How to download your Instagram data, and how long the wait actually is
Instagram's export now lives in Meta's Accounts Center and takes about eight taps. The reported wait runs from a few minutes for a small selection to several days for everything, Meta says a complete copy can take up to 30 days, and the finished download is reported to stay available for four days. Written 2026-08-24.
The exact taps, in order
Your part of this is about two to four minutes. Everything after that is Instagram taking its time, and
nothing you do speeds it up.
Open your profile Open Instagram and tap your profile picture at the bottom right.
Open the menu Tap the three lines at the top right, then Settings and activity.
Open Accounts Center It sits near the top of the settings list and is where Meta moved all of this.
Tap Your information and permissions Then tap Download your information.
Tap Download or transfer information Choose the Instagram account you want if more than one is linked.
Choose how much All available information is the complete answer. Some of your information lets you pick, and if you only want the interesting part, pick Ads information plus Apps and websites off of Instagram plus Logged information.
Set the options Download to device, date range All time, format JSON, media quality low. Low media quality is the difference between a download of several gigabytes and one that arrives quickly, and it changes nothing about the ad data.
Tap Create files Meta emails you when it is ready. Come back to the same screen to download.
How long it actually takes
What
How long reported
Reported typical wait
Minutes to a few hours for a narrow JSON selection at low media quality.
Reported for everything
Several days when you ask for all information with media.
Platform stated outer limit
Meta says a complete copy can take up to 30 days.
How long the file stays
Reported at four days once it is ready.
Your own time
About 3 minutes to request.
How big the file is
A JSON selection at low media quality is usually tens of megabytes. All available information with original quality photos and videos runs to several gigabytes, and for a long running account it can be tens of gigabytes split across numbered parts. reported
What is actually inside
ads_information The list Meta calls your ad topics, the ads you were shown, and advertisers_using_your_activity_or_information, which is the set of businesses that uploaded a contact list with your details on it.
apps_and_websites_off_of_instagram The off platform activity other companies reported about you. This is the folder that answers how did it know.
your_instagram_activity Likes, saved posts, comments, messages, story interactions, reels you engaged with.
logged_information Recent searches, and the account level records Meta keeps about your use.
personal_information and preferences Your profile, your settings, and the changes you have made to them.
What is missing from it
Not in the file, whatever anyone tells you
Why any specific post or reel reached you. The ranking signals are not in the file and never have been.
The confidence behind an ad topic, or the behaviour that produced it. You get the label, not the evidence.
Content you deleted beyond Meta's retention window.
Anything about the accounts that interacted with you, beyond what is already public to you.
The download expires
Do not lose the link
Meta is reported to keep the finished download available for four days. If it expires you start the request over, which is a long wait to repeat for nothing.
Read this before you trust a number on this page
Every wait window and every file size here is reported, not measured by us. It comes
from the platform's own published help pages and from what people consistently say happens, and platforms
change both without telling anyone. When we have a request we timed ourselves, this page will say measured
and print the date the measurement was taken. Until then, treat these as the range to plan around rather
than a promise.
Written 2026-08-24. Export screens move every few months. If a step here has gone stale, tell us and it
gets fixed rather than quietly rotting.
When the file arrives
When the file lands, you do not have to unzip it or understand it. Drop it into the free Instagram Count and read the real numbers in about ten seconds. It runs entirely in your browser, there is no account, no email field and no card, and nothing is uploaded.
The full Reading is 6.99 a week or 69.99 a year. No free trial. There is a Refund button in
your dashboard for 7 days, one tap, no reason required. The Count stays free forever either way.
Reported at minutes to a few hours for a small JSON selection, several days for all information with media, and Meta states a complete copy can take up to 30 days. We have not measured this ourselves. When we do, this page will say measured and print the date.
Where are my Instagram ad topics?
In the ads_information folder of the download. Meta also lets you read them on screen in Accounts Center, under Ad preferences, where you can switch some of them off. Doing that inside Instagram is worth doing and it is not the same as having the file.
Do I have to download my photos too?
No. Set media quality to low and you get the data without the media, which is far faster and holds every ad topic and advertiser.
The free Count pages
One page per file. Each is the same browser local tool scoped to a different export, and none of them
ask for an email.