How to Download a Video from the Meta Ad Library

The short answer: you can't download other brands' ads from the Meta Ad Library. The Library has no download button, because it's built to let anyone see ads, not to hand out the advertisers' videos. Your own ad videos are a different story: Meta lets you download videos you created, and keeps the files you used in ads in your Media Library. This guide shows both, and how to save and learn from competitors' ads without copying them.

Why the Ad Library has no download button

The Meta Ad Library is a transparency tool. It shows the ads running on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network to anyone, with or without an account, so people can see who is advertising and what they say. It was never meant as a creative library to copy from.

• The ads belong to the advertisers. Their videos, images and words are their work, usually protected by copyright.
• Meta's terms don't allow automated collection. Collecting data from Meta's products by automated means needs Meta's permission, and that includes the browser extensions and websites that download Ad Library videos.
• Reusing them can hurt your account. Meta rejects ads that use someone else's intellectual property, and repeated rejections can restrict an ad account.

How to download your own ad videos

If the ad is yours, there are four routes, from best quality to quickest. Meta renames these menus from time to time; the linked help pages always have the current steps.

1. Start from the original file

The best copy is the file you or your designer exported before uploading it. Meta compresses videos when you upload them, so the original is sharper, and it keeps any music you have the rights to.

2. Download it from Facebook

Since September 2025, new Facebook videos are reels. Open the reel on your profile or Page, choose Options, then Download reel (Meta's steps). Videos posted before then keep their old options: if one couldn't be downloaded before, it still can't. Audio with licensed music may come out muted.

3. Get all your Page's videos at once

Meta can export a copy of your Facebook Page, including the photos and videos it posted (download a copy of your Facebook Page). It takes a while to prepare, but it gets everything in one go.

4. Reuse it without downloading

If you only want to run the video again, you don't need to download it. The Meta Media Library keeps the images and videos you uploaded for ads, and you can pick them again when you create a new ad (about the Media Library).

How to save another brand's ad (without downloading it)

1. Search the Ad Library by the brand's name. Our free Meta Ad Library search opens it with the country, active ads and media type already set.
2. On the ad, open See ad details, then the three-dot menu, and copy the ad's link. It contains the ad's Library ID (facebook.com/ads/library/?id=…).
3. Paste the link into a sheet with your notes: the hook in the first seconds, the offer, the format and the day it started running. The link keeps working for as long as Meta keeps the ad in the Library.

What to learn from competitors' ads

Meta doesn't show other brands' sales or ROAS, but the Ad Library still gives you strong clues:

• Started running on. An ad that has run for weeks or months usually pays for itself; brands switch off the ones that don't.
• Several versions. “This ad has multiple versions” means the brand is testing hooks, images or text on one idea, and spending enough to test it.
• The format mix. Filter to videos, then to images, to see where the brand puts its effort.
• The landing page. Follow the ad's button to see the offer and the price the ad leads to.
• EU details. Ads shown in the European Union also show reach and the age, gender and location of the people reached.

Use what you learn to brief your own videos with your own products, faces and words. That beats a copy, and it's yours to scale.

What matters more: which of your own ads sell

Competitors' results stay hidden; yours shouldn't. Ads Manager can only report the purchases Meta receives, and browsers and ad blockers stop the Meta Pixel from sending some of them. The Conversions API (CAPI) sends them from a server instead, so Meta sees the sales your ads really bring in, and optimises toward people who buy.

PixlBridge does that for Shopify stores without code, and shows the ROAS of every campaign, ad and creative next to your store's revenue. To see what your store sends Meta today, run the free Meta Pixel & CAPI checker, or read how PixlBridge's Meta Conversions API works.

Common questions

Is it legal to download ads from the Meta Ad Library?

The ads are the advertisers' work, and Meta offers no download. Saving an ad's link to study it is fine; copying the video into your own ads without permission can break copyright and Meta's advertising policies. This isn't legal advice: to reuse someone's creative, ask them for permission.

Can I download my own ad from the Ad Library?

Not from the Library itself, but you don't need to: use the original file, download the reel from Facebook, export your Page, or reuse the video from your Media Library, as shown above.

Does the Ad Library show how much a brand spends?

Only for ads about social issues, elections or politics, which show spend and reach ranges. Other ads show when they started, their versions and where they run; ads shown in the European Union add reach and audience details.

Why can't I find a brand's ads?

Search for all ads instead of active ones, all countries instead of one, and try the name of the brand's Facebook Page. A brand may not be advertising right now, or may advertise under another name.