Is It Legal to Download TikTok Videos?

What the terms of TikTok say

TikTok has several versions of its Terms of Service, depending on where you live. All three versions quoted below were checked on November 2, 2026, and the wording may change after that date.

The terms for most countries, last updated on December 1, 2025, give users a licence to access TikTok content “solely for your personal, non-commercial use through your use of the Services”. About the content on the platform they say: “Such content may not be downloaded, copied, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed or otherwise exploited for any purpose whatsoever without our or, where applicable, our licensors’ prior written consent.” The same terms forbid using “automated scripts to collect information from or otherwise interact with the Services”.

The terms for the United States, last updated on July 15, 2026, say that you must not “scrape, crawl, export or otherwise extract any data or content in any form, for any purpose, from the Platform using any automated system or software”, except as approved in writing. They also forbid using content of other users for commercial purposes unless the user permits it.

The terms for the European Economic Area, updated in July 2026, forbid extracting “any data or content from the Platform using any automated system or software that is not provided by TikTok or approved in writing by TikTok”.

In plain words: the terms allow watching inside TikTok and offer their own tools for saving and sharing. Copying content in other ways, including with third-party software, is something the terms restrict. Breaking the terms of a service is not the same as breaking the law, but it is a contract between you and TikTok, and TikTok can act on it, for example by limiting an account.

The Save video button and why it is sometimes missing

TikTok has its own way to keep a copy: tap the Share arrow on a video and choose Save video. This is the option the terms clearly intend, and it respects the choice of the creator.

Every account has a Video downloads setting under Settings and privacy, then Privacy, then Downloads. When it is on, other people can save the posts of that account. When it is off, the option disappears for them, although they can still share the video by link. For private accounts and for users under 16 the setting is off and cannot be turned on.

A missing Save video button is therefore a message from the creator. Getting the file another way does not change what they decided, and it is worth respecting.

Who owns the video and the music

Posting a video on TikTok does not give its copyright away. The terms say that users or their licensors own the content they upload, while TikTok gets a licence to show it on the platform. A viewer gets no ownership at all, only the right to watch it through the service.

Many videos contain more than one work. The picture belongs to the creator, but the song in the background usually belongs to a record label and a music publisher. Permission to use a song inside TikTok does not automatically cover other uses of a downloaded file, so the music needs separate attention whenever a clip leaves the app.

For yourself, repost or commercial use

The risk depends far more on what you do with a copy than on how you got it.

Does giving credit to the creator make a repost legal?

No. Tagging the creator or writing their name under the clip is polite, but it is not permission. The U.S. Copyright Office explains that unless an exception such as fair use applies, you need a licence from the copyright owner. The simplest way to get one is to ask the creator directly and keep their written answer.

How fair use works

In the United States, copyright law allows some uses without permission under the doctrine of fair use. Courts decide each case separately and weigh four factors set out in the law:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is commercial or for nonprofit education;
2. the nature of the original work;
3. how much of the work is used compared with the whole;
4. the effect of the use on the market for, or value of, the original.

Commentary, criticism, news reporting and teaching can qualify; a full repost of someone else’s clip is much harder to defend, because it uses the whole work and can replace the original. No factor decides on its own, and the result is never certain in advance. The Fair Use Index of the U.S. Copyright Office collects court decisions if you want to see how real cases went.

Fair use is an American rule. Many other countries do not have it and rely on narrower exceptions with their own conditions, so check the law where you live.

What can happen if you repost without permission

According to the Intellectual Property Policy of TikTok, content that infringes copyright may be removed after a report from the rights holder, and the user gets a notification in the app. TikTok also has a policy against repeat infringers and may ban an account straight away in cases of severe violations. Other platforms have similar rules, and outside the platforms a rights holder can take a claim further under the law of their country.

TikTok also removes sounds that break copyright rules, so a reposted clip may end up muted even when the picture stays.

Saving your own videos

Your own posts are the easy case. You own them, and the Video downloads setting does not limit your own download and sharing options. Open the post, tap Share and save it. Keep in mind that the music in your video still belongs to someone else: a sound you were allowed to use on TikTok may not be cleared for YouTube, Instagram or an advert.

Private videos

Videos on a private account are meant only for followers approved by the owner, and TikTok does not let other people save them. Copying such a video and passing it on goes against what the owner chose and may also raise questions of privacy, not just copyright. Our advice is simple: do not do it.

Does an online downloader give you the rights to a video?

No. A downloader, including this one, is only a tool that fetches a file from a public link. It does not grant any licence, it cannot give you permission on behalf of the creator or the music owners, and it does not change the terms of TikTok. As the quotes above show, the terms restrict copying content with software that TikTok does not provide. Whether and how you use a saved file is your responsibility.

If you are still unsure, the safer order is always the same: the Save video button first, the permission of the creator before any repost, and a licence before any commercial use. For practical problems with saving, see our guide on what to do when a TikTok download is not working.

A quick check before you save a video

• Is the video public, and does it offer Save video in the Share menu?
• Is the copy only for you, with no plans to post it anywhere?
• If you want to repost it, do you have written permission from the creator?
• Does the video contain music that belongs to someone else?
• Will the use bring you money, directly or through a client?