Yes — and there’s more in that archive than most people expect
Whether you’re backing up years of posts before leaving the platform, pulling your data for analysis, or just curious what X actually knows about you, the archive download feature is one of the more useful things X offers. It’s buried deep enough in settings that plenty of people don’t know it exists — but it works, it’s free, and it covers more ground than just your tweets.
Yes, You Can — Here’s Where to Find It
X allows every account, free or paid, to request a full archive of their data. To get to it:
- On desktop, go to Settings → Your Account → Download an archive of your data
- On mobile, go to Settings and Support → Settings → Your Account → Download an archive of your data
You’ll be asked to verify your identity — usually via a confirmation email or SMS code — and then X will begin preparing your archive. Depending on how long you’ve been on the platform and how active you’ve been, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to around 24 hours. X sends you a notification and an email when it’s ready to download.
The archive comes as a ZIP file. Inside, you’ll find an organized folder structure with your data split across dozens of separate files, most in JSON format, along with an HTML interface that lets you browse everything in a more readable way without needing to parse raw data files.
What’s Actually Included
The archive is comprehensive. Most people expect to find their tweets and are surprised by the breadth of what else is in there.
Your posts and activity covers every tweet you’ve ever posted, your entire retweet history, quote posts, replies, likes, bookmarks, and any polls you’ve created or voted in. The tweet data includes timestamps, the device used to post, any media attached, and engagement data including how many times each post was liked, retweeted, and replied to.
Your account information includes your profile history, the email addresses and phone numbers ever associated with the account, your login history with IP addresses and approximate locations, and any account settings changes over time.
Your direct messages are included in full — both one-on-one conversations and group DMs — going back to the beginning of your account. This catches a lot of people off guard. If you’ve had years of private conversations on the platform, they’re all in there.
Your connections data covers everyone you follow and everyone who follows you, along with accounts you’ve muted, blocked, or reported.
Ad-related data is one of the more eye-opening sections. X includes the full list of advertisers who have targeted you, the interest categories X has inferred about you for ad targeting purposes, and your ad engagement history. If you’ve ever wondered how specifically X has profiled you for advertising, this section makes it explicit.
Media files — photos and videos you’ve uploaded — are included as actual files in the archive, not just links. This is useful because it means you have the original files even if you later delete posts or close your account.
What’s Not Included
The archive has some gaps worth knowing about. Content that other people posted — even things you were mentioned in or responded to — isn’t included. You get your side of conversations, not the full thread. Posts you’ve deleted are not in the archive either; X doesn’t retain deleted content in your downloadable data. If you’ve been on the platform a long time and have deleted heavily over the years, the archive will reflect only what was live at the time it was generated.
Spaces audio is not archived, and live broadcasts are similarly absent. The archive is a snapshot of account and content data, not a recording of real-time activity.
Working With the Data
If you just want to browse your history, the HTML viewer that comes bundled in the ZIP is the easiest approach. Open the Your archive.html file in any browser and you get a clean, searchable interface that lets you read through tweets, DMs, and other data without touching a single JSON file.
If you want to do more with it — searching across large volumes of posts, running analysis, exporting to a spreadsheet, or importing into another tool — the JSON files are well-structured and straightforward to work with. Each tweet, for example, is its own JSON object with fields for the text, timestamp, media, and engagement metrics. Anyone comfortable with basic scripting can parse these into whatever format they need.
Several third-party tools have also been built specifically around X archive data, offering cleaner visualization and search than the default HTML viewer. These are worth looking into if you’re doing anything beyond casual browsing.
How Often Can You Request It
X limits how frequently you can generate a new archive. You can request one roughly every 30 days. If your account is very active, the archive you download today won’t include anything posted after the request was made, so it’s worth being deliberate about timing if you want the most current snapshot possible.
The Bottom Line
Downloading your X data is straightforward, free, and available to every account regardless of subscription tier. The archive is more complete than most people expect — covering posts, DMs, ad targeting data, login history, and original media files going back to when your account was created.
If you’re leaving the platform, doing an audit of your content, or just want a local backup of years of activity, requesting the archive takes about thirty seconds to initiate. The hardest part is waiting for X to prepare it.
Your entire X history in a ZIP file — it’s worth downloading at least once just to see what’s in there.
Meet Ry, “TechGuru,” a 36-year-old technology enthusiast with a deep passion for tech innovations. With extensive experience, he specializes in gaming hardware and software, and has expertise in gadgets, custom PCs, and audio.
Besides writing about tech and reviewing new products, he enjoys traveling, hiking, and photography. Committed to keeping up with the latest industry trends, he aims to guide readers in making informed tech decisions.