Account Download
What it does
Section titled “What it does”Account Download saves your Bluesky account to your computer as a ZIP file. It reads your repository, the store of records your Bluesky server keeps for your account, and every image and video file in it:
- every record on your account, such as your profile, posts and replies, likes, reposts, follows, blocks, lists and their members, Starter Packs, and reply and quote settings;
- your images and videos, unless you leave them out.
Before anything downloads, a check shows what your account holds and how big the download will be. The files go straight from your Bluesky server to your browser; they never pass through BskyKit.
The download holds what your repository holds. Things Bluesky keeps outside it, such as mutes, bookmarks, and direct messages, are not in it.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- Sign in with the account you want to download. See Signing In.
- Check your browser. In Chrome and Edge on a computer, you choose where to save the file, and it is written there as it downloads, at any size. In other browsers, including Safari, Firefox, and browsers on iPad, the ZIP is built in the browser’s memory first, and a download over 1.5 GB comes as several ZIP files.
- Make room. The check shows the download size. Your disk needs at least that much free.
- Keep the tab open until it finishes. The download goes on if you visit another BskyKit page in the same tab.
Step by step
Section titled “Step by step”- Open Account Download and sign in.
- Choose Check my account. BskyKit reads your repository (Reading your repository, with the size read so far), then lists your files (Listing your images and videos).
- Read the summary:
- Records: how many, in how many collections, such as 4,120 in 12 collections;
- Images and videos: how many files and their total size;
- Download size: the whole download;
- the records by collection, most first, such as Likes, Posts and replies, Follows.
- Leave Include images and videos on to download everything, or turn it off for the records only.
- Choose Download. In Chrome and Edge on a computer, pick where to save the file. Elsewhere it downloads to your usual downloads folder.
- Wait while Downloading your files counts files and bytes. With several ZIP files it shows which one, such as ZIP 2 of 3. Choose Stop to end early.
- When it finishes, the page lists the files saved, such as Saved: bskykit-alice.bsky.social-2026-10-28.zip.
Options
Section titled “Options”| Option | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Include images and videos | On: records and every image and video file. Off: records only (Data only), a much smaller download. | On |
| Check again | Reads your account again, for a fresh summary. | |
| Stop | During the check: drops it. During the download: ends it, keeps the summary, and lists what was saved. |
What is in the ZIP
Section titled “What is in the ZIP”| File | What it is |
|---|---|
repo.car |
Your whole repository, exactly as your server sent it. This is the archive other atproto tools can read and import. |
records/<collection>.json |
One readable JSON file per kind of record, such as records/app.bsky.feed.post.json. Each record has its address, its ID, and its contents. |
media/<id>.<ext> |
Each image or video file, named by its ID, such as .jpg or .mp4. A file of a type BskyKit does not know has no extension. |
missing-media.txt |
Only when some files could not be downloaded: their IDs and what your server answered. |
The file is named bskykit-<handle>-<date>.zip. When it comes in parts, the first holds repo.car
and the records, and the rest are named bskykit-<handle>-<date>-media-1.zip, -media-2.zip, and
so on, each under 1.5 GB. The summary says when that will happen.
What gets changed
Section titled “What gets changed”Nothing: Account Download only reads.
- Read from: your own Bluesky server, which serves your repository and files.
- Saved: the ZIP files, on your computer, where you chose or in your downloads folder.
- On this device: nothing is stored. The summary lasts while the tab is open. BskyKit keeps no copy of the download.
Nothing to undo: Account Download only reads. Delete the ZIP files if you no longer want them.
Limits
Section titled “Limits”- Size: in Chrome and Edge on a computer, no limit. In other browsers, ZIP files of up to 1.5 GB each.
- Memory: the repository and records are held in the browser while the download is made, about the size of your repository.
- Pacing: files are fetched four at a time, paced to stay within your server’s limits. If your server asks BskyKit to slow down, the page says Bluesky asked us to slow down. Continuing in N seconds. and carries on.
- Time: in BskyKit’s tests, an account with 1,835 records and 121 media files (34.5 MB) took about 2 seconds to check and 13 seconds to download. Larger accounts take longer, mostly for the media.
See Limits & Pacing.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”Some images or videos are missing
Section titled “Some images or videos are missing”Your server would not give some files, even after retries. The page says how many, and
missing-media.txt in the ZIP lists each one with your server’s answer. Download again later to
try for them.
The download came as several ZIP files
Section titled “The download came as several ZIP files”Your browser cannot save one large file as it downloads, so a download over 1.5 GB is split. Keep all the files together. To get one file, use Chrome or Edge on a computer.
“Could not check your account”
Section titled ““Could not check your account””Your repository could not be read. The message says why, such as your server not answering. Check your connection and choose Try again.
“Could not finish the download”
Section titled ““Could not finish the download””The connection to your server was lost, your server stopped answering, or the ZIP could not be saved. The message says which. Check your connection and the free space on your disk, then choose Try again.
Nothing happened after Download
Section titled “Nothing happened after Download”In Chrome and Edge, closing the save dialog cancels the download. Choose Download again and pick a place to save.