X photos at original size

Original-size photos technical sheet

Request

pbs.twimg.com/media/<id>?format=jpg&name=orig (or format=png)

Formats

JPG, or PNG when X stored the image as PNG

Photos per post

Up to 4, each with its own button

Size ceiling

X resizes very large uploads; originals we've seen top out around 4096 px

Metadata

X strips EXIF (camera, location) on upload

Get Original-size photos from an X post

1. Extract the post. Paste the link; each photo appears as its own item.
2. Download each image. Click the button under the photo you want; the file is named after the account and post ID.
3. On iPhone. Long-press the downloaded image in Files › Share › Save Image to put it in Photos.

How Original-size photos works on X

X serves the same image at several named sizes (small, medium, large, orig). The timeline usually loads a medium or large size. We rewrite the image address to ask for name=orig, the largest version X keeps.

If the stored file is a PNG (screenshots and graphics often are), we keep format=png so you don't get a lossy JPG copy of a lossless image.

“4K photo” searches are common: if someone uploaded a very large image, the original you get can be that big, within X's own ceiling. A small upload stays small: there's no upscaling.

Limits and honest caveats

• The pixel ceiling is our observation, not a published X specification.
• Images in link cards belong to the linked website and aren't extracted.
• Photos in protected accounts are not available.

Printing and editing originals

At 300 dpi, a common print quality, a 2048-pixel-wide image prints about 17 cm (6.8 in) wide; a 4096-pixel original doubles that. The timeline preview is often 1200 pixels or less, which is why saving the original matters if you plan to print or crop.

Screenshots and graphics are often stored as PNG, so editing those originals avoids the blocky edges that JPG compression adds around text. Photos from cameras are almost always JPG, and saving them again as PNG won't improve them: the detail lost in the upload's compression doesn't come back.

When a post has several images, each downloads as its own file, in the order shown in the post. Keep them together in one folder if the order matters, for example for a comic strip or a step-by-step tutorial.

Animated images are not photos: an animated GIF uploaded to X becomes a short MP4 and appears with video buttons instead of an image button.

Questions people ask