How to Download TikTok Videos (Without a Watermark)

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You've probably got TikTok, like a billion other people. You're probably addicted. Swiping through fast-paced, looping content that runs the gamut from over-used memes to surprising original content is hard to pass up. So much so that the format has been stolen by other services, from Reels on Instagram and Facebook to Snapchat's Spotlight.

What if you're a TikTok content maker who wants to share your perfect video elsewhere? Or what if you simply must have a favorite video to keep forever? (You know, for your own personal use, not for profit, so as not to infringe the intellectual property rights of the original maker, because that would be a crappy move on your part.) How do you download that video, and without the TikTok logo watermark dead-center on the video? Here's how.

This is the easiest way to download a TikTok video, because you can instantly do it on your mobile device, right from within the TikTok app.

Hold down a finger on the video, and in the menu that pops up, tap Save Video at the top. (Note: this only works if the creator marks the video as "Public." If it's listed as "Private," you won't see the save option.) The video is placed in your phone's camera roll, and you'll see options to share the video from there to SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, or other services.

If you just want a little snippet of a TikTok video to use as an animated GIF, that's also an option—click the share button (the arrow pointing right) and look at the gray icons at the bottom. One is Save video, like above, but scroll a bit and you'll see the option for Share as GIF.

You can't save videos on the desktop via Tiktok.com (Opens in a new window), though you can easily share directly to your WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn, or Pinterest account. That's the right thing to do if you want others to see it.

If you want to save a video via the desktop, you could always do a video screen capture—complete with the watermark, which lasts the length of the video and moves around.

The upside for the content creator is that the TikTok logo watermark, complete with the creator's name, equals instant branding. But not everyone wants the watermark. Especially if it's your video in the first place, and you plan to re-post it to other services, to maximize reach without duplicating effort. What's the fix?

To ditch the watermark on videos you've already downloaded, video tools like iMyFone MarkGo (Opens in a new window) ($29.99 on Windows or $38.95 on macOS), RemoveLogoNow (Opens in a new window) ($59.99 on Windows), Video Eraser (Opens in a new window) (free or $2.99 for pro edition on iOS), or Apowersoft Online Video Watermark Remover (Opens in a new window) (on the web) can do the job. But results can look sloppy because they essentially blur the watermark by adding extra pixels to the video frames. That's not great when you pay for your software like those above, though many are cheaper by the month if you only need them for a limited time.

This method might work okay for some videos, especially if the background is still. But it can ruin auto-generated captions or overlay text in the video, close to the center of the frame.

A slightly better option is video-editing software like the free VideoProc Vlogger (Opens in a new window), which covers the watermark with your own logo or some other image, even an animated GIF. It's like adding a GIF sticker to the video that could have been added when the video was uploaded to TikTok.

The best bet is to download the video without any watermark in the first place, for free. For this to work, you need third-party apps and helper websites, for which you'll need the URL for the individual TikTok videos.

Musically Down (Opens in a new window) is a helper website with a good look (despite some ad-traps trying to get you to click) and a concise how-to video. But all of these sites work the same. Enter a link for a TikTok video or a song listed on the service, and you'll get a quick preview, including the video's title, and options to grab it as an MP4 video or sometimes as an MP3 audio file.

Other helper websites include SaveTik (Opens in a new window), SnapTik (Opens in a new window), TokSaver (Opens in a new window), and GGTik (Opens in a new window). Download helper sites tend to work just fine on mobile, and even handle TikTok vids that are marked as private.

If you prefer the mobile app route, GGTik has one for Android side-loading, plus there's SaveTok (Opens in a new window) (on iOS and Android) and RepostTik (Opens in a new window) (iOS), among others. Apps seem to occasionally run into legal troubles and get shut down or lose features, so the websites are the preferred method. Not that they're immune to such problems, though.

PC users who want some dedicated desktop software for this task should consider 4K Tokkit (Opens in a new window), a $15 program for Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu Linux. You can pay more for unlimited downloads per day, and even download entire batches based on hashtags. It's from the makers of our favorite tool for downloading YouTube videos, 4K Video Downloader. In fact, that full-featured 4K Video Downloader will also grab video from TikTok. But it doesn't strip out the watermark, at least not in the free version.

Mac-specific users can check out VideoDuke (Opens in a new window) ($29.95), which promises to get rid of the watermark, but only provides two downloads for free. Other downloaders that support TikTok and offer a free trial with limited downloads/features include SnapDownloader (Opens in a new window), DVDVideoSoft's Free TikTok Downloader (Opens in a new window), and Qoob Clips (Opens in a new window).

One more tip: Beware copyrighted sounds. If you download a TikTok video—even if it's your own—and it includes audio that is the intellectual property of someone else, it doesn't matter if it was okay on TikTok, which provides a library of sounds. Services like Facebook have AI algorithms that monitor uploads for that kind of thing. At best, they'll let you upload a video sans audio; at worst, they'll shut you out. Use TikTok's sister app CapCut or others video editors like Inshot (Opens in a new window) (iOS and Android) or Splice (Opens in a new window) (iOS and Android) to strip out the audio, as well as do more serious editing. All are available for iOS or Android.