How to Download Videos from Telegram Public Channels

Telegram is unusual: the app already lets you save most videos. So when is a link-based downloader useful? When you're on a computer without Telegram installed, when someone sends you a t.me link and you don't want to join the channel, or when you want the file without opening an account at all.

First, the built-in way

If you're already in the channel in the Telegram app:

Android: open the video, tap ⋮ and choose Save to gallery or Save to downloads.
iPhone: open the video, tap the share/forward icon and choose Save Video.
Desktop: right-click the video and choose Save As…

Channel owners can turn this off ("Restrict saving content"). If they have, please respect that; they've decided their content shouldn't be copied.

Downloading from a post link

This works for public channels, the ones with a name, whose posts open in a web browser.

In the channel, tap or right-click the post and choose Copy Link (sometimes Copy Post Link). It looks like t.me/channelname/1234.
Open the Telegram Video Downloader and paste the link.
Tap Download.

You don't need a Telegram account, a phone number or a bot.

How to tell if a channel is public

Open the post link in a private browser window. If you can see the post on a t.me page, it's public. If Telegram only offers to open the app, it isn't.

What won't work

Private channels and groups. Their links look like t.me/c/1234567890/55 or are invitation links starting with t.me/+. Only members can see those posts, so no outside tool can.
Personal chats and secret chats, for the same reason.
Posts where the channel restricted saving. They may not expose the file on the web at all.
Posts without a video. A post that is only text, a link or a document has no video to fetch.

Very large videos

Telegram allows files up to 2 GB (4 GB for Premium). For big files, the downloader doesn't pass the video through its own servers; it opens Telegram's copy of the file directly in a new tab. From there:

Computer: right-click → Save video as…
Android: tap ⋮ on the player → Download
iPhone: tap share → Save to Files

Staying safe on Telegram

Public channels carry a lot of re-uploaded films, series and paid courses. Downloading those is copyright infringement no matter which tool you use, and such channels are also a common source of malware disguised as video files. A real video ends in .mp4; if a "video" arrives as .apk, .exe or a password-protected archive, delete it.