block online downloaders, it's difficult to find an online downloader that still works. As of October 2021, FB Video Downloader is the best option for downloading videos from Facebook. You can use FDownloader on your computer, Android, iPhone, or iPad. If you don't want to use an online downloader (or if FDownloader isn't working), you can still download the video by finding the right link through "View page source" in a web browser. That's a little more complicated, so try FDownloader first.

Copy the video's address. Here's how: On a computer: Click the video to start playing it, highlight the URL at the top of your browser, and then press Control + C (PC) or Command + C (Mac). Phone or tablet: Tap Share below the video and choose Copy Link from the menu.

Go to https://fdownloader.net. If you're using an iPhone or iPad, you'll need to use Safari to download the video—other browsers won't work properly. But if you're on a computer or Android, any web browser will do the trick.

Paste the video's address. To paste the URL, right-click (or long-tap on a phone or tablet) the field that says, "Enter the Facebook video link here" and select Paste.

Click or tap the Download button. FDownloader will display the available video quality options.

Click or tap Download next to your preferred quality. This starts the download. Once the download is complete, you'll find the video in your default downloads folder. It's the file ending with ".mp4." If you select a quality that's much lower than the original video, select Render first, and then Download. Rendering takes a little longer, as FDownloader has do to some extra work in the background. You may have to click or tap Download or Save to start the download. Once the download is complete, you can watch the video by double-clicking (or tapping) it in your Downloads folder. If you're using an iPhone or iPad and want to get the video into the Photos app, tap the blue arrow in the address bar, and then tap Downloads on the menu. Tap the video, tap the Share icon (the square with an arrow), and then select Save Video.

Using Facebook's HTML Code

Open your computer's web browser. There's a way to download Facebook videos to your computer without installing special software or using an online downloader. It's a little more complicated because it involves poking through Facebook's HTML code, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy!

Go to the Facebook video you want to download. It must be a public video—you can't download private videos or videos posted to friends-only accounts.

Click the double-headed arrow at the bottom-right of the video. This expands the video into a larger view. If you don't see this icon, tap the Play button at the center of the video first to start playing it.

Copy the URL from the address bar. Just highlight the address at the top of your browser and press Control + C (PC) or Command + C (Mac) to copy it.

Open a new Incognito Window in Chrome. You can do this in Chrome or Edge by clicking the Chrome three-dot menu at the top-right corner and selecting New Incognito window. If you're using Safari, click the File menu and select New Private Window.

Paste the copied URL into the address bar and press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. This loads the public (and simplified) version of the video in the Incognito window.

Right-click a blank area of the page and select View page source. This displays the back-end code of the page containing the video.

Check the box next to "Line wrap." It's at the top-left corner of the source code in both Chrome and Edge. This will make your next task much easier. If you're using Safari, you should already be seeing the source code in an easy-to-read format.

Press Control+F (PC) or ⌘ Command+F (Mac). This opens the find bar at the top, which allows you to search for a certain string of text.

Type hd_src. In a moment, you should see two highlighted results in the source code—one that says hd_src_no_ratelimit right before an extremely long URL, and that just says hd_src after the URL and its trailing comma.

Copy the long URL between the two hd_src entries. Ignore the quotation marks at the beginning and end—just start with https and end after selecting the final number before the comma. Once you highlight this URL, press Control + C or Command + C to copy it.

Press Control+T (PC) or ⌘ Command+C (Mac) to open a new browser tab. The new tab will open in your Incognito window.

Paste the URL into the new browser tab and press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. This takes you to a much smaller version of the video—a version you can download!

Click the three dots at the bottom and select Download. This saves the Facebook video to your computer in the MP4 format, which you can play in almost any video player.