If you've ever saved a Pinterest image and found it soft and pixelated when you opened it on a computer, you've met Pinterest's previews. The grid you scroll through is built for speed, so it shows shrunken, compressed copies. The file stored behind a Pin is often several times larger in each direction. Getting that stored file is the whole trick, and it takes about ten seconds.
Why the feed image is smaller
Pinterest's masonry grid loads dozens of images at once, so each one is a downscaled thumbnail. When you long-press an image in the app and save it, or right-click it in a browser, you usually get that thumbnail. Screenshots are worse: they're capped at your screen size and include the app around the image.
The stored image is frequently 1,000 pixels or more on the long edge, and uploads from photographers can be much larger. For mood boards, sewing patterns, recipe cards, or reference art you plan to zoom into, that difference is everything.
How to get the full-size image
- Open the Pin itself, so it fills the screen with the description below it. Don't copy from the grid or a board.
- In the app, tap the Share button on the Pin and choose Copy link. On a computer, copy the address from the browser bar. It contains
/pin/followed by a number. - Open the Pinterest image downloader and paste the link.
- Tap Download. The image appears as a card with a preview. Tap the preview to view it full size and check the detail.
- Tap Download on the card. The image saves as
reelsdownloader-image-1.jpg(or another image format, depending on what Pinterest stores).
If the full-size view still looks small, you're looking at a reference Pin, explained below.
pin.it short links
When you share a Pin from the app, the link often starts with pin.it. That's Pinterest's short link format, and it redirects to the full Pin address. Paste it exactly as you copied it. There's no need to open it first and copy the long address.
Board links don't work, and here's why
A board link points at a collection, not at a file. Each Pin on a board is separate, with its own link, and there's no single file that contains a whole board. Paste a board link and the tool has nothing to download.
So the only way to save a board is one Pin at a time. Open each Pin and copy its link. Secret boards are private to their owner and can't be reached at all, even one Pin at a time.
When a Pin only gives a small image
This is the most common complaint, and it isn't a fault. Pinterest has two kinds of image Pin:
- Hosted Pins. Someone uploaded the image directly to Pinterest. The full-size file is stored on Pinterest, and that's what you get.
- Reference Pins. Someone saved an image from a website. Pinterest keeps a thumbnail and a link back to that website, but the real image lives on the website. There's no bigger copy on Pinterest to return.
For a reference Pin, tap the link or website name on the Pin to visit the source. The original page usually has the image at full size, and you'll also find the recipe, pattern or article the image came from. Crediting the source is easier when you know where it is.
Video Pins and Idea Pins
Video Pins work the same way. Copy the Pin link, paste it, and the video is listed for download. Pinterest favours vertical content, so most video Pins are taller than they are wide.
A horizontal video uploaded as a Pin may have black bars above and below. Those bars are part of the stored file, not something added during the download.
Idea Pins (also called story Pins) can contain several pages mixing video, images and text, so one link can return more than one file. When two or more files are listed, the Download all button saves them together as a single ZIP. Our Pinterest video guide covers video Pins in more detail, and the Pinterest video downloader page has its own FAQ.
Pinterest's own download option
For some image Pins, Pinterest's own menu (the three dots on the Pin) includes a download option. If you see it and the image looks sharp when you open it, that's a perfectly good way to save it. It isn't available on every Pin or every device, and it doesn't cover videos, which is where pasting the link helps.
Troubleshooting
- "No downloadable media found." You probably pasted a board or profile link, or the Pin was deleted. Open the single Pin and copy its link again.
- The image is still small. It's a reference Pin. Visit the source website for the full-size version.
- The download saved but you can't find it. On iPhone it's in Files → Downloads, not Photos. Our guide on where downloaded files go shows how to move it.
- A video downloads with black bars. That's how it was uploaded. Crop it in your phone's photo editor if you need it full-screen.
If none of these fit, the help center lists every error message and what it means.
Use what you save fairly
Pinterest exists for collecting inspiration, and saving images for a private mood board or offline reference is what it's for. Most of its images belong to photographers, illustrators and bloggers who rely on the source link to get credit and visitors. Keep that link with anything you use, and don't publish someone else's image as your own.