Download Pinterest video on a computer
On a desktop there is nothing to install. No extension, no app, no sign-in — paste the pin link, pick a size, and the file lands in your downloads folder like any other.
Pin no. —
Holding empty
- Title
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- Format
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- Largest file
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Take a copy
HEVC — smaller, but some older Android and Windows players cannot open it.
The one place Full size is usually right
On a phone, taking the smallest copy is sensible: you are watching on a small screen and storage is finite. On a computer both of those reverse.
You are likely here because the video is going somewhere else — into a video editor, a slide deck, a client presentation, a moodboard, or a file you will keep. All of those are better served by Full size, which is Pinterest's H.264 copy. Editing software is the fussiest category of program about codecs: it will import H.264 without complaint and may well refuse the HEVC copies, or import them and then behave strangely on export.
An 8 MB file is nothing on a computer. Take the big one.
Where it lands
Windows: C:\Users\<you>\Downloads, and Chrome or Edge shows it in the downloads bar or the arrow in the toolbar.
Mac: the Downloads folder, and it bounces in the Dock as it arrives.
Either way the file arrives named after the pin — something like easy-homemade-takoyaki-16184879906248314.mp4 — rather than the hex string Pinterest's own CDN would hand you. The number on the end is the pin id, so you can always find your way back to the original.
Why HEVC is a bigger risk on Windows
Windows is the platform most likely to refuse the smaller copies. HEVC playback on Windows needs a codec extension that Microsoft charges a small fee for, and most machines have never had it installed. So on a Windows PC the Medium and Light copies may open in some players and fail in others on the same machine.
Macs have decoded HEVC natively since macOS High Sierra, so the small copies are safe there — but the editing argument above still applies. Which Pinterest video file will actually play on your device has the full picture.
Getting the pin link
On a computer the link is easy: the address bar already has it. Open the pin so the URL reads pinterest.com/pin/ followed by a long number, copy the whole thing, and paste it above.
You can also right-click a pin in a board or a feed and choose Copy link address, which saves opening it at all.
Frequently asked
Do I need a browser extension? No, and be careful with the ones that offer to do this. An extension that can read Pinterest can generally read every page you visit, which is a great deal of access for something a paste box does without any.
Does it work in Safari, Firefox and Edge? Yes. Nothing here depends on a particular browser — the file is relayed from this site as an ordinary download.
Can I download a whole board at once? Not yet. One pin at a time.
Will it work on Linux? Yes. And of the three desktop platforms, Linux is the one where taking Full size matters most — HEVC support depends on which codecs your distribution shipped.