Sina Weibo launched in August 2009, a few months after China's existing microblogging services were shut down, and it filled that space almost immediately. The name simply means microblog, and the format borrowed heavily from Twitter, though the 140-character limit went considerably further in Chinese than it ever did in English.
It became the country's main public square, in the sense that a topic trending there genuinely reaches hundreds of millions of people. Video arrived as the platform matured and now carries much of its traffic, from news footage and celebrity posts to ordinary users documenting something happening in front of them.
It is also the platform where posts disappear fastest. Content is removed for a wide range of reasons and usually without explanation, accounts are suspended, and a post that everyone is discussing in the morning can be entirely gone by the evening. Saving a copy is less about convenience there than about whether a record continues to exist at all.
Saving video from a Weibo post
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1
Copy the Weibo Weibo post address
Use the share control on the post and copy the link, or take the weibo.com or weibo.cn address from your browser. Short t.cn links produced by the share sheet are accepted too.
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2
Submit it in the box above
Paste the address into the field at the top of this page. It begins reading straight away.
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3
Choose from what is stored on Weibo
The versions Weibo holds are listed with their file sizes, so you can take the sharpest or the smallest depending on your connection.
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4
Commit it to your device
Tap the row once it turns blue. Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Why speed matters on this platform
Weibo removes material faster and more comprehensively than most large platforms, and there is rarely any notice or explanation when it happens.
| What happens | How quickly | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Post removed by moderation | Often within hours | The video goes with it, everywhere |
| Account suspended | Without warning | Every post by that account disappears |
| Repost of a deleted original | Immediately broken | Reposts point back at the source |
| Video set to followers only | At any time | No longer visible to visitors |
| Post simply deleted by its author | Common | Frequently after a post attracts attention |
The practical consequence is that if you think you might want something from Weibo later, later is usually too late. This is the platform where waiting until the evening is a genuine risk rather than a theoretical one.
Why people save Weibo video
Impermanence, overwhelmingly. Material disappears from Weibo faster than from anywhere comparable, and a link saved to a reading list is not a copy of anything. Researchers and journalists working on Chinese subjects treat downloading as routine for exactly this reason.
Reposts compound the problem. A repost points back at the original post, so when the source is removed every repost of it breaks at once, which can take a widely shared clip out of circulation in a single step.
There are ordinary reasons too — saving a clip to send to somebody not on the platform, keeping your own posts, or watching something long without streaming it over an unreliable connection.
Weibo download questions
Do t.cn short links work on Weibo?
Yes. They are what the share control produces and they are handled like any full address.
Do weibo.com and weibo.cn both work?
Both are accepted. The two are the desktop and mobile forms of the same platform.
Can I save a video from a followers-only post?
No. That restriction requires an approved follower account, and nothing here signs in.
Why do so many Weibo links stop working on Weibo?
Because posts and accounts are removed frequently and without notice. It is the normal condition of the platform rather than a fault.
What happens to a repost when the original goes on Weibo?
It breaks. Reposts point at the source rather than holding their own copy of the video.
Will the Weibo poster be notified?
No. Nothing is reported and no account is used on this side.
What quality does Weibo store?
Whatever Weibo stored, which is compressed on upload as on every platform.
Where does the Weibo video go?
Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Is there a download limit on Weibo?
No cap and no queue.
Is it acceptable to save from Weibo?
Personal and archival copies of public posts are ordinary, and for anyone documenting events there it is often the only way a record survives. Republishing somebody's footage as your own remains a separate matter.