The best free Instagram video downloader 2017

Since 2013, Instagrammers have been able to upload short video clips alongside their retro-filtered photos, but if you see one you love there’s no way to save it within the official app. That’s why you need a dedicated Instagram video downloader.

There are far fewer video downloaders for Instagram than there are for YouTube, and the quality varies enormously, so we’ve rounded up the very best. Some are desktop software, while others are web-based, but all will help you grab the clips you want quickly and easily.

Make sure you get permission from the account holder before downloading videos from Instagram. Here, we’ll be grabbing our own clips from the TechRadar Instagram feed.

1. 4K Stogram

Download whole Instagram channels with just a couple of clicks

4K Stogram is a brilliant free Instagram video downloader for Windows, macOS and Linux. Unlike most Instagram video downloaders, which rely on you manually copying and pasting an URL from your web browser, 4K Stogram can find videos and still images for you using a username, hashtag or location. Just type it in, tap [Enter], and a list of photos and videos will be displayed and downloaded without any further input from you. 4K Stogram will keep going until it’s grabbed everything matching your search term, or you click the ‘Stop update’ button on the top right.

You can link 4K Stogram directly to your own Instagram account so it automatically downloads all the images you post, and upgrading to the paid version lets you follow multiple accounts.

You can even subscribe to all the accounts you’re following on Instagram, but this would result in thousands of photos and videos pouring onto your hard drive, so it's probably best to give it a miss

4K Stogram is a truly remarkable tool – the best free Instagram video downloader by miles.

Download here: 4K Stogram 

2. WinX YouTube Downloader

Download videos from Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo and over 300 other sites

Most general-purpose video downloaders don’t cover Instagram, but WinX YouTube Downloader is the exception. It’s not optimized for Instagram like 4K Stogram, and won't download Instagram feeds automatically, but it works well and has the added advantage of working with over 300 other sites, including Vimeo and Facebook.

Copy an Instagram video’s URL from your web browser and click the ‘Add link’ button on the top left. Don’t worry about the YouTube logo splashed all over the interface – it’s just for show.

The video will be analyzed to determine the best way to encode it (this might take a few seconds) and some file information will appear. Don’t be alarmed that there’s no preview, and the video length is set to zero seconds – this is a bug and doesn’t actually affect anything. You can add multiple video links to the playlist before clicking the Download button on the bottom right, which will save your videos in MP4 format in the destination of your choice.

It's not quite perfect, but WinX YouTube Downloader’s flexibility makes it our second favorite tool for grabbing Instagram videos.

Download here: WinX YouTube Downloader

3. Free Instagram Download

A less elaborate desktop video downloader, but fast and simple to use

Media software developer DVDVideoSoft makes one of our favorite YouTube downloaders, so it’s no surprise that its Instagram video downloader is also one of the best. 

Free Instagram Download is very simple to use; just open an Instagram video in your web browser, copy the URL from the address bar, then click the green ‘Paste’ button followed by ‘Download’ to save it in MP4 format. So far so simple, but take a look under the Tools menu and you’ll find a wealth of settings to customize downloads, including the ability to download via a proxy, and shut down your PC once it’s finished. 

The premium version of Free Instagram Download offers additional features like the ability to download whole playlists and automatic updates, but the free version is still excellent and far superior to browser-based alternatives.

Download here: Free Instagram Download

4. DownloadGram

A great looking online Instagram downloader, with a few unusual quirks

DownloadGram is a web-based Instagram video and photo downloader, which means you can use it on any device with a browser. It looks great too, with very minimal ads, but the interface is a little strange; you paste in the video URL, then click Download. After a moment, a second button will appear, labeled ‘Download again’. Very strange, since its meta description makes a virtue of "one-click downloads".

The site also has scrollbars disabled, so you might need to adjust the size of your browser window to see the second button, though it scales nicely for mobile devices.

Your chosen video will be saved in MP4 format, with a string of numbers as a filename; as with other online Instagram video downloaders, there’s no way to choose what it’s called, pick a quality setting, or select a destination.

If that doesn’t bother you, and you only want to grab one or two videos in a hurry, DownloadGram is a slick, smart way to do it.

Try it online: DownloadGram

5. Instagram Video Downloader

A downloader with a handy video player to preview clips before saving them

Instagram Video Downloader is another web-based tool, and although it lacks the slick style of DownloadGram, it gets the job done quickly and efficiently.

Once you've pasted in the URL of a video, Instagram Video Downloader provides a preview in a mini media player so you can double-check before you commit to saving it. Once you’re happy, click the icon on the right-hand side of the player and it will be saved to your Downloads folder in MP4 format.

That’s all there is to it. There are no download quality or format options, but it has the essentials covered. The site doesn’t scale nicely for mobile devices though, and it's rather heavy on the ads, which pushes it down into fifth place.

Try it online: Instagram Video Downloader

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