To export a Telegram chat with TelegramBuddy, open the chat on your Mac or PC and save it as a readable HTML page or as JSON, with media linked inline. If you only need part of a conversation, select the messages and save their text to a file in chat order. Everything is written to your own disk, straight from Telegram.
What it does
Telegram keeps your history in its cloud, which is convenient until you need a copy you control: for records, for a project handover, or simply because a group has years of conversation in it that you do not want to depend on an app to read. TelegramBuddy gives you three ways to save Telegram messages to your computer:
- HTML export — the whole chat as a page you can open in any browser, read top to bottom and search with the browser’s own find.
- JSON export — the same chat as structured data, for search tools, scripts or your own archive.
- Selected text — pick specific messages and save their text to a file, kept in the order they were written.
Exports can sit alongside the media from the same chat, downloaded into that chat’s folder, so the text and the files end up in one place.
Who it is for
- Anyone who wants a Telegram chat backup of a group or conversation that matters to them.
- Teams keeping a record of decisions, links and files shared in a work channel.
- Researchers and analysts who need a channel’s posts as JSON to work with.
- Channel owners who want to back up a Telegram channel they run, outside of Telegram.
- People changing phones or accounts who want the history in a form they can read without Telegram.
How to export Telegram chat history to HTML or JSON
- Install TelegramBuddy for macOS or Windows from the download page.
- Add your api_id and api_hash from my.telegram.org — about two minutes, once. See getting your api_id and api_hash.
- Sign in to your own Telegram account by QR code or phone number. The session stays in a file on your computer.
- Open the chat. Pick it from your list, or paste an @username, invite link,
t.me/c/message link or numeric id. - Choose what to save. Export the whole chat as HTML or JSON, or select messages in Chat view and save just their text.
- Add the media if you want it. Use a bulk download to save the chat’s photos, videos, documents, music and voice messages to the same chat folder.
For a longer walkthrough, read how to export Telegram chat history.
Details that matter
Readable, in order. Chat view shows the full history oldest to newest, with text and files together and day separators, and the exports follow that same order. That makes an HTML export read like the conversation did.
Media linked inline. The HTML and JSON exports link each file at the message it was posted with, rather than in a separate list, so the context stays with the media.
Private chats included. Any chat your account can open can be exported, including private channels and groups you are a member of. The private Telegram channel downloader page explains how to open ones that are not in your list.
Files organised the same way as downloads. Each chat has its own folder, optionally split into Photos, Videos, Files, Music and Voice. Files keep Telegram’s original names and are dated to the message they came from. The download folder is up to you.
Recovering from interruptions. Large files keep their partial data and continue after a pause, a dropped connection or closing the app, and files you already have are skipped on the next run. If Telegram asks the app to slow down, it waits and continues on its own.
Respect the owner’s choice. If a chat has “Restrict saving content” turned on, the owner does not want its content to leave. Ask them if you need a copy, and only export material you have the right to keep.
How it compares
| TelegramBuddy | Telegram’s built-in export | Copying by hand | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output | HTML, JSON or selected text | HTML or JSON | Whatever you paste into |
| Part of a chat | Select the exact messages | Whole chat, filtered by type and date | Yes, slowly |
| Media alongside | Linked inline; bulk download by type and date | Included by type | No |
| Top up later | Re-runs skip files you already have | New export each time | No |
| Where it runs | Your computer, direct to Telegram | Your computer | Your computer |
Telegram’s own desktop export is a good tool for a single full dump. TelegramBuddy is useful when you also want to browse the chat, choose specific messages, or keep pulling in new media over time. Cloud bots are a different route again: they only see what is forwarded to them and hold a copy somewhere else before you get it.
If the chat you are exporting is mostly video, the Telegram video downloader page covers saving that side of it.
Stays on your machine
There is no TelegramBuddy server in the path. The app talks to Telegram directly, writes the export straight to your disk and never uploads it anywhere. It is not a bot, and it sees exactly the chats your account can see. The interface is available in eight languages and follows your system language.
Get started
Download TelegramBuddy below, sign in with your own account, and export the chat you want to keep.