How to Save Live Photos as a Video on Your iPhone: A Step-by-Step Guide

Apple launched the Live Photos feature for iPhone models in September 2015 with the iOS 9 update. Over the years, the feature has become an integral part of the iOS user experience, allowing you to record 1.5-second-long videos when you are taking a still photo. The feature is turned on by default in the iOS Camera app. However, since you are now also recording a short video along with a still photograph, the Live Photos feature takes up more space than saving still images, while also being less convenient when sharing them with others. Hence, Apple allows you to save Live Photos as videos. You can also save multiple Live Photos as a single video.

If you are wondering why you should save a Live Photo as a video on your iPhone, and how to do the same, we have created a step-by-step guide, along with listing various reasons.

Why You Might Want to Save Live Photos as a Video

There are multiple reasons why you may want to convert your Live Photos into a video. While Live Photos on iOS might appeal to some users, they are not the most convenient to share with friends who use incompatible devices. Live Photos also occupy more space on your iPhone than a still image.

Even if your friend's device supports Live Photos, it might not always play them as smoothly as your iPhone. By converting these Live Photos to videos, you can easily share them using popular platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and X without losing the video information.

Additionally, converting Live Photos to videos also offers greater convenience when you are trying to post them on a social media platform. For example, Live Photos get converted into still images when you try to upload them as an Instagram post. Hence, when you turn them into videos, you can upload them as Reels on Instagram or Shorts on YouTube.

Also, Live Photos are not easy to edit when you export them to your Windows laptop or PC. Hence, converting them to videos would allow you to not only easily export them to other devices, but also trim, crop, stabilise, and add music like you would to any other video.

Similarly, when you attempt to save a Live Photo onto an external hard drive, they often get saved as a still image. You can easily avoid this situation if you convert your Live Photos into videos. Moreover, excluding iCloud, most cloud services might not let you back up a Live Photo. However, most of them will let you create archives of videos.

How to Save Live Photos as a Video on iPhone

If the reasons mentioned above have convinced you to save Live Photos as videos on your iPhone, then you can follow these steps to begin.

1. Unlock your iPhone > navigate to the Photos app.
2. Then tap on the Photos app icon.
3. In the Photos app > go to the Collections section.
4. In the Collections section, tap on the Live Photos button.
5. Select the Live Photo you wish to save as a video.
6. Then, click on the More button denoted by a horizontal dotted line appearing in the top-right corner.
7. Lastly, tap on the Save as Video button.
8. The new video will appear in the Recently Saved section. However, your Live Photo will not be removed.

How to Save Multiple Live Photos as One Video on iPhone

If there are multiple Live Photos you wish to convert into a single video, you can follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Unlock your iPhone > open the Photos app.
2. Then, navigate to the Collections section > tap on the Live Photos button.
3. Click on the Select button in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Tap on all the Live Photos that you want to save as videos.
5. Tap on the More button in the top-right corner.
6. Click on the Save as Video button.
7. All the Live Photos will then be saved as one video in the Recently Saved section.

FAQs

1. If I save a Live Photo as a video on my iPhone, will the original file get replaced?

No, the original Live Photo will not be removed, deleted, or replaced by the new video when you convert it.

2. Is there a limit on how many Live Photos I can convert into videos at once?

No, you can save as many Live Photos as videos as you want, given that you have enough available storage on your iPhone.

3. Can I share Live Photos with people who do not have an iPhone?

Yes, but the Live Photos might not be of the same quality as the ones on your iPhone, and a few platforms do not offer support for them either.