Submission page: https://e621.net/posts/<ID>
Direct image: https://static1.e621.net/data/<First 2 digits of MD5>/<Second 2 digits of MD5>/<MD5>.<filetype>[/section]
Reverse searching
- Indexed by SauceNAO and Fluffle
- Supports searching with all possible metadata, including source and MD5 hash. "See cheatsheet":/help/show/cheatsheet for more in depth searching and remember to include `status:any` to show up all possible posts including deleted ones.
[#more_sites]
More sites
Because of the large number of sites that can be found as sources, the how to's for all other sites listed in the table above can be found on the following wiki pages:
Please head over to one of those three wiki pages to see the other sites.
[#other]
Other sites and ripping multimedia content
Essentially any website can host content that is relevant to e621. Sometimes creators just post their content elsewhere or occasionally it's simply unavailable anywhere else, e.g. if the original source is on a dead site. Even if the site is not on the list, there are still several ways you can ensure you are getting the best variation.
- Seek out a link that says `Download` or `filename.filetype`.
- Try searching for a link or button that says `full`, `zoom`, `size`, `original`, `scale` or something similar, which will toggle the image on page from a preview to its full size.
- If anything like this is nowhere to be found, simply right click and save the content embedded on the site.
With multimedia content, especially Flash, things can get a bit more difficult.
- See if the content itself has a download button in some format.
- Try right clicking to see if the context menu gives an option to download.
- Either open the web page's source code (Usually hotkey `CTRL`+`U`) and search for the file type you are looking for, e.g. `.webm`, or open up your browser's network activity (Usually hotkey `F12`) and look out for `media` content type.
- If these do not work, try searching for tools made specifically for the site you are trying to get content from or general download managers; see below for examples.
[#tools]
Tools
YT-DLP
"Homepage on GitHub":[https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp] and "Download":[https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#release-files]
- YT-DLP is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for "thousands of sites":[https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/supportedsites.md]. The project is a fork of "youtube-dl":[https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl] based on the now inactive "youtube-dlc":[https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc].
- Like Youtube-DL, this tool utilises a "command-line interface (CLI)":[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_interface], meaning you have to launch it through a shell program (such as "Command Prompt":[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cmd.exe] or "PowerShell":[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerShell] for Windows OS).
Usage
The following a simple step-by-step guide for using YT-DLP for downloading "YouTube":[/wiki_pages/26055#youtube] videos on Windows. Steps may differ slightly between sites and operating systems.
- 1) Download both "YT-DLP":[https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#release-files] and "FFMPEG (essentials build)":[https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/ffmpeg-release-github] (required for merging separate video and audio files). Make sure both `yt-dlp.exe` and `ffmpeg.exe` are placed in the same folder.
- 2) Launch Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell, and copy-paste the application path of `yt-dlp.exe` into the command line.
- 3) Insert the YouTube video link using the command `"C:\...\yt-dlp.exe" -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXXX` and press Enter to find the available video and audio files.
- If you encounter a "JavaScript runtime" error, read the extra help section below.
- If the video is age-restricted, you will need to use "cookies" to download the video.
- Make sure you are signed into Google first and then use the alt command `"C:\...\yt-dlp.exe" --cookies-from-browser BROWSER -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXXX`. Change `BROWSER` to the browser you are using (e.g., chrome, firebox, edge, etc.).
- Alternatively, if the above doesn't work, you will need to export the cookies into a text file using browser extensions, such as "Get cookies.txt LOCALLY":[https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/get-cookiestxt-locally/cclelndahbckbenkjhflpdbgdldlbecc] (for Chrome) or "cookies.txt":[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/] (for Firefox). By default, this should create a "cookies.txt" file in your Downloads folder; if not, move the exported text file there. You need to then use the alt command `"C:\...\yt-dlp.exe" --cookies ~/Downloads/cookies.txt -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXXX`.
- 4) Check through the available video resolution and audio files on the list and remember the IDs for the desired format.
- `MP4+M4A` will generate an `.mp4` video, `WEBM+WEBM` will generate a `.webm` video, and a combination between them will generate a `.mkv` video.
- For uploading to e621, choose the highest `WEBM+WEBM` files and make sure they stay within the "file size limit":[/help/supported_filetypes]. [color=red]Videos with smaller resolutions or currently being monetised may be replaced or deleted on e621.[/color]
- 5) Insert the chosen IDs using the command `"C:\...\yt-dlp.exe" -f <video ID>+<audio ID> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXXX` and press Enter to start downloading.
- Alternatively, remember to include `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER` or `--cookies ~/Downloads/cookies.txt` into your command if the video is age-restricted.
- 6) Downloaded videos can be found in `C:\Users\<username>`.
- If errors happen, remember to update your downloader first to the latest version using `"C:\...\yt-dlp.exe" -U`.
If you see the "No supported JavaScript runtime could be found." error
You will need to download "Deno" based on the "instructions given here":[https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS#step-1-install-a-supported-javascript-runtime].
- 1) Go to https://docs.deno.com/runtime/getting_started/installation/.
- 2) Pick your operating system and the appropriate shell command to use.
- 3) Assuming you are on Windows, it is recommended to use PowerShell, so open your Start menu or press the Windows key on your keyboard and search for `Windows PowerShell`.
- 4) Run "Windows PowerShell".
- A blue window should pop-up, similar in appearance to the Windows `Command Prompt` program.
- 5) Enable running remotely signed scripts by copy-pasting the command `Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser` into the prompt window and pressing Enter.
- This removes the need to run following steps as an administrator which could present a security risk.
- 5) Copy the command given from the Deno installation page (which should look similar to `irm https://deno.land/install.ps1 | iex`) and paste it into the prompt window, then press Enter to run it.
- 6) It will start downloading Deno installing Deno. Upon completion, it will tell you where it is installed (e.g., `C:\Users\<username>\.deno\bin\deno.exe`). Remember the path and you may close PowerShell.
- 7) Type `explorer <path to deno.exe>`, replacing `<path to deno.exe>` with the path where Deno was installed to in the previous step, to open the File Explorer in the folder containing the `deno.exe` file.
- 8) Go to where "deno.exe" is installed and move the program to the same folder as "yt-dlp.exe". You may delete the empty ".deno" folder once you have done so.
- 9) YT-DLP should automatically recognise it and you may retry your download without encountering any more errors related to no supported JavaScript runtime.
Alternative Usage via Scoop for Windows
Scoop is a command-line package manager for Windows that does not require administrative permissions to run. The following instructions assume some level of familiarity with Windows PowerShell and command-line interfaces in general. Please read the "Usage" section above to get an idea of how PowerShell works before proceeding.
- 1) Set PowerShell to accept remotely signed scripts by running `Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser`.
- 2) Install Scoop by running `Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://get.scoop.sh | Invoke-Expression`.
- 3) Install YT-DLP by running `scoop install yt-dlp`.
- 4) Enable the `versions` bucket by running `scoop bucket add versions`
- 5) Install the Gyan build of FFMPEG by running `scoop install ffmpeg-gyan-nightly`.
- This build includes many extra bells and whistles, including hardware accelerated encoding/decoding, not included in the normal FFMPEG builds.
- 6) Install Deno to avoid the "No supported JavaScript runtime could be found." error by running `scoop install deno`.
To update software installed via `scoop`, simply run `scoop update -a` every once in a while.
YouTube-DL (Obsolete)
- Despite the name, extremely powerful tool for downloading video and music content from many websites, including YouTube, Twitter / X, Tumblr and Newgrounds.
- Allows selecting quality and stream, meaning that e.g. getting WebM stream from YouTube is possible and there's no in-between conversions happening.
- [color=red]Note: This tool appears to be largely unmaintained and obsolete with the latest release being from December 17, 2021. It is much more recommanded to use YT-DLP instead, which is a fork from this tool.[/color]
Usage
This tool is command line only, if you are unaware of how to utilize this, see JDownloader2 below for graphical interface solution. This only goes trough relevant options for e621 specifically, for more use `youtube-dl -h` or see here. - `youtube-dl -F <URL>` to list available streams, do note that option `best` isn't always the best or correct format, e.g. with YouTube, `best` is highest resolution non-dash MP4 stream, while there might be higher resolution VP9 stream available!
- `youtube-dl -f XXX+XXX <URL>` downloads desired stream onto current folder with original filename.
- `youtube-dl -g <URL>` to get direct URL for the video. This can be used as additional source, in case users want easy access to it or if the video needs to be converter for e621, allows users to download original quality. This does not work with some websites like YouTube.
cobalt.tools
- Easy-to-use, online-only tool allowing for video and audio downloads from many websites, including YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, Twitter / X, and more.
- Can download videos at several resolutions including those above 4K.
- YouTube videos can be downloaded in three different codecs: h.264, AV1, and VP9. Choose the "vp9 (webm)" option to download the WebM stream. (The settings button is at the foot of the webpage.)
JDownloader2
- JDownloader is a free, open-source download management tool with a huge community that makes downloading as easy and fast as it should be. Users can start, stop or pause downloads, set bandwith limitations, auto-extract archives and much more. It's an easy-to-extend framework that can save hours of your valuable time every day!
- Compatible with most download sites including MEGA, MediaFire, etc. but also works similarly to YouTube-DL with video and multimedia sites with more user friendly graphical interface.
- May improve download speed by splitting up downloads and downloading them simultaneously.
- Able to pause and resume unfinished downloads between sessions.
PixivUtil2
- Software dedicated for downloading content from Pixiv as well as doing other Pixiv-related actions.
Usage with ugoira
- Open `config.ini` with your preferred text editor e.g. Windows Notepad or Notepad++. If you don't currently have a config file, you'll have to first open and close `PixivUtil2.exe` to create one.
- If you are downloading explicit material requiring logging in, provide your account details under `[Authentication]`.
- To get necessary files and information, under `[Settings]` change `writeugoirainfo` and `createugoira` into `True`.
- If you want to, change other settings to your liking. `createapng`, `creategif` and `createwebm` options allow the software to also create those filetypes directly if you want to.
- Open `PixivUtil2.exe`.
- Select `2. Download by image_id` by writing `2` and pressing enter.
- Write the submission's ID and press enter (See Pixiv -> URL formatting if you are having issues.)
You should now have a `.zip` file with animation in a JPEG image sequence, `.zip.js` file for frame delays and `.ugoira` to use with compatible software.[/section]
Idem's Sourcing Suite
- Note: This tool is outdated and is now broken for some sites. There are forks available that fix some of these issues; check the linked GitHub or eSix forum pages for these.
- Userscript featuring "a bundle of tools designed to make sourcing posts and images easy for e621." It includes an image comparison tool, "on-site plans" that include an automatic image hash checker, and an image replacement tool for replacing posts that have better versions at their source. Read the homepage on GitHub or the forum thread for more information.
- The "on-site plans" feature provides direct links to all possible variants of an image on its submission page, which might make it easier for some users to directly access the best quality images. The sites supported by this feature include:
DeviantArt ("Download" quality images require users to be logged in to DA.) (Broken.)- Fur Affinity
- FurryNetwork
- Inkbunny
- Pixiv (Requires a reload for the script to take effect and will not work on images that have a spoiler warning.)
- SoFurry
Twitter / X (See the tool's homepage for notes relating to issues with Twitter / X.) (Broken after the domain name change to x.com.)- Weasyl
Undesired third-party websites
- All images are converted to 80 quality JPEG, 4:2:0 (chroma quartered) and downsized to 2000px on its largest dimension.
- Warning: Thumbnails and images retrieved from posts less than 2000px in its largest dimension will be artificially upscaled, which would make it undesirable compared to the original size image that may be smaller. Use the URL format or the userscript below (in a userscript manager such as Tampermonkey) to obtain the "original".
- For images smaller than 2000px in their largest dimension, the Bluesky original will generally be better than Twitter.
URL format
Artist page: https://bsky.app/profile/<username>
Submission page: https://bsky.app/profile/<username>/post/<post-id>
Direct image (Thumbnail): https://av-cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/<decentralized identifier>/<IPFS content identifier>@jpeg
Direct image (Fullsize): https://av-cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/<decentralized identifier>/<IPFS content identifier>@jpeg
Direct image (Original blob, redirect): https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=<decentralized identifier>&cid=<IPFS content identifier>
Direct image (Original blob, CDN)
https://<CDN server name>.<geographical location>.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=<decentralized identifier>&cid=<IPFS content identifier>
A list of Bluesky CDN servers can be found at https://bsky-debug.app . Currently, the only geographical locations are `us-east` and `us-west`
Userscript
[code]
// ==UserScript==
// @name BSky Redirect
// @namespace http://tampermonkey.net/
// @version 2026-03-07
// @description Redirect you to the best version available from bluesky
// @author You
// @match https://cdn.bsky.app/*
// @icon https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?sz=64&domain=bsky.app
// @grant none
// @run-at document-start
// ==/UserScript==
(async function () {
'use strict';
let url = window.location.pathname.split("/")
if (url.length < 6) return
let did = url[4]
let cid = url[5].includes("@") ? url[5].slice(0, url[5].lastIndexOf("@")) : url[5]
if (did && cid) {
window.location.href = `https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=${did}&cid=${cid}`
}
})();
[/code]
[/section][/section]
- All images, whether or not they're filtered, are recompressed JPEGs that may also be cropped from their original form.
- The typical maximum width of images is 1080 pixels. This webpage details other size restrictions depending on how the images are posted.
URL format
Artist page:https://www.instagram.com/<username>/
Submission page: https://www.instagram.com/p/<submission ID>/
Direct image (some of the URL elements that are not within inequality signs [<>] may also vary): https://scontent-<server ID>.cdninstagram.com/vp/<MD5?>/<eight base-16 characters>/t51.2885-15/e35/<"small" assortment of numbers>_<"medium" assortment of numbers>_<"large" assortment of numbers>_n.jpg[/section][/section]
Pinterest
- All images "pinned" to the site are saved as compressed JPEGs.
- Opening an image directly will usually lead to a downscaled version that's an uncommon number of pixels wide. To view the original size, change the characters after the `.com/` in the URL (shown as `<width of downscaled image>x`) to `originals`.
URL format
Submission page: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/<pin ID number>/
Direct image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/<first two characters of MD5>/<third and fourth characters of MD5>/<fifth and sixth characters of MD5>/<MD5>.<file extension>
See also
- forum #169987 - Saving images properly, a public service announcement. (Aug. 2015)
- forum #181740 - Direct upload whitelist requests (to suggest additions to eSix's direct file upload whitelist)
- forum #235250 - Obtaining the highest-resolution images from Tumblr (June 2017)