TED began in 1984 as a single conference bringing together technology, entertainment and design, and for its first two decades it was an expensive event that a few hundred people attended. What changed everything was the decision in 2006 to put six talks online for free, at a moment when nobody was confident that anyone would watch an eighteen-minute lecture on a computer.
They were watched millions of times, and the organisation reoriented around that discovery. The eighteen-minute limit, imposed because it was judged the longest anyone would reliably pay attention, became one of the more influential format decisions in modern media. TEDx followed in 2009, licensing the format to independently run events worldwide.
Crucially, TED publishes under a Creative Commons licence and says plainly that it wants the talks spread as widely as possible. This is one of the few platforms where saving and sharing is not merely tolerated but actively part of the stated purpose — which makes the usual caveats largely unnecessary here.
Why people keep TED talks offline
Teaching is the biggest reason by some distance. A talk shown in a classroom cannot depend on school wi-fi holding up in front of thirty students, and a file on a laptop is the difference between a lesson that works and eight minutes of buffering.
Travel is the next. An eighteen-minute talk is an almost perfect unit of time for a flight, a train journey or a commute, and those are precisely the places with no usable connection.
And people build collections. Anyone who uses talks for training, study groups or their own reference ends up wanting a folder of them rather than a browser full of tabs pointing at a website.
Saving a TED talk
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1
Copy the talk address
Take the ted.com address from your browser. TEDx talks published on the main site work the same way, as do talks reached through the TED app.
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2
Present the TED address above
Paste it into the field at the top of this page, which begins reading it straight away.
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Choose a resolution
Talks are generally offered in several resolutions with their file sizes listed. For a talk that is mostly a person speaking, a middle option is usually plenty.
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Put it where you need it
Tap the row when it turns blue. Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone, or a laptop if you are taking it into a classroom.
The licence, and why this one is different
Most platforms tolerate downloading at best. TED is an unusual case in that its licensing explicitly anticipates it.
What Creative Commons BY-NC-ND actually permits
The licence TED uses allows you to copy and redistribute the talks freely, provided you give attribution, do not use them commercially, and do not distribute a modified version. Showing a talk in a classroom, sharing it with colleagues or keeping it for personal study all sit comfortably inside that.
What it does not permit is selling access, cutting a talk up and republishing the pieces as something of your own, or stripping the speaker's name off it. Those restrictions are narrow and reasonable, and they are also the only meaningful limits here.
TED's own site offers downloads directly on many talks, and where that button exists it is the most straightforward route. This page is useful for the cases where it does not, or where you simply want the file without navigating the site.
TED talk download questions
Am I allowed to download TED talks?
Yes, and unusually you can say that without qualification. TED publishes under a Creative Commons licence and explicitly encourages the talks being shared as widely as possible.
Can I show a downloaded talk in a classroom?
Yes. Educational use is squarely within the licence and is a large part of why TED puts the talks out this way.
Does TED offer its own downloads?
On many talks, yes, directly from the page. Where that button is there it is the simplest route.
Do TEDx talks work too?
Those published on the main TED site are handled the same way.
Will I get TED subtitles?
Not inside the file. TED's subtitles, which volunteers have translated into a remarkable number of languages, are a separate track on the site.
What resolution should I pick?
For a talk that is mostly one person speaking, a middle option is usually ample. The sizes are listed so you can judge.
Can I use a talk in something I am selling?
No. The licence excludes commercial use, and that is one of its few real limits.
Where does the TED file save?
Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone, or the usual folder on a computer.
Can I edit a talk and repost the clips?
The licence does not permit distributing modified versions. Sharing the talk whole, with attribution, is what it allows.
Is there a limit on how many I can save?
No cap and no queue.