Forum
>
Site Discussion
>
Thread
Log in |
Register
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.
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
I think this thread could use a good update... Most if not all links are dead/defunct.
Currently, I use 4KStogram (full paid version) for downloading. It's convenient for downloading entire profiles, and automatically updates profiles that you've input, so I think it's worth the money as it's a massive timesaver. The only downside is that it can fill up your hard drive VERY fast if you get too carried away.
As for free sites, you can currently use "igram," "sssinstagram," and "toolzu." There are probably more but this should be sufficient. I can verify that igram worked well for me, but I haven't used the other two so I can't vouche for them yet.
I used to use "snapinsta" for downloading the occasional single post (rather than entire profile), but they seem to be producing lower quality download links (recently I tried this Jacqueline Rios post and it gave me a 640x800 version, whereas I can get the same image at 1080x1350 anywhere else).
Also, "user beware" in regards to 4KStogram...
In my experience, if you're using the app regularly, then you need to severely limit your interaction on IG otherwise. Sometimes all it takes is to like 1 post or follow 1 more user and IG will block your account for "suspicious activity." They usually offer the option to bypass this by confirming your identity (by sending a code to your email or phone) and then a mandatory password reset.
It's quite annoying, so again "user beware."
I've been using the paid for version of 4K Stogram for a few years til recently. main issues:
Yes you can too often get kicked out of Instagram by using it - and have to follow IG's process to get your account back. Basically 4kS goes against IG's terms and conditions (ie using third party programs to scrape content) but 4K wont admit that so they just tell users to limit use but you never know what will trigger an account lock out.
Yes, the settings for 4K mean you could download Gigs of content very quickly with virtually with no limit.
If you have to reinstall 4k after a PC crash but want to just pick up from where you left off, you can't set a "download from date" so you have to start from scratch or manually stop/start individual accounts you are monitoring.
It's potentially a useful program but it has some really irritating usability issues.
The main way to use 4KStogram without getting blocked is to space out the downloads (in a way the program doesn't do automatically).
I manually updated my pinned accounts in batches of 15, starting each new batch about 10 minutes after the last one finished updating. Then when I turned on the option to auto-update the pinned accounts once a day, they do so at those same spaced-out times. Also, logging out and back into the account in 4KStogram once a day seems to help (I think Instagram has some issue with too many downloads under the same login session).
If I'm going to do intial downloads of large accounts (like 3,000+ posts, etc), I try to limit those to one per day, and swap to a different IG account first.
Also, possibly because 4KStogram seems to use mobile phone user agent strings when authenticating to Instagram, signing in to IG using the same account on your phone seems to make it suspicious and raise the chances of your account getting temp-blocked.
This thread pretty much needs to be remade at this point, since most of the info in it is outdated (the example video I linked in the first post now uses a 720x900 version for most purposes, for instance), but I did want to make a couple notes:
4K Stogram is effectively dead after the company behind it stopped updating it and now I'm unable to get any account to sign on using it, so it only functions as an archive gallery program and can no longer download anything new.
As far as bulk download of the entire contents of an Instagram page, the only thing I've gotten to work currently is the free command line program Instaloader.
Here's some example Instaloader command lines I've been using (I have the filename format set similar to what 4K Downloader used, so I can put the downloaded files together without too much trouble).
Download everything (you also have to install browser_cookie3 and specify what browser you're signed on in [I'm using Firefox below] to download anything that requires logon, like Stories)-
instaloader --load-cookies Firefox --no-captions --no-metadata-json --no-video-thumbnails --filename-pattern "{date_utc:%Y-%m-%d %H.%M.%S} {filename}" --sanitize-paths --stories --highlights --reels nadiacapotosto_ifbbpro
Download everything from after a specified date-
instaloader --load-cookies Firefox --no-captions --no-metadata-json --no-video-thumbnails --filename-pattern "{date_utc:%Y-%m-%d %H.%M.%S} {filename}" --sanitize-paths --stories --highlights --reels --post-filter="date_utc >= datetime(2025, 6, 14)" nadiacapotosto_ifbbpro
A couple notes about using it-
It may get 403 errors about checking the "https://www.instagram.com/graphql/query" URL, but that doesn't seem to affect the actual downoads.
It will recommend the "--login" parameter to reuse your saved session in future runs, I'd ignore that since it rarely seems to work, just have it re-import your current cookies each time as in the above commands, that seems to work fine as long as you're currently signed in to Instagram on that browser.
Although it seems to download slowly enough to avoid most rate-limiting measures, like any automated Instagram bulk download method don't use it with your main account, in case Instagram decides to block it.
If anyone know of another, more user-friendly way for mass Instagram downloads that works currently, please let me know.
The Instaloader program I mentioned above uses your current browser cookies with those commands, so it should be able to download anything you can see yourself when signed in, including age-restricted pages. You do have to have an Instagram account that's set to show them though.
It's not that hard to get a new IP from your ISP, you can usually go into your router's config page and release the current IP from there, then turn it off and wait an hour or so before turning it back on (you can also change its MAC address after releasing it if it's your own router). Just be sure to also clear your browser cookies in between.
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.