How to export your data from Reddit

Requesting the GDPR export, what arrives, and how to open it.

easy Wait: up to thirty days, usually a few days

Reddit is required to give you a copy of the data it holds about you, including posts and social activity and messages. The request itself is free, and arrives as .zip containing CSV files. Typical wait: up to thirty days, usually a few days.

Request your Reddit data

Step by step

  1. Open the data request page

    Settings, Privacy, then Request a copy of your data.

  2. Choose your request type

    GDPR if you are in Europe, CCPA if in California. Pick the one that applies to you.

  3. Choose a date range or everything

    Leave it at everything unless you have a reason not to.

  4. Submit and wait

    Reddit says up to thirty days and usually takes a few.

  5. Download the zip

    Everything inside is CSV, one file per category.

Opening your Reddit export

Muletto reads a Reddit export directly - the zip, without unpacking it first - and finds the posts and social activity and messages inside.

It runs in the browser: the archive is never uploaded, there is no account, and nothing is installed. Open several exports at once and they become one library, with the photographs that appear in more than one of them found automatically.

Everything is CSV. There is no JSON option and no media of any kind.

Open your Reddit export

Worth knowing

Everything is CSV. There is no JSON option and no media of any kind.
Comment bodies are raw markdown with embedded newlines and commas, so a naive spreadsheet import mangles them.
Your private messages are in messages_archive.csv rather than messages.csv, which is easy to miss.
Every post and every comment in this export carries the internet address you were connected from when you wrote it. That is not something most people expect in a copy of their own words, and it is worth knowing before the folder goes anywhere shared.

Common questions

What format is a Reddit data export?

CSV, one file per category, and nothing else. There is no JSON option and no images or video.

Does a Reddit export include deleted posts and comments?

Posts and comments you deleted yourself are generally not included. What you still have on the account is.

How long does a Reddit data request take?

Reddit says up to thirty days. Most people report a few days.