Pinterest is a strange case among “how do I download this” platforms, because half of it is trivially easy and half of it isn’t. Saving a plain image Pin works exactly the way you’d expect from any website. Saving a video Pin doesn’t. Worth saying plainly: AllMediaTools doesn’t have a dedicated Pinterest downloader — video Pins are served the same streaming way most social video is now, which makes them a genuinely harder target than a static image ever is. Here’s what actually works for both.
Images: This One’s Actually Easy
Unlike almost every platform in this “downloaders” series, Pinterest doesn’t fight you on saving a plain image Pin. Because most image Pins are just a photo file displayed in a web page — not a stream, not a proprietary player — your browser’s normal tools work:
- Open the Pin (or hover over it in your feed on desktop).
- Right-click the image and choose Save image as… (desktop) or press and hold the image and choose Save to Photos (mobile).
- Done — the image saves as a normal file, no third-party tool needed.
Pinterest’s own app also has a Download image option in the Pin’s share/more menu on many Pins, which does the same thing with one less step. If you just want the picture, you almost never need anything beyond what’s already built into your browser or the app.
Why Video Pins Are a Different Problem
Video Pins look like images in your feed but behave like embedded video players once you tap them — and video, unlike a static photo, is almost always streamed in pieces rather than delivered as one downloadable file. That’s the same underlying reason video is harder to save than images across every platform in this series, not something specific to Pinterest.
Right-clicking a video Pin the way you would an image typically gives you nothing useful — no “save video as” option, or one that produces a broken file. Pinterest’s own app doesn’t offer a native “download this video” button the way it offers one for images. For that, you need a different method entirely.
Method: Copy the Pin Link + a Reliable Third-Party Tool
For video Pins specifically, the general method is:
- Open the Pin.
- Tap the share icon (or the three-dot menu) and choose Copy link.
- Paste that link into a downloader tool that supports Pinterest.
- The tool fetches the video and gives you a direct file to save.
A tool that reliably handles this today: SaveFrom.net, a free web-based downloader that’s been operating since 2009 and supports a wide range of platforms, Pinterest video Pins included. You paste the link, it returns a direct download link for the video file — no login, no browser extension required for the basic web version. It’s ad-supported, which is the main downside worth knowing going in, but the core paste-a-link-get-a-file function is straightforward and doesn’t require handing over any account credentials.
Before using any Pinterest downloader tool, check:
| Signal | What it means |
|---|---|
| Never asks for your Pinterest username or password | Non-negotiable — see the warning below |
| Only asks you to paste a public Pin link | Correct, expected behavior |
| No forced app or extension install to “unlock” the download | Red flag if required |
| A clean download link without excessive redirect chains | Reasonable sign of legitimacy |
| Works on a Pin you don’t mind losing if the first attempt fails | Sensible way to test a new tool |
The Nuance Most Guides Skip: Many Pins Just Link Out
Here’s the thing a lot of “how to download from Pinterest” guides miss entirely: a huge share of Pins — especially the most useful ones, like recipes, tutorials, and product photography — aren’t hosted content at all. They’re a preview image and title that link out to the original site where the content actually lives. Pinterest is functioning as a visual bookmark, not the source.
Before reaching for a downloader tool, tap through to the Pin’s source link (usually visible below the image, or via a “Visit” button). If it leads to a blog post, a store listing, or a video hosted on the original creator’s own site or YouTube channel, you’ll often get a cleaner, higher-quality copy going directly to that source than you would trying to extract a lower-resolution version Pinterest re-hosted or thumbnailed. This is especially true for video: a lot of “video Pins” are actually just a Pinterest-hosted preview clip of a longer video that lives properly on YouTube or the creator’s own website — and downloading from the real source is both easier and gets you the better file.
Once You Have the File
Downloaded video Pins are sometimes oversized for what you actually need, and downloaded images can be far larger than necessary if you’re just using them for a mood board, mockup, or social post rather than print. Compress the video if a downloaded video Pin’s file size is too large to share or re-upload elsewhere, or compress the image if you’re downloading Pins in bulk for a project and want smaller, faster-loading files.
Safety Warning: Never Enter Your Pinterest Login on a Third-Party Site
A downloader tool never legitimately needs your Pinterest username or password to fetch a public Pin — the link alone is enough, because public Pins don’t require authentication to view. If any site or app asks you to “log in with Pinterest” before processing a link, close it and don’t enter your credentials; that’s either an attempt to steal your login or a plan to use your account for spam or further scraping once it has access. If you’ve ever entered your password on a site like that, change it right away and check Settings → Security → Manage your sessions in Pinterest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to download Pinterest images and videos?
Downloading for personal, private use is low-risk in most places, following the same copyright basics that apply to downloading YouTube videos. Reposting someone else’s Pin as your own work, stripping their credit, or using it commercially without permission is a different matter and can cross into copyright infringement — Pinterest content is very often someone else’s original photography, recipe, or artwork, so attribution matters more here than on some other platforms.
Why can’t I just right-click and save a video Pin?
Because video Pins are streamed through an embedded player rather than served as a single downloadable file, the way a plain image is. Your browser’s normal right-click save function is built for static files, not streamed video, which is why it either doesn’t offer a save option or produces something broken.
Do I need a different tool for images versus videos?
No extra tool for images — your browser or the Pinterest app’s own Download image option handles those natively. You only need a third-party downloader for video Pins specifically.
Why does the video I downloaded look lower quality than expected?
Pinterest often re-hosts a compressed preview version of a video that originates elsewhere, particularly for Pins that link out to YouTube or a creator’s own site. Following the Pin’s source link and downloading directly from the original often gets you a noticeably better-quality file than extracting Pinterest’s own copy.
Can I download a Pin from a private board?
Only if you already have access to that board (it’s shared with you, or it’s yours). Private boards restrict visibility for a reason, and no downloader tool changes that — it can only fetch what’s already publicly viewable.
Is there an official Pinterest download button?
For images, yes — many Pins have a Download image option in the app’s share menu, in addition to your browser’s built-in save function. For video, no — Pinterest doesn’t offer a native download button for video Pins, which is why a third-party tool is the only route when you need an actual video file.