How to Archive Twitter/X Posts, Likes and Bookmarks Locally (2026)

Twitter's own archive export is famously slow, incomplete, and pointless if what you actually want is the media. Bookmarks are not in the export at all. Likes are listed as IDs without content. There is no way to capture creators you follow. If you want to archive Twitter/X posts, likes and bookmarks locally, you have to build it yourself.

What Twitter's Native Archive Does Not Cover

The official "Request your archive" feature has been around for years. It produces a ZIP that contains your own tweets in a JSON file, plus low-resolution copies of the media you posted. That is genuinely useful if you need a record of what you said. It is useless if you want any of these things:

• Bookmarks. The export does not include them. Years of saved threads, vanished if your account vanishes.
• Likes. Included as a list of tweet IDs, with no content attached. If the original tweets get deleted, you have a list of dead pointers.
• Creators you follow. Out of scope entirely. There is no official way to back up someone else's timeline.
• Original-quality media. The media in the export is downsized.
• Real-time capture. The export is a snapshot. By the time you download it, it is already out of date.

For something that ships under the name "your archive", the export is more of a souvenir than an actual archive.

What an Actual X Archive Should Capture

If you are serious about preserving Twitter/X content, the archive needs to handle four things at minimum:

1. Original-quality media. The video and images at the resolution they were uploaded in, not the compressed thumbnails Twitter serves on the web.
2. The actual content of bookmarks and likes. Not just IDs. The text, the media, the original poster, the date.
3. Creator timelines. Posts from accounts you follow, captured continuously so the archive stays current as new tweets appear.
4. Metadata that matters. Posting date, original URL, profile bio, profile picture history.

The DIY Route

For a one-off download of a single creator, yt-dlp can pull the video out of a tweet. gallery-dl can grab images. With cookies from your logged-in browser, both can authenticate as your account and walk a timeline. Combined, they cover most of the technical surface.

What they do not give you:

• A library to browse what you have already pulled.
• Any awareness of which tweets you have already downloaded, beyond a flat history file.
• Continuous monitoring. The DIY combo is reactive, not scheduled.
• Cross-platform deduplication when the same video also lives on TikTok or Instagram.

For more on the threshold where the DIY combo starts to creak, see Why You Need a yt-dlp Alternative With a Dashboard.

How StreamStash Archives Twitter/X

StreamStash is a self-hosted desktop app for Windows. Twitter/X is one of the eight platforms it covers, and it is on the free tier: no payment, no signup, no trial expiry. Here is what it captures:

• Creator timelines. Add a username and StreamStash pulls the full available timeline of media tweets, then keeps it current as new posts appear.
• Your own bookmarks. Authenticate with your own browser cookies and StreamStash captures the full content of every bookmarked tweet, not just IDs.
• Your own likes. Same authentication, same full content capture.
• Original-quality media. Video at upload resolution, images uncompressed.
• Tweet metadata. Original URL, posting date, author, captured alongside each item.
• Profile data. Profile picture history and bio change history are tracked over time.

Authentication: Why Firefox or Librewolf

Bookmarks and likes need authenticated access, which means StreamStash needs to read the cookies from a browser you are signed in to. There is one important caveat here. Chrome v127 and later use App-Bound Encryption, which blocks all external cookie reads from Chromium browsers, even with admin privileges. This is a Chrome change, not a StreamStash limitation. The supported browsers for cookie-based access are Firefox and Librewolf. If you log in with one of those, StreamStash reads the cookie locally on your machine. The cookies never leave your computer.

What Is Out of Scope (For Now)

One thing is honestly worth flagging:

• Replies and quote-tweet chains. Captured as standalone items, not as threaded conversation trees. Threading is still on the roadmap.

Text-only tweets shipped in v1.7 as an opt-in per-feed toggle with a backfill cap, so pure-text posts now land in the library and player alongside media. Threading is the remaining gap.

Common Use Cases

Backing Up Creators You Follow

Add usernames of the accounts whose timelines you want preserved. New posts get archived automatically. If the account gets suspended or self-deletes, your archive keeps everything that was already pulled. The broader pattern is covered in How to Save a Creator's Content Before They Get Banned.

Preserving Your Own Bookmarks

Bookmarks accumulate over years. They are also tied to your account, which means they vanish if your account does. Authenticated bookmark archiving captures the full content of every bookmark to your local drive, where they are no longer dependent on Twitter's continued existence.

Backing Up Your Own Tweets

You can point StreamStash at your own username and archive your own posts in original quality, with metadata, in a browseable library. This is what the official archive export should have been.

Cross-Platform Creator Research

If a creator posts to Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram, StreamStash can archive all three under one library and link them to the same creator identity. Cross-platform deduplication catches the cases where the same video is posted twice.

Where the Files Live

Everything goes to a folder on your local drive that you choose during setup. Files are stored in standard formats (MP4 for video, original formats for images) so they remain useful even if you stop using StreamStash later. The library database is a local SQLite file. There is no cloud sync, no third-party access, and no telemetry on what is in your archive.

Why StreamStash for Twitter/X

• Free tier covers it. Twitter/X is included in the no-cost tier alongside TikTok. Nothing to pay.
• Real bookmark and like archiving. Full content, not IDs.
• Continuous capture. Add a creator once, the archive stays current.
• Original-quality media. No re-encoding or downsizing.
• Local cookies only. Your authentication stays on your machine.
• Unified library. Twitter/X content sits alongside TikTok, Instagram, and the other supported platforms in one searchable archive.
• One-time payment if you upgrade. No subscription. The Personal tier (£20) adds Instagram and Telegram. The Power tier (£40) adds Reddit, Snapchat, forums, web album hosts, and AI search. Engagement analytics is included on every tier, covering whichever platforms that tier supports.

The Ethical Frame

StreamStash archives public tweets and creator timelines (publicly visible content) plus content you can already access with your own credentials (your own bookmarks, your own likes, your own tweets, public timelines you can read while logged in). This is the same posture as a browser bookmark or Pocket save. The full position is in StreamStash's Acceptable Use Policy.

Getting Started

Download StreamStash, install on Windows, add your first Twitter/X username, and let the initial pull run. If you want to capture bookmarks and likes, sign in to Twitter/X in Firefox or Librewolf and tell StreamStash to use those cookies. The whole setup takes under five minutes.

FAQ

How do I archive my own Twitter/X account locally?

Twitter's official "Request your archive" export gives you JSON of your tweets and low-resolution media but no bookmarks and no usable likes. To get a real archive with full-resolution media, use a self-hosted tool like StreamStash that pulls posts, media, and bookmarks via your authenticated session.

Can I save my X bookmarks to my hard drive?

Twitter's native archive does not include bookmarks at all. StreamStash can archive your bookmarks alongside any creator's timeline you have access to, saving the full content (text, media, links) locally.

Can I archive someone else's Twitter/X timeline?

Yes, public timelines and accounts you follow can be archived through your authenticated session. Add the username to StreamStash and it pulls posts and media to your local drive in original quality.

Does Twitter rate-limit archiving?

Yes, Twitter/X enforces aggressive rate limits in 2026. StreamStash includes built-in quiet-hours scheduling, rest-day randomisation, and automatic backoff on 429s to reduce the risk of triggering protections.

What's the best free Twitter/X archiver?

StreamStash's free tier covers Twitter/X with the full dashboard, search, and rate-limit handling. snscrape and gallery-dl can also pull Twitter content from the command line if you prefer scripting.