Image quality · Measured

Which Pinterest Downloader Saves the Original Resolution?

Updated 24 September 2026 · 6 min read

Pinterest keeps up to five sizes of every image: 236, 474, 736 and 1,200 pixels wide, plus the original upload. The pin page usually displays the 736-pixel copy, so a right-click saves that preview, not the file that was uploaded. A downloader delivers the original only if it asks Pinterest for the originals path. Below is how the tiers work, and what six Chrome extensions actually delivered for the same pins across a range of public boards.

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How Pinterest stores images

Why a right-click gives you a 736-pixel file

Every Pinterest image lives on the i.pinimg.com CDN under one of five path segments, and the segment is the size. The pin page loads the 736-pixel copy because that is all the layout needs, so Save image as saves exactly that. The original upload sits one segment away under /originals/, and it is often two to four times larger on each side. Pinterest Image Downloader rewrites the request to that segment before saving.

Path segment	Pixel size	Where Pinterest uses it
/originals/	The uploaded file at its uploaded pixel size	What a full-resolution downloader requests
/1200x/	1,200 pixels wide	Closeup zoom on the pin page
/736x/	736 pixels wide	The pin page itself, and what a right-click usually saves
/474x/	474 pixels wide	Grid thumbnails in the feed
/236x/	236 pixels wide	Small thumbnails and board covers

Measured results

Which extensions actually deliver the original file?

Measured on hundreds of pins across public boards of every kind, preferring pins whose original is wider than 736 pixels: each delivered file was compared with the file Pinterest serves from its originals path, first by pixel size, then byte for byte. Pinterest Image Downloader matched the original every time. Pin Kit matched on 64%, because it fetched the 736-pixel variant for the rest. Pin Toolbox and Pinpasta matched on every file they delivered, but their caps left part of the sample undelivered. A tick marks the best result in that column.

Extension	Byte-identical to the original	Where the rest came from	Video pins saved as MP4	Animated GIF pins
Pinterest Image Downloader Best	Best in column: 100% of sampled pins	Best in column: Everything from the originals path	Best in column: 100%, with sound wherever the source has it	Best in column: 92%, animated and byte-identical (the rest were reached by no tool)
Pin Kit	64%	The 736 px path; a 768×1,364 PNG original arrived as a 736×1,307 JPEG	99%	Best in column: 92%, animated and byte-identical
Pin Toolbox	Best in column: 100% of delivered (15-pin demo)	Best in column: Everything from the originals path	20%, limited by the cap	5%, limited by the cap
Pinpasta	Best in column: 100% of delivered	Best in column: Everything from the originals path	0%: every video pin saved as a still JPEG	Best in column: 92%, animated and byte-identical
Unpinned	Not measured: sign-in wall	—	—	—
PinDownCloud	Not measured: sign-in wall	—	—	—

best result in that column · Pin Kit's 736-pixel fetch varies by board: none of the samples on one art board, a third of them on a GIF board, where a 768×1,364 PNG original came back as a 736×1,307 JPEG one sixteenth the size. Pinpasta's ZIPs contained no video at all: a board made entirely of video pins came out as still JPEGs. Animated GIF pins came through as byte-identical .gif files from every tool that reached them.

Video and GIF

Do Pinterest downloaders keep video sound and GIF animation?

Pinterest streams video pins as segmented playlists and also serves complete MP4 renditions up to 720p. Pinterest Image Downloader saves one complete MP4 at the pin's native resolution, up to 720p, audio track included, whether you hover the pin, paste its link or download the whole board. In our tests that was every video pin, with sound wherever the source has it. A screen recording or a right-click cannot do this; they capture the frame on screen.

Animated pins are stored as .gif files on the same CDN. Pinterest Image Downloader saves the original .gif with every frame and its timing. Save image as on an animated pin returns a single still frame.

Under the hood

How Pinterest Image Downloader picks the file

Originals first. The extension reads the pin's data and requests the /originals/ file, the largest copy Pinterest keeps.
1,200-pixel fallback, never an upscale. If a pin has no original on the CDN, it takes the 1,200-pixel variant. It never stretches a smaller file to look larger.
Same rule for boards and profiles. A board ZIP is built pin by pin from the same originals path, with each board section as a folder, and it resumes if the download is interrupted. A profile ZIP is built the same way, with a folder per board.
Straight from the CDN. Files go from i.pinimg.com to your Downloads folder through Chrome's own download manager. Nothing is uploaded anywhere, and the extension requests access to Pinterest pages only.

FAQ

Common questions

What is the highest resolution Pinterest stores for an image?

The original upload. Pinterest keeps the file at the pixel size it was uploaded at under an originals path, and generates resized copies at 236, 474, 736 and 1,200 pixels wide for its own pages. A downloader gets the largest copy only by requesting the originals path.

Why is a Pinterest image blurry after I download it?

Because most methods save the copy the page displays, which is usually the 736-pixel-wide version, not the original upload. Right-click Save image as, screenshots and many online downloaders all return that displayed copy. Pinterest Image Downloader requests the original file instead.

Does Pinterest Image Downloader upscale images?

No. Pinterest Image Downloader never enlarges a file. It requests the original upload first and falls back to the 1,200-pixel variant only when no original exists, so the file you get is the largest copy Pinterest actually holds.

Does the original resolution apply to whole-board downloads too?

Yes. Pinterest Image Downloader fetches each pin in a board ZIP from the same originals path it uses for a single pin, so a 50-pin board arrives as 50 original-size files rather than 50 previews. In our tests every sampled file from its ZIPs was byte-identical to the original.

Do downloaded Pinterest videos keep their sound?

With Pinterest Image Downloader, yes. Video pins are saved as complete MP4 files that include the audio track, at the pin's native resolution up to 720p. In our tests every video pin came out as MP4, with sound wherever the source has it.

Do GIF pins download as animated GIFs?

Yes. Pinterest Image Downloader saves an animated pin as the original .gif file with every frame and its timing, while a right-click or screenshot captures a single frozen frame.

Get the original file, not the preview

Pinterest Image Downloader requests the originals path for every pin you hover, paste or download as a board or profile. Install takes a few seconds.