How to download ads from the Facebook Ad Library

Saw an ad you want to keep? Open it in the Meta Ad Library. You may be able to save its image or video through your browser. If you want the creative, copy and available ad details together, save it to a Swipekit board and download the asset from there.

Here's the workflow I use for client research:

Find the right ad first

1. Open the Meta Ad Library, choose a country or select All ads.
2. Search for the advertiser and open the correct Page.
3. Use the available filters to narrow by platform, media type or active status.
4. Match the creative, opening line and offer. If you found the ad on your phone, keep the advertiser name or Library ID so you can find it again on desktop.

Save the Library ID or source link with your notes. A creative can have several versions, so check that you're looking at the one you wanted.

Option 1: Download it through your browser

For an image, right-click and try Save Image As. For a video, play it and try Save Video As.

Open the downloaded file. Make sure you got the actual creative, not a thumbnail or webpage. If the ad is a carousel, you'll need to download each image seperately.

Know that when you download the mp4, it will have a gibberish name, give ig a useful name, such as the brand, campaign and date, and add ".mp4" at the end of the name.

This is fine for one asset, but for creating a proper swipe file, you'll also need to save the ad copy, advertiser, source link, tc.

Option 2: Save it with Swipekit

Quick plug: Swipekit's Facebook Ad Library downloader adds a save button under the ads in the library. It saves the creative with the available copy, advertiser, ad context, and derived info such as hooks, content types, etc.

Here's how it works:s

1. Install the Swipekit Chrome extension and sign in.
2. Open the ad in the Meta Ad Library and click the Swipekit save button.
3. Open the saved ad in your Swipekit library. Once processing finishes, use the download button on the ad card to download the asset.

Swipekit supports video, image and carousel creatives from supported sources. It will also extract the hooks of the video, content type(if applicable) and other metadata.

Which method should you use?

What you need	Browser download	Swipekit
One image or video	Try the browser's save option	Save the ad, then download its asset
Carousel cards	Check and save each card yourself	Keep supported cards with the saved ad
Copy and advertiser context	Record them separately	Keep available details with the creative
Client research	Organize files and notes yourself	Save to boards and folders
Team handoff	Share files and notes	Share the saved ad or board

If you only need one file, start with the browser. If you want to build a serious swipefile you can use for creative inspo, build a Facebook Ads swipe file. A good swipe file records the ad creative, its offer and why you saved it.

Some questions

Can I download an ad after it stops running? Yes, you can download the ad you saved in Swipekit. It will be there even after the original ad has been taken off the ad library.

Does the Ad Library tell me whether the ad performed well? Not really. But Swipekit does give you more info about the creative performance, such as ad running duration, content type, hooks used, etc. You can ideally plug Swipekit to ChatGPT/Claude and ask it to rank ads by creative performance.

Can I do this from the Instagram app? Yes but via our MCP. On mobile, save the link of the Instagram ad, then open up ChatGPT/Claude and paste the link of the ig ad and tell it to save that ad to your Swipekit account.