Manual method
- Install Telegram Desktop from Telegram’s official site and sign in normally.
- For an account export, open Settings, Advanced, then Export Telegram Data. For one chat, use its menu and Export chat history.
- Choose chat categories, date/media selections and size limits deliberately. Choose HTML for browsing or JSON for processing.
- Set a private destination and export. Keep the whole output directory, including media, and inspect omitted or size-limited files.
What you get: This exports available cloud chats. Device-specific Secret Chats are not a cloud archive and must not be assumed included. HTML is useful for reading; JSON retains structure for tools. Check media selection limits before declaring the collection complete. Provider instructions. Supporting reference 1.
Size and waiting time
Planning example: 10 GB; light/heavy scenarios: 0.05–200 GB. These are estimates, not a measured population average or fixed limits. A long-lived cloud-chat collection with thousands of shared photos, recordings and files; public-channel downloads can dwarf personal conversations.
Preparation: Telegram says a newly signed-in Desktop session can require a 24-hour wait unless another device confirms the request. After that, downloading large media sets may take hours.
Network transfer of 10 GB: about 3.2 hours at 10 Mbps, 38 min at 50 Mbps, or 19 min at 100 Mbps. This assumes 70% sustained throughput and excludes preparation, manual work and extraction. These are download estimates; online backup takes additional time at your upload speed. Transfer calculations and large-file examples.
Store and check your archive
An encrypted external SSD or hard drive is a good main archive for this collection. Allow roughly 30 GB of working space for the example, including an original, an extracted working copy and room to check it. Very compressed packages can need more. A USB key is useful for a spare copy, but should not be the only one. An encrypted online copy protects against losing the local devices.
Keep the original in telegram/YYYY-MM-DD/original/. Record the account alias, selected scope, date range and missing items. Open old and recent records and sample attachments offline, then compare file sizes or checksums after copying. Keep the source account until you have checked the result. Storage and recovery instructions.
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.