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How to Download Threads GIFs and Photos

Threads is not just videos

People talk about Threads downloads mostly in the context of videos, but plenty of Threads posts are GIFs, photos, or carousels of mixed media. Threadster handles all of them. The flow is essentially the same as a video download, but there are a few things worth knowing.

Downloading GIFs from Threads

Threads does not really have separate GIFs the way you might think of them. What looks like a GIF is technically a short looping video. When you download one with Threadster, you get an MP4 file that loops the same way it does on Threads.

How to download a Threads GIF

  1. Open the Threads post that contains the GIF
  2. Tap the share icon below the post and tap Copy Link
  3. Paste the link into Threadster and tap Download
  4. Pick your quality and save the file

The result is an MP4 video that loops. It plays in every media player and you can also share it as a video in messaging apps. If you need an actual animated GIF file for some reason (like uploading somewhere that does not accept MP4), you can convert it later with a free tool.

Downloading photos from Threads

Photos are even simpler. Threadster lets you save the original quality image from any public Threads post that contains photos.

Single photos

Copy the post link, paste it into Threadster, and download. You will get the highest resolution version that Threads has for that image.

Carousels with multiple photos

If a post has more than one photo, Threadster shows you all of them on the download page. You can save them one by one or all at once depending on your browser.

What about screenshots?

If you want a clean screenshot of an entire Threads post including the username, text, and any media, our Threads Screenshot Maker handles that. Plain screenshots from your phone always include the status bar and feel cluttered. Our generator gives you a clean, shareable image with a nice background.

File formats

You can expect:

  • Videos: MP4
  • GIFs: MP4 (looping)
  • Photos: JPG or PNG, whichever the original was

All of these formats are widely supported on every phone, computer, and media player. You do not need to convert anything.

On mobile, the apps make this easier

If you are on iPhone, the TVD app handles videos, GIFs, and photos. You share the post into TVD from the Threads app and TVD pulls whatever media is in there. Everything saves into TVD's library and you can export to Photos with a tap.

On Android, the Threadster app works the same way. Share a post from Threads into Threadster and the download starts.

Public posts only

This is true for everything Threadster does. We only work with public Threads posts. If a profile is private, Threadster cannot access its content. We do not ask for your Threads login and we never will.

Common issues

The most common problem when downloading photos or GIFs is the same as with videos: copying the wrong link. Make sure you tap Copy Link on the actual post and not on the user's profile.

If a GIF is downloading as a video, that is normal. Threads stores GIFs as short MP4s. The downloaded file behaves exactly like the GIF did on Threads.

For more help, see our troubleshooting guide.

Related reading

If you mainly download videos and want to learn more about quality options, see our post on Threads video formats and quality. For the device specific walkthroughs, the iPhone guide and Android guide cover everything step by step.

Threadster - Threads Downloader

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