Manual method
Download selected Amazon Photos images and videos through the website.
- Open Amazon Photos in the browser and sign in to the correct Amazon account.
- Select the photos or videos you want, then choose Download.
- For an album, open it and select its contents; Amazon’s documented web method does not download an album as an album object.
- Repeat in dated batches until the chosen library is covered.
Coverage and limitations: This method preserves selected media, not a full Amazon account archive. Album relationships and shared-family access need separate checking; selection must be verified rather than assumed to include the whole library.
Size and time to allow
Illustrative small / central / large case: 5 / 100 / 1000 GB (decimal GB). These are planning assumptions, not a measured average per person. 100 GB represents a multi-year phone-photo collection, with video and RAW originals causing large deviations.
Preparation: No fixed preparation time is stated. Allow minutes to prepare batches, then the transfer estimate below; repeated selections add manual time.
For the central 100 GB example, network transfer alone is approximately:
| Connection | Estimated transfer |
|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 31.7 hours |
| 50 Mbps | 6.3 hours |
| 100 Mbps | 3.2 hours |
Assumes 70% sustained use of the stated connection. Provider throttling, many small files, retries, local extraction and copying add time. For online backup use your upload speed. These are not estimates of the provider’s preparation queue. See calculation and large-file advice.
Store and verify the archive
Use an external SSD or hard drive as the main archive. A USB key is suitable for a selected transfer copy, but capacity and sustained speed can be limiting. Keep a second encrypted copy on a separate drive or in private online backup.
Create amazon_photos/YYYY-MM-DD/originals/, preserve the untouched download, and extract a separate working copy when needed. Allow extra free space for archive plus extraction; compressed text can expand far beyond twice its size. Record account/scope, export date, date coverage and missing items in a local README without passwords.
Compare selected/downloaded item counts for each batch and play several videos. Preserve original names and keep an album-to-folder note if organization matters. Reopen a sample from the second copy before deleting or replacing any source. Storage choices and verification.
Sources and review
Public documentation was reviewed on 27 October 2026. No signed-in export or restoration was performed. Account options and availability can change; follow the current provider instructions.