Download for WeChat video

Discussion & Solutions
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How to download WeChat video, WeChat channel

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Best options for downloading WeChat videos, ranked by ease of use:

PC-based tools (recommended): WeChatMsg (11.5k+ stars) exports full chat records including video to HTML/Word/CSV. WechatBakTool is a solid alternative with video/image/voice support. Memotrace (留痕) adds analytics on top of export. All three require PC WeChat ≤ 3.9.12.55 — v4.0 broke compatibility, so pin your version before starting.

Android manual method: WeChat stores received videos on the SD card path — this guide walks through locating and copying them directly. For group-specific video extraction, see this Zhihu answer.

WeChat Channels (视频号) specifically: That’s a different system from chat/Moments videos. There’s a dedicated open-source downloader for Channels content.

Comprehensive guide: This recently updated export guide (Sept 2025) covers video, voice, text, and photos end-to-end.

Pro tip: No official WeChat API exists for Moments video downloads — all extraction requires device-level access. If you’re on Android, grab the videos from local storage before clearing the cache, since WeChat aggressively purges old media to save space.

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You asked how to download WeChat video and WeChat Channel video — those are actually two completely different problems, and that’s exactly where everyone gets stuck.

Regular chat videos = long-press the video → “Save Video” → done, it’s in your gallery. Takes 3 seconds. :bullseye:
Channel (视频号) videos = WeChat deliberately blocks saving these — no button, no URL, no trick inside the app itself. The only free methods that work right now all run on desktop. Here’s the part nobody tells you: the “Favorites workaround” that every blog recommends doesn’t actually produce a downloadable file for 视频号 — it creates a streaming reference that can’t be saved. :pushpin:

I’ve been using wx_channels_download by ltaoo — it’s free, open-source, and literally injects a download button into WeChat Desktop. One .exe, run as admin, open WeChat, play the video, click “Download.” Updated weekly (last release: March 30, 2026). :high_voltage:

You want to… What works Time
Save a video from a chat Long-press → Save Video (built-in) 3 sec
Download a 视频号 video on Windows/Mac wx_channels_download (free, open-source) 5 min setup
Download a 视频号 video on Android Play video fully → rename cache file to .mp4 (path: Android/data/com.tencent.mm/.../finder/video/) 2 min
Download a 视频号 video on iPhone Screen record (Control Center) or forward to PC tool Real-time
🔧 Do Exactly This, In This Order (Full Walkthrough)

Chat videos (any platform)

Open chat → tap the video → long-press → Save Video. That’s it. If “Save Video” doesn’t appear, the video has expired or the sender deleted it — forward it to yourself first next time.

Channel (视频号) videos on Windows or Mac

:light_bulb: All desktop tools work the same way under the hood: they install a tiny proxy + certificate that intercepts WeChat’s encrypted video stream. Sounds scary, but that’s literally the only way — WeChat encrypts everything.

Right now (5-minute setup):

  1. Download wx_channels_download — grab the .exe (Windows) or .dmg (Mac)
  2. Run as administrator (right-click → Run as administrator on Windows)
  3. First launch auto-installs the certificate — click Yes/Allow when prompted
  4. Open WeChat Desktop → browse to any 视频号 video
  5. You’ll see a new “Download” button below the video — click it
  6. File saves as MP4 in the tool’s download folder

:light_bulb: If the download button doesn’t appear, close WeChat completely and reopen it AFTER the tool is running. The tool needs to be active before WeChat loads the video page.

Alternatives if ltaoo’s tool breaks after a WeChat update:

Tool Stars Platform Killer feature
res-downloader 15.9k Win/Mac/Linux Also downloads Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu
wx_channel 1.7k Windows Batch download + --uninstall for clean removal
wechatVideoDownload 4.8k Windows No certificate needed for basic sniffing (but titles show as hashes)

Channel videos on Android (no tools, no root)

  1. Open the 视频号 video and let it play completely — the full file must cache
  2. Open a file manager that can access restricted folders (MT Manager, Solid Explorer, or use ADB from a PC)
  3. Navigate to: Android/data/com.tencent.mm/MicroMsg/[long-hex-folder]/finder/video/
  4. Find the newest file (no extension) — rename it to .mp4
  5. Move it to your gallery folder

:light_bulb: On Android 11+, you’ll need to grant the file manager SAF (Storage Access Framework) permission to browse /Android/data/. The app will prompt you — just tap “Allow.” If your file manager can’t access it, use Shizuku (free, no root) or connect to a PC and run: adb pull /sdcard/Android/data/com.tencent.mm/MicroMsg/*/finder/video/ ./

:prohibited: Cache files auto-delete after ~7 days. Don’t wait to rename them.

Channel videos on iPhone

No clean method exists for iPhone. Your options:

  • Screen recording (simplest): Control Center → Screen Recording → play the video → stop recording. Quality = your screen resolution, but it works with zero setup.
  • Forward to PC: Share the video to 文件传输助手 (File Transfer Assistant) → use any desktop tool above on your computer to intercept it.

:warning: Certificate cleanup (important for all desktop tools)

Every desktop tool installs a root CA certificate. After you’re done downloading, remove it — leaving it installed means any software on your machine could theoretically intercept your HTTPS traffic (banking, email, everything).

Windows: Win+R → type certmgr.msc → Trusted Root Certification Authorities → Certificates → find SunnyRoot or mitmproxy → right-click → Delete

Mac: Keychain Access → System → find the certificate → right-click → Delete (or set Trust to “Never Trust”)

Also check your proxy: Settings → Network → Proxy → make sure “Use a proxy server” is OFF. Some tools leave this enabled after crashing, which kills your internet.

:light_bulb: ltaoo’s tool has a built-in uninstall: run wx_channels_download uninstall in terminal. nobiyou’s wx_channel supports --uninstall. These handle both certificate and proxy cleanup automatically.

Situation → Action

Your situation Do this
Just want to save a chat video Long-press → Save Video (no tools needed)
Want a 视频号 video, have a PC wx_channels_download → 5 min setup → done
Want a 视频号 video, Android only Play fully → rename cache file → .mp4
Want a 视频号 video, iPhone only Screen record, or forward to a PC
Need to download many videos regularly wx_channel (batch mode) or res-downloader
Tool stopped working after WeChat update Switch to a different tool from the table above — they patch within days

Downloading channel videos is one of those things that sounds like it should be simple until you realize WeChat really doesn’t want you doing it — are you trying to save specific videos or do you need to batch-download a whole channel?

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