Manual method
- In Tumblr’s web settings, select the blog you want to preserve.
- Find its Export section and start an export.
- Wait for Download backup to appear, then save the ZIP.
- Repeat for each primary or secondary blog. Retain the Posts and Media folders with the supplied message/comment files.
What you get: Tumblr’s export can include HTML posts, uploaded media, comments and messaging records. It excludes liked posts. Each blog needs its own export; downloading the first does not cover all blogs. Provider instructions.
Size and waiting time
Planning example: 5 GB; light/heavy scenarios: 0.05–100 GB. These are estimates, not a measured population average or fixed limits. A long-running image-heavy blog with thousands of posts; large GIFs and videos dominate.
Preparation: No fixed processing time is promised in the guide. Tumblr says backups are retained for three days and permits four exports per blog per month.
Network transfer of 5 GB: about 1.6 hours at 10 Mbps, 19 min at 50 Mbps, or 10 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 15 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 tumblr/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.