Telegram Photos or Videos Won't Download or Keep Loading

Check these in order

A photo or video that never finishes, or a circle that keeps spinning, usually comes down to space, connection or settings. Going through them in this order finds the cause fastest:

Clear the cache safely

The cache is the copy of media already downloaded to your phone. Clearing it is safe: as Telegram's storage screen puts it, "All media will stay in the Telegram cloud and can be re-downloaded if you need them again." It frees space, and it also clears a half-downloaded copy that may be stuck.

Your chats are not touched. Media you open again downloads afresh. To stop the cache filling up again, see freeing up storage without losing chats.

Big files wait for a tap

Telegram downloads small media on its own and leaves larger files for you to start. The limits are under Automatic media download in Data and Storage, separately for mobile data, Wi-Fi and roaming. A video bigger than the limit shows a download arrow instead of playing; tap it. This is a setting, not a fault.

Media you cannot download anywhere

• Deleted by the sender or removed by an auto-delete timer: it is gone for everyone.
• From a secret chat, on a different device: secret chats exist only on the device where they were started.
• In a protected channel: you can view it, but saving it is blocked; see can't save or forward.

If downloads work but are slow, see slow downloads and videos that keep pausing.