X (Twitter) Video & Image Downloader

X stores video in the same adaptive way most platforms now do: several MP4 renditions at different resolutions, served according to your connection. The highest is typically 1080p, though the ceiling depends on what the poster uploaded and whether they were using a Premium account, which allows longer and higher-quality uploads than a standard one.

The GIF situation catches people out constantly. When you attach a GIF to a post, X converts it to a silent MP4 and plays it on loop with the GIF label overlaid. Nothing about the stored file is a GIF any more. That is why saving one and expecting an animated image gives you a video file instead — and why a downloader has to offer an actual conversion step if you want a genuine GIF back.

Images follow a similar pattern to Pinterest. X appends a name parameter to image URLs — small, medium, large, or orig — and the timeline loads a reduced version. The orig variant is the file as uploaded, which matters if the poster shared a high-resolution photograph and you want more than a timeline-sized copy.

The rename from Twitter to X did not break old links. Both twitter.com and x.com resolve to the same posts, and t.co short links from the share sheet expand to either. All three forms work here. Protected accounts, however, are genuinely inaccessible — those posts are visible only to approved followers and require an authenticated session.