How to Download Pinterest Videos on PC (Windows & Mac)

If you've tried to save a Pinterest video on your computer, you've probably hit the same wall: Pinterest's three-dot menu shows "Download image" — but never "Download video." That's not a bug. It's a deliberate design choice, and it leaves desktop users searching for another way.

The good news: downloading Pinterest videos on a PC or Mac is faster and easier than on mobile, and you don't need to install anything. This guide walks through exactly how, explains why Pinterest treats images and videos differently, and covers what to do when the download isn't where you expected.

Pinterest's Desktop Audience Is Bigger Than You Think

Mobile gets most of the attention in Pinterest coverage — and Pinterest itself reports that around 80% of accounts access the platform through their phone. But the desktop side is far from dead. According to traffic analyses of Pinterest.com reported by Resourcera, roughly 63% of Pinterest's web traffic actually comes from desktops, not mobile. People use the app on the phone, but they open the browser when they're serious — researching home renovations, planning weddings, or saving creative reference for actual work.

That's the context for this guide. Saving videos on PC matters because that's where users do their planning work, and a buffering video on a YouTube tab doesn't help when you're cooking from a Pinterest recipe.

Why Pinterest Lets You Download Images But Not Videos

Pinterest's official help center explicitly documents how to save images for offline viewing. On a Pin's three-dot menu, "Download image" is a built-in feature. But scroll through Pinterest's documentation looking for a "Download video" equivalent — it doesn't exist.

The reason is straightforward, even if Pinterest doesn't say it directly:

Images are static and small. Letting users download them doesn't significantly reduce time on the platform.
Videos drive engagement. Pinterest's internal metrics (referenced throughout their advertiser-facing reports) show video pins generate dramatically more engagement than static pins. Keeping video viewing inside the app preserves session length, ad impressions, and creator monetization.
Rights and licensing get complicated. Video creators often have separate licensing terms, and Pinterest avoids becoming a video distribution platform.

So if you want a Pinterest video on your computer, you need a third-party tool. PinLoad is the simplest option, and the rest of this guide explains how to use it.

Note: For images, Pinterest's official "Download image" option works fine and is always the safest first choice. We have a separate guide on how to download Pinterest images in HD if that's what you actually need.

The Easiest Method: PinLoad in Any Browser

PinLoad is a web-based Pinterest video downloader that works directly in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge — on Windows, Mac, or even Linux. No software install, no extension, no signup. You paste a Pinterest URL, click download, and the MP4 file lands in your Downloads folder.

The full process takes under 20 seconds once you've done it once. Here's the walkthrough.

Step 1: Copy the Pinterest Video URL

Open Pinterest in your browser on either Windows or Mac and find the video you want. Click the pin to open it in the full-page view.

On the open Pin, you have two ways to grab the link:

Easiest: Copy the URL straight from your browser's address bar. It will look like pinterest.com/pin/123456789012345678/. Highlight, copy with Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac).
Alternative: Click the share arrow icon above the pin, then click "Copy link" from the menu that appears.

Both give the same result. Use whichever feels natural.

Step 2: Open PinLoad

Open a new tab and go to pinload.app. The homepage is a single input box with a download button. No registration, no popups, no ads in your face.

Step 3: Paste and Download

Click into the input box. Paste your Pinterest URL with Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (Mac). Click the download button.

PinLoad processes the link in 2-5 seconds and shows the video with a download option. Click "Download" to save the MP4 to your computer.

That's the entire flow. The file lands in your default download location, which we'll cover next.

Where Your Pinterest Video Saves on Windows vs Mac

This is where most "easy" tutorials stop being useful. Here's exactly where to look on each operating system.

On Windows

By default, browsers save downloads to your Downloads folder under your user profile. The full path is:

C:\Users\YourUsername\Downloads

The fastest way to get there:

Press Win + E to open File Explorer
Click Downloads in the left sidebar

You can also access recent downloads directly from your browser's download tray (the small icon at the bottom of Chrome, or Ctrl+J to open the full download history).

On Mac

The default location on macOS is the Downloads folder in your user directory:

/Users/YourUsername/Downloads

The fastest way to get there:

Open Finder
Press Cmd + Option + L (Cmd + Shift + L on older macOS versions)
Or click "Downloads" in Finder's sidebar
Or click the Downloads icon in your Dock (right side, looks like a folder)

You can also drag the file directly from Safari's download tray to your Desktop while it's downloading, if you want to save it somewhere specific.

Changing the Default Download Location

If you'd rather save Pinterest videos to a specific folder (a "Pinterest" folder on your desktop, for example), most browsers let you change this:

Chrome: Settings → Downloads → Location → Change
Firefox: Settings → General → Files and Applications → Downloads → Browse
Safari: Settings → General → File download location

A useful setting to enable: "Ask where to save each file before downloading." This pops up a save dialog every time, letting you organize downloads by project as you go.

Why Not Just Right-Click the Video?

Many first-time users try right-clicking a Pinterest video and looking for "Save video as..." — and it doesn't work. Here's why.

Pinterest's video player is built with HTML5 and streams video through specific delivery mechanisms (some via direct MP4, some via HLS streaming for higher-quality pins). When you right-click on the video element, you usually get Pinterest's custom context menu or a generic browser menu without a save option. The actual video file isn't sitting at a simple URL you can grab.

That's why tools like PinLoad exist: they parse the Pinterest page, find the underlying video file URL, and deliver it directly to your browser as a downloadable MP4.

You might also see suggestions online to use developer tools (F12) and dig through Network requests to find the MP4 URL manually. This technically works, but takes 5 minutes per video instead of 5 seconds, and the URLs are often time-limited tokens that expire quickly.

A Note on Browser Extensions

You may notice browser extensions in the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons that promise Pinterest video downloads. Before installing any of them, read our guide on Pinterest downloader safety.

Generally, web-based tools like PinLoad are safer than installed extensions because:

A web tool can't access your other tabs, cookies, or browsing history
A web tool can't run code on your computer outside of one webpage
A web tool can't update itself silently after install

That's not to say all extensions are bad. But the security calculus heavily favors browser-based tools when you have an equally good option.

What Quality Will You Get?

PinLoad saves the video at whatever quality the creator originally uploaded. Pinterest doesn't re-compress videos when you download through PinLoad — what you see on Pinterest is what you get in the file.

In practice, most Pinterest videos are uploaded at one of these resolutions:

Resolution	Common for
720p (HD)	Most older video pins
1080p (Full HD)	Standard quality for newer pins
4K	Some professional creators

Files are saved as MP4, which plays in every standard video player on Windows (Movies & TV, VLC, Windows Media Player) and Mac (QuickTime, VLC, IINA). You don't need to convert anything.

PinLoad doesn't add a watermark, doesn't compress the file, and doesn't strip metadata. The video you download is identical to the one on Pinterest, just sitting on your hard drive. We cover this in more detail in our no-watermark guide.

Troubleshooting Common PC Issues

"Nothing happens when I click Download"

Three likely causes:

Pop-up blocker is blocking the download. Check the right side of your browser's address bar for a small popup-blocked icon. Click it and allow popups from pinload.app.
The Pinterest URL is invalid. Make sure you copied the full URL including pinterest.com/pin/.... Shortened pin.it/... links work too, but make sure you copied the whole thing.
You're trying to download a regular image, not a video. PinLoad detects whether the pin contains a video or an image and handles each correctly, but if the pin is image-only, you'll get an image file.

"The download saves but won't play"

The file might be incomplete if your connection dropped mid-download. Try again. If a 5MB file took half a second to download, it probably failed silently.

If the file is the right size (Pinterest videos typically range 2MB-50MB) but still won't play, try VLC media player. It handles edge-case video encodings that Windows Media Player and QuickTime sometimes refuse.

"Pinterest video opens in a new tab instead of downloading"

This sometimes happens on macOS Safari. Two fixes:

Right-click the download button on PinLoad and choose "Download Linked File As..."
Or switch to Chrome/Firefox temporarily for that one download

"I can't find the file after downloading"

Press Ctrl + J (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + J (Mac) in your browser to open download history. Click the folder icon next to the file name to jump straight to where it was saved.

"The video has the wrong filename"

PinLoad uses the Pinterest pin ID for filenames by default (something like pinload-9876543.mp4). You can rename the file after downloading by right-clicking it in your Downloads folder.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is downloading Pinterest videos legal?

Downloading content for personal use generally falls within fair use in most jurisdictions, especially when you're downloading content for offline viewing without redistributing it. However, you don't own the videos you download from Pinterest — the original creators do. Don't reupload someone else's work as your own or use it commercially without permission.

Do I need a Pinterest account to download videos?

No. PinLoad works with the public URL of any pin. You don't need to be logged into Pinterest, and PinLoad never asks for your Pinterest password.

Can I download Pinterest videos in bulk?

PinLoad's web interface processes one video at a time. If you need to download dozens of videos from a single board, that's outside the scope of a quick downloader tool.

Does PinLoad work on Linux?

Yes. PinLoad is a web app that runs in any modern browser. Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and any other Linux distribution with Chrome/Firefox/Brave installed will work identically to Windows or Mac.

Will my computer get a virus from using PinLoad?

PinLoad doesn't install anything on your computer. The downloaded MP4 file is just video data — it can't execute code or carry a virus. The actual risk with Pinterest downloaders comes from sketchy sites that bundle adware or fake "download" buttons. We dig into how to spot unsafe downloaders here.

How to Download Pinterest Videos on PC (Windows & Mac) — 2026 Guide