Is your Facebook account a photographic trip down memory lane? Did you frequently end a night out in the late aughts by uploading hundreds of photos to the social network?
Perhaps you'd like to wipe these questionable snaps from your Facebook account while preserving them in a more private location. Lucky for you, a built-in Facebook tool helps you easily transfer photos and videos to any of five external services: Google Photos, Dropbox, Koofr, Photobucket, and Backblaze B2.
By housing your files in one of these services, you can view them on any device and download them to your computer or mobile phone. And if you ever delete your Facebook account, those photos and videos are still available on the service of your choice. Let’s look at your options.
Transfer to Google Photos
To use Google Photos (iOS and Android), you’ll need a Google Account. Most Android devices should already have the app downloaded. Whether you’re in the app or on the web, Google Photos allows you to view images by photos and albums, or by ones suggested for you. Open Google Photos to see what photos and videos are already stored there.
Transferring your photos and videos works the same from the Facebook website and app, though the initial steps to access the feature differ. On the web, click the down arrow in the upper right and select Settings & Privacy and then Settings. From the app, click the hamburger icon and go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
At the Settings screen, go to Your Facebook Information (Your Information in the mobile app) and select Transfer a Copy of Your Information. Enter your Facebook password at the next screen and click Continue.
Under Common Destinations, choose Google Photos as the destination. Open Choose what to transfer and choose what media should be included in the transfer. You can select only photos, only videos, only specific date ranges, or only specific albums or videos. After making your selections, click Next.
Click Connect to pick the Google Account you wish to use, then sign in if prompted. The first time you do this, you’ll have to grant Facebook access to your Google Photos library. Click Continue. You’re then taken back to Facebook and asked to confirm the transfer.
Click Confirm Transfer to initiate the transfer. You may be prompted to retype your Facebook password. The transfer of your photos or videos kicks off. At the same time, you’ll receive an email confirming the transfer. If you wish to stop the transfer for any reason, click the Stop button. Otherwise, just hang tight and let it continue.
After the process finishes, a notification appears in Facebook, and you’ll receive an email confirming the transfer. Open your Google Photos page and go to the Albums section. You should now see several new albums for the imported Facebook photos, including Timeline photos, mobile uploads, and profile pictures.
Open a specific album to see its photos and videos. After these initial files have been transferred, you can repeat the process to move the other set of files. So if you transferred your photos, you can then transfer your videos, or vice versa.
Transfer to Dropbox
If you wish to use Dropbox for the transfer, sign into your account to view any existing photos and videos already stored there. Open Settings & Privacy > Settings in Facebook and select Your Facebook Information (Your Information in the mobile app) and choose Transfer a Copy of Your Information.
Pick Dropbox from the list of options then open Choose what to transfer to pick what media should be included in the transfer. You can select only photos, only videos, only specific date ranges, or only specific albums or videos.
Sign into your Dropbox account if prompted and select Allow to give Facebook the necessary permissions for Dropbox. Click Start transfer.
Go back to Dropbox, open a folder called Apps, and then choose a subfolder called Facebook Data Transfer. That will contain two additional subfolders, one called Photo Transfer and the other Video Transfer. Browse each of those folders for your transferred photos and videos.
Transfer to Koofr
Though not as well known as services like Google Photos and Dropbox, Koofr is a file storage service based in Europe but available around the world. You get 2GB of storage for free with the ability to get more by referring friends to the service and by upgrading to any of the many paid tiers. As a bonus to users, Koofr allows you to store up to 15GB of Facebook photos and videos beyond your account quota.
After you’ve set up an account on the Koofr website, return to Facebook and open Settings & Privacy > Settings. Go to Your Facebook Information (Your Information in the mobile app) and choose Transfer a Copy of Your Information. Select Koofr as the destination, then open Choose what to transfer to pick what media should be included in the transfer.
Sign into your Koofr account if prompted and allow the necessary permissions. Click the Confirm Transfer button and wait for the transfer to complete. Go to Koofr and open a folder called Data Transfer. Check for the transferred photos or videos across that folder and its subfolders.
Transfer to Photobucket
Photobucket is a photo storage site that requires a paid subscription. After a free 21-day trial subscription, your choices include a 25GB plan at $6 a month or $65 a year, a 250GB plan at $8 a month or $87 a year, and an unlimited plan at $13 a month or $141 a year.
After you’ve set up an account, return to Facebook and open Settings & Privacy > Settings. Go to Your Facebook Information (Your Information in the mobile app) and choose Transfer a Copy of Your Information. Click Next, then click the button for Choose destination and select Photobucket from the list.
You can then choose what media will be transferred over. You can select only photos, only videos, only specific date ranges, or only specific albums or videos. Sign into your Photobucket account if prompted and allow the necessary permissions. Click the Confirm Transfer button and wait for the transfer to complete.
After the transfer is done, sign into Photobucket. Depending on what you opted to transfer, you’ll see a folder for Facebook photos and a folder for Facebook videos. Look through the folders to see the transferred files.
Transfer to Backblaze B2
Backblaze B2 is an enterprise-grade file storage and backup service designed for businesses but also available to consumers. The first 10GB of storage are free. If you need more, you pay as you go depending on the amount of data you upload, both initially and on a monthly basis.
After creating an account, you’ll need to set up a bucket to serve as a container for your online files. Return to Facebook and open Settings & Privacy > Settings. Go to Your Facebook Information (Your Information in the mobile app) and choose Transfer a Copy of Your Information. Click Next, then click Choose destination and choose Backblaze B2 from the list.
You must then enter the Key ID and Application Key created from your Backblaze B2 account. You’ll find those at the App Key section at your Backblaze account page. Click Next and then confirm the transfer.
After the transfer is finished, return to your Backblaze B2 account page. Click Browse files, select your bucket, and then look for a folder named facebook-data-transfer-[random sequence of numbers]. Open that folder to a subfolder called Photo Transfer or Video Transfer to see the transferred files.
Download Your Facebook Data
Beyond transferring your photos and videos to a new service, you can download your Facebook data directly. You can then store and upload it anywhere you wish. To do this, open Settings & Privacy > Settings and go to Your Facebook Information (Your Information in the mobile app). Click Download Your Information.
Review the criteria at the top to choose the format (HTML is the default), pick the quality (High, Medium, or Low), and select a specific date range. Leave all the content types selected. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Request a download button.
You’ll receive an email notifying you when the files have been generated. Return to the Your Facebook Information page, select the heading for Available Files, and click the Download button. Retype your Facebook password if requested and then confirm the download.
Save the generated ZIP file to your computer, then unzip the file. Open the extracted index.html file to see thumbnails of the downloaded photos and videos. You can then drill through all the extracted folders to find and view the specific files.
You can view your saved photos and videos under the Posts category. Click the Your photos or Your videos to see your saved media and find the files you wish to view.