Downloading HQ videos from Instagram

One thing I just found out about Instagram is that for single-video posts (i.e. not as part of a gallery/multi-image post), there's a higher-quality version of the video than the one you get just playing it embedded on the page. The normal ones are 480x480 or 480x600, the HQ versions of the same videos can be 640x640 or 640x800, or higher. Some downloaders automatically get the better versions.

To use this video as an example, here's the 480x600 version that plays normally:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=26904739691389717631

And here's the clearer 640x800 version I get using the right download site (it's still a direct download from Instagram):

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=05618274878741103779

Not sure if there's a way to download a HQ version from mult-image posts or if one even exists, I'll have to try some other add-ons or something.


EDIT:  Replaced the direct instagram example links with reuploads that won't expire, and a better example vid.

UPDATE:  After some recent changes by Instagram that broke the other methods, the site https://instavideosdownloader.com is one of the only options left that seems to work somewhat reliably, as it gets alternate versions from everything else that are at a lower bitrate, but a lot of times are the only higher-res ones available.  They're usually 720x720 or 720x900 instead.  I recommend comparing them to any other versions fullscreen to confirm which are actually higher quality overall, whichever is the larger file is usually the actual best one, even if it's not the highest resolution (to reiterate, if instavideosdownloader gives you say a 640x640 video but you can also download a 640x640 video using another method, the latter will usually be a larger filesize and better quality, I've also seen where a lower-resolution version from other sources is still a larger file and better quality than the higher-res version from instavideosdownloader).  It also seems to use alternate resized versions for still photos in some cases, so it's probably not the best option for those.

NEW UPDATE:  The Instagram Video Downloader Firefox add-on by lumieras seems have stopped working around 10/26/19.  This Instagram Downloader addon seems to be a good replacement for it, and handles multi-image galleries better.  Also, saving things directly from the Media tab on the Firefox Page Info window still seems to work for the most part with the current page coding, since Instagram seems to be surfacing the better versions directly on the pages now, it's just not as convenient.

You can also use https://storiesig.com/ for stories or https://instasave.io/ for posts.
Really simple to use

[Note from chipperpip:  I actually don't recommend either of those sites myself, as they failed the get the better-quality versions of videos in my testing, although they should be fine for still photos]

Important note, I've just found out this can also be the case for Instagram Story videos.  Saving the video directly off the website doesn't get the full resolution video, and neither do most download sites (like https://storiesig.com/, which I was using before).  It seems like in most cases the LQ version is 480x852 and the HQ is 640x1136 or 720x1280, which can make a big difference in clarity.

Of the other download sites I've tested, only these two:
https://weynstag.com/instastory
https://instavideosdownloader.com
get the higher-quality versions, the vast majority don't.  The Android app StorySaver also does, not sure about other apps.

On a side note, I've started using the free desktop program 4K Stogram, which can be set to just download all IG posts and stories from selected accounts automatically, and seems to always get the higher-quality versions of posts (EDIT:  That only applies for Story videos, see below).

I'm pretty irritated that using storiesig.com in the past means I've lost the chance to download the better versions of some Story videos forever, now that they've expired.


NOTE:  I've found out 4K Stogram only gets the HQ versions for Story videos currently, for standard video posts it gets a LQ version, although it's easy to right-click the thumbnail and bring it up on the website for download of the HQ using another method.  I still recommend it, it's the only way I've found to download Story videos automatically so you don't have to worry about them expiring if they don't get moved to Highlights.

EDIT:  Changed to reflect the fact that saving Story videos directly from the Instagram website no longer gets the HQ version.

So, for videos in gallery/multi-image posts, it's harder for some reason, but it turns out there is a higher-quality version of the videos available some of the time, it's just more involved to get. 

[REMOVED]

EDIT:  There was a somewhat complicated method that involved copying parameters from the page source, but it no longer works, and it turns out https://instavideosdownloader.com generally gets better versions of those anyway, and is simpler to boot, so just use that instead.

To sum up my findings, there are 3 scenarios for videos being posted on Instagram:
Single-video posts
Multi-image/gallery posts
Instagram Story posts
(There are also Instagram TV/IGTV videos, which seem to work the same as normal single-video posts for download purposes)


Here are the different ways I've found to get the highest quality videos of each type [EDIT:  A lot fewer options now, thanks Instagram!]:


Single-video post
Instagram Video Downloader Firefox add-on
https://instavideosdownloader.com (in some cases)

Multi-video/gallery post
https://instavideosdownloader.com

Instagram Story post
4K Stogram desktop downloader
https://weynstag.com/instastory
https://instavideosdownloader.com
StorySaver Android app


It would be nice if 4K Stogram would also get the better versions of standard single-video posts, since it can be set to download automatically.  I've emailed the developer about it, hopefully they can fix that.

Stickying this because it's helpful info.

Ok, I've modified these posts after Instagram broke a bunch of previous methods, everything in them should be accurate now as of 7/24/19

Thanks for keeping it up to date!

For those who use Google Chrome, I'd recommend the Downloader for Instagram extension.

Note that https://instavideosdownloader.com no longer really works so I've switched to using https://ingramer.com/downloader/instagram/ as an alternative, I'll have to see about editing those original posts.

You can't edit posts that were imported from the old forum; best just make a new thread.

I use the Firefox element inspector to upload photos and videos from Instagram. It is the most practical if you know a little HTML, you can copy the URLs directly, without downloading anything. I also use the Firefox extension Instagram-guest, it removes the login window.

Instahighres.com is good. You just paste the entire source code into the website and it will spit out all the best quality versions of photos and videos from the post