How do I download Facebook videos on Linux?

Copy the video's link from Facebook's Share menu, paste it into the FB DownS downloader at /facebook-video-download in any browser, choose HD or SD, and confirm the save. The MP4 lands in your ~/Downloads folder.

Do I need to install software to download Facebook videos on Ubuntu?

No. There's no package, PPA, Snap or Flatpak to install. Ubuntu's default Firefox already does everything needed — open a page, take a pasted link and save a file to your home directory.

Does this work on Fedora and Linux Mint too?

Yes, and on Debian, Pop!_OS, Arch, openSUSE and anything else with a modern browser. Nothing about the method is distro-specific, because it is just a website rather than compiled software.

Where do downloaded files go on Linux?

By default to ~/Downloads, which appears as Downloads in Nautilus, Dolphin, Nemo or Thunar. You can change the location or enable an ask-each-time prompt in your browser's download settings.

Where can I find open-source software for downloading Facebook videos?

Open-source command-line downloaders do exist and are well suited to bulk archiving and scripting. FB DownS is not one of them — it is a browser tool for one video at a time, with no batch mode or API.

Is there a browser extension for Linux browsers?

Not from us, deliberately. A downloader add-on usually needs permission to read and change data on every site you visit, and a plain web page saves the same file without asking for any permission at all.

Can I use the terminal instead?

You can use a command-line tool if you already prefer one, particularly for automation. For a single clip the browser method is faster end to end and leaves no dependencies or packages on your system.

Why did my download fail in Snap-packaged Firefox?

Snap and Flatpak browsers write files through confinement, so a destination outside your home directory can be blocked. Set the save folder back to ~/Downloads, retry, and move the file afterwards if needed.

Can I download Facebook videos in HD on Linux?

Yes, when the uploader provided an HD version. The maximum is the best merged file Facebook publishes, which is usually 720p HD — the same limit you would hit with any other tool on any platform.

Can I batch download several Facebook videos?

Not with FB DownS. It handles one video at a time with no queue, scheduling or API. If bulk downloading is your real requirement, a dedicated command-line tool is a better fit.

Does it work on a Raspberry Pi or other ARM Linux device?

Yes. Because it runs in the browser rather than as a compiled binary, architecture is irrelevant — an ARM board with Chromium or Firefox saves files exactly like an x86_64 desktop.

Do I need a Facebook login to save a public video?

No. Public videos need no login and FB DownS asks for no account of its own. Private or friends-only content stays restricted to people who are signed in and authorised to view it.

Does the video pass through your servers?

No. The file transfers directly from Facebook's content delivery network to your browser, so nothing is re-hosted on our side and no record of your downloads is kept.

Is downloading Facebook videos on Linux legal?

Saving public content or your own uploads for personal offline viewing is generally fine, and the operating system makes no difference. Redistributing someone else's video or using it commercially without permission can infringe copyright.

How to Download Facebook Videos on Linux

Q: What plays the MP4 on Linux?

VLC and mpv play it with no extra setup. GNOME Videos and Celluloid work too, though on Fedora you may need the usual multimedia codec packages before H.264 plays in the default player.

To download a Facebook video on Linux, open your browser, copy the video's link from Facebook's Share menu, paste it into the FB DownS downloader at /facebook-video-download, pick a quality and save — the MP4 lands in your ~/Downloads folder. There is nothing to install: no .deb or .rpm package, no PPA or COPR repository, no Flatpak, no Snap and no terminal commands. It works the same on Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint, Debian, Pop!_OS, Arch, openSUSE and anything else with a modern browser, because the browser is doing all the work.

Linux users often assume video downloading means a command-line tool and a dependency chain. For bulk archiving that's reasonable; for saving one clip a friend shared it's far more effort than the job needs — and a browser tab leaves nothing behind on your system.

The quick answer for Linux users

A browser-based downloader is just a website, so it is inherently Linux-compatible: no binary compiled against a specific glibc, no dependencies to resolve, nothing that breaks after a distro upgrade. Firefox ships by default on Ubuntu, Fedora and Mint, and Chromium, Chrome, Brave, Vivaldi and Edge for Linux all behave identically.

The tool is free and needs no account. It shows Google AdSense advertising on the page, which is how it stays free. When you press Download, the video transfers directly from Facebook's content delivery network to your browser — it doesn't route through our servers, and no download history is stored on our side.

Step-by-step on Ubuntu, Fedora or Mint

Open facebook.com in Firefox, Chromium or whichever browser your distro ships, and find the video.
Click the Share icon under the post and choose "Copy link" to put the URL on your clipboard.
Open a new tab and go to the FB DownS Facebook video downloader at /facebook-video-download.
Click the input field and press Ctrl+V to paste the link.
Press Download and wait a moment while the available qualities are listed.
Choose HD for the sharpest copy or SD for a smaller file, then confirm the save.
Open Files (Nautilus, Dolphin, Nemo or Thunar) and look in Downloads to find your MP4.

Where the file saves on Linux

Every mainstream Linux browser writes downloads to ~/Downloads by default — /home/yourname/Downloads, shown as Downloads in your file manager's sidebar. Firefox animates an arrow in the toolbar; click it for the recent list or press Ctrl+Shift+Y for the Library. Chromium and Chrome show a download shelf or bubble, with Ctrl+J for the full history.

To choose a destination each time, enable "Always ask you where to save files" in Firefox's Downloads settings, or "Ask where to save each file" in Chromium's — handy if you keep media on a separate partition rather than in your home directory.

Saving Facebook videos without installing software

The main appeal of the browser route on Linux is that your system stays exactly as it was. No new repository to trust, no unsigned binary, no background service, no update to track and nothing to purge later. For anyone who keeps a deliberately minimal install — or is using a machine they don't administer — that matters more than a saved click.

There's no FB DownS browser extension either, for Firefox or Chromium, and that is deliberate. A downloader add-on generally needs permission to read and change data on the sites you visit so it can detect videos on the page — a broad, durable grant across your whole browsing. Since a plain web page saves the same file without asking for anything, the extension would add permissions rather than capability. Plenty of add-ons in this space are maintained responsibly; the point is the permission model, not any particular product.

No .deb, .rpm, PPA, COPR, Flatpak, Snap or AppImage to manage.
Nothing to update, and nothing left behind when you're done.
Works on Wayland and X11 alike — it's just a web page.
Runs on ARM Linux boxes and Raspberry Pi as well as x86_64.
No terminal, no dependencies, no sudo.

Distro and browser notes

Ubuntu ships Firefox as a Snap, which occasionally confuses people about file access: it writes to ~/Downloads normally, but pointing it at an unusual location outside your home directory can be blocked by confinement. Keeping downloads in ~/Downloads and moving them afterwards avoids the issue. Fedora and Mint ship Firefox as a standard package with no such restriction.

Flatpak-installed browsers behave the same way, writing files through a portal — so if a save silently fails, try the default folder before troubleshooting anything else.

Playing the MP4 on Linux

Saved files are ordinary MP4s, so VLC and mpv play them without additional codecs. GNOME Videos and Celluloid work too, though on Fedora you may need the usual multimedia codec packages before H.264 plays in the default player — a Fedora quirk unrelated to the download. Being a normal MP4, the file also imports cleanly into Kdenlive or Shotcut and copies to a phone or USB drive without conversion.

What about open-source downloader software?

Linux users often ask where to find open-source software for downloading social videos. Command-line projects in that space exist and are genuinely capable, particularly for bulk archiving and scripted workflows; if that's your need, a dedicated CLI tool is the right choice. FB DownS is not that — it handles one video at a time, with no batch mode, queue, scheduling, cloud storage or public API. It's built for the common case: one clip, right now, nothing installed.

Troubleshooting on Linux

The download stops or never starts

Check free space with df -h and confirm the target folder still exists — a save location on an unmounted external drive or a disconnected network share fails quietly. If you're using a Snap or Flatpak browser, set the destination back to ~/Downloads and retry.

The downloader page looks broken

An aggressive content-blocking extension or Firefox's strict tracking protection can stop a page's scripts. Click the shield icon in Firefox's address bar and turn protection off for that site only, or pause the blocker for the tab, then reload.

The link isn't recognised

Facebook uses several URL shapes — fb.watch shortlinks, /reel/ addresses, /watch/?v= permalinks and /share/v/ links. If a shortlink fails, open it in a tab, let it resolve to the real video page, then copy that final URL from the address bar and paste it instead.

HD looks softer than expected

You can only save what Facebook actually publishes as a merged file, which in practice is usually 720p HD rather than true 1080p or 4K. That ceiling is set by the platform, so no Linux tool — browser, CLI or GUI — can produce a sharper copy than the source provides.