Updated Sep 28, 2026
The off-Facebook activity file is the reason to do this. It is a list of every other app and website that has been handing Facebook information about you, and it is usually the most surprising thing in the archive. Everything else is fairly predictable once you have seen it.
Top-level structure of the export. Each entry is a file or directory with its format badge and what it contains.
posts/JSONphotos_and_videos/ZIPmessages/JSONads_and_businesses/JSONoff_facebook_activity/JSONsearch_history/JSONgroups/JSONFacebook offers both, and the choice matters more than it looks. HTML renders your data as web pages, so you can open it and read it immediately. JSON is data, which means you can keep it, query it, and move it between tools without losing anything to a page layout.
Pick JSON unless you know you only want to read this once. You can always make readable pages out of JSON later, and you cannot make JSON out of HTML.
When the archive is ready it sits in the available downloads section of the export tool, and it expires after four days. After that the link is dead and you have to request the whole thing again, which means waiting hours for a copy you already had.
This is the single most common way people lose a Facebook export. Put a reminder on the day it arrives.
Open that file before anything else. It lists the apps and sites that sent Facebook your activity, along with what they sent and when. Some of it will be apps you installed years ago and no longer think about.
It is also the clearest argument for doing this. Everyone assumes the interesting data is the stuff you posted. The stuff other companies sent Facebook is the part you did not know was being collected.
If you want the short checklist instead of the full guide, use the service page.
JSON, unless you are only reading it once. HTML is friendlier to open in a browser; JSON survives being moved between tools and software versions, which is what you want out of a backup.
Four days from when Facebook emails you. After that the link expires and you need to request the export again.
Yes, if you tick the messages category when you set up the request. It is not included by default in a narrow export.
Facebook says a few hours. Large accounts can take closer to a day. Their data logs can take up to 15 days, but Meta says those do not hold up the rest of the export.
No. It makes a copy and leaves your account alone.
A log of what other apps and websites have told Facebook about you, and when. It comes from the Facebook pixel and similar tools, and it is usually the most eye-opening part of the export.
Last verified: Sep 28, 2026. Steps checked against www.facebook.com. Report an outdated step →