How to Download Movies on Amazon Prime Video (Full Guide)
Amazon Prime Video lets you download movies and TV shows directly to your device so you can watch them without an internet connection. It's one of the platform's most useful features — but how it works, and how well it works, depends heavily on your device, your subscription tier, and the specific title you're trying to save.
What You Actually Need Before You Start
Not every Amazon Prime subscriber can download content equally. A few things need to be in place first:
- An active Prime Video subscription — either through Amazon Prime or a standalone Prime Video plan
- The Prime Video app installed on a supported device (not a browser — downloads only work through the app)
- Enough local storage on your device for the file size you're downloading
- A compatible device — Amazon supports iOS, Android, Fire tablets, Fire TV devices with USB storage, and select Windows PCs via the Microsoft Store app
Downloads are not available through web browsers. If you're trying to save something from a Chrome or Safari tab, it won't work — you need the dedicated app.
Step-by-Step: How to Download a Movie on Amazon Prime Video 📲
The process is straightforward once the app is installed:
- Open the Prime Video app on your device
- Find the movie or show you want to download
- On the title's detail page, tap or click the Download button (it looks like a downward arrow)
- For TV shows, you'll choose individual episodes or, on some versions of the app, an entire season
- The download runs in the background — you can monitor progress in the Downloads section of the app
- Once complete, the content is available under My Stuff > Downloads and plays offline
That's the core flow. But a few layers underneath that affect your experience significantly.
Download Quality Settings
Before downloading, you can usually choose a video quality level, which affects both file size and picture quality:
| Quality Setting | Approximate File Size (per movie) | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Good | ~1–2 GB | Limited storage, older devices |
| Better | ~2–4 GB | Balanced quality and space |
| Best | ~4–8 GB+ | Larger screens, ample storage |
These are general ranges — actual sizes vary by movie length, encoding, and content type. You can set a default download quality in the app's Settings > Download Quality menu.
How Long Can You Keep a Downloaded Movie?
This is where a lot of people get caught off guard. Downloaded Prime Video content comes with two important time limits:
- Expiry from your library: Most titles expire 30 days after you download them, even if you never press play
- Expiry after you start watching: Once you begin playback, you typically have 48 hours to finish before the file becomes locked
These windows are controlled by DRM (Digital Rights Management) — the same licensing system used across Netflix, Disney+, and other streaming platforms. You can't extend or bypass these limits without re-downloading (which resets the clock, as long as the title is still available in your region).
Some titles — particularly Amazon Originals — may have more generous or different download terms, but the 30-day/48-hour structure is the standard to expect.
Device Limits and Where Downloads Live
Amazon restricts how many devices can hold downloaded content under one account. The default limit is 2 devices for simultaneous downloads per account, though Prime Video Channels (add-on subscriptions) and some content types may have their own rules.
Downloaded files are stored within the Prime Video app's local cache — you can't move them to a folder on your phone or access them as standalone video files outside the app. This is intentional. The files are encrypted and tied to your Amazon account authentication.
Not Everything Can Be Downloaded 🎬
Just because a title appears on Prime Video doesn't mean it's downloadable. The download button simply won't appear — or will be grayed out — for content where the rights holder hasn't enabled offline viewing. This is common with:
- Rental titles (some rentals support downloads, others don't)
- Third-party channel content licensed under different terms
- Certain regional releases with restricted distribution rights
If the download icon isn't showing, the title isn't available for offline viewing regardless of your subscription level.
How Your Device Affects the Experience
The same download process plays out very differently depending on your hardware:
- Fire tablets are optimized for Prime Video and tend to have a smoother download experience, but limited storage on base models means you'll hit capacity quickly with high-quality downloads
- Android and iOS phones/tablets offer the same feature set but vary in available local storage — newer flagship phones with 128GB+ give you far more flexibility
- Windows PCs support downloads through the Microsoft Store app, but the feature set has historically lagged behind mobile
- Fire TV sticks and boxes generally don't support traditional downloads the same way mobile devices do — they're designed for streaming, not local storage
If you're planning to use downloads regularly for travel or commuting, the amount of onboard storage on your device becomes a practical constraint worth thinking through before you start saving content in high quality.
The Variable That Changes Everything
Understanding the mechanics of downloading on Prime Video is one thing. Whether it works smoothly for your situation depends on the intersection of your device's storage capacity, how long your trips or offline periods tend to be, how many titles you regularly want available at once, and whether the specific content you care about even supports downloads.
Those factors vary enough from person to person that the same feature can feel seamless for one user and genuinely limiting for another.