# Is the original size real? How to check a Pinterest download

> Pinterest keeps several sizes of every image. How to tell whether a Pinterest image downloader gave you the original or a 736px copy, in under a minute, on Mac or Windows.

Source: https://unpinned.uninspired.app/blog/pinterest-image-downloader-original-size
Author: Uninspired Studio
Published: 2026-10-17

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Every Pinterest downloader says high quality. Pinterest keeps several sizes of each image, and only one of them is the file that was uploaded. Unpinned downloads that one, the original, whenever Pinterest has it. You do not have to take our word for it, or anyone else's. Checking takes a minute.

## The sizes Pinterest keeps

When someone saves an image to Pinterest, Pinterest stores the upload and makes smaller copies of it. You can see which one you are looking at in the image address. Right-click an image on Pinterest, open it in a new tab, and look at the URL on `i.pinimg.com`:

| Folder in the URL | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| `236x` | Grid thumbnail, 236 pixels wide |
| `474x`, `564x` | Larger grid copies |
| `736x` | The size you usually see when you open a pin |
| `originals` | The file that was uploaded |

Right-click and Save image as on an open pin usually gets you the `736x` copy. That is fine on a phone screen and soft on a print or a large canvas.

## What original size means, and what it does not

Original means the uploaded file, at the pixel size it was uploaded at. A phone photo can be several thousand pixels wide. A graphic someone exported for Pinterest may be 1,000. Neither is wrong. It is just the most there is.

No tool can give you more detail than the original holds. A downloader that promises HD or 4K and hands you a file larger than the original has upscaled it, so the pixels are bigger but the file holds no more detail.

Unpinned's ZIP keeps each file as Pinterest stores it: no resizing, no re-encoding, no watermark. If Pinterest has no original for a pin, Unpinned takes the largest copy it does have. [Video pins](/blog/download-pinterest-video-pins) work the same way, at the highest resolution Pinterest holds.

## How to check any download in a minute

1. Open the pin on Pinterest, right-click the image and open it in a new tab.
2. In the address bar, replace the size folder, for example `736x`, with `originals`, and load it. That is the uploaded file. Note its size: Chrome and Firefox show it in the tab title.
3. Find the same image in your download.
   - Mac: select it in Finder, press Cmd+I, and look under More Info for Dimensions.
   - Windows: right-click, Properties, Details tab, Dimensions.
4. Compare. Same dimensions means you have the original. 736 pixels wide means the downloader took the open-pin copy.

Do it for three or four pins from the same board. A downloader that gets one right by luck rarely gets four.

## Does the free plan get the same quality?

Yes. The free plan is 50 pins a day, and those 50 are the same files a Pro download returns. Pro lifts the daily limit and adds PDF export. It does not change the quality. [How to download Pinterest boards for free](/blog/how-to-download-pinterest-boards-for-free) has the details.

## FAQ

### Does Unpinned compress images?

No. The ZIP holds the files as Pinterest stores them.

### Why is my download smaller than I expected?

Because the upload was. If the original is 800 pixels wide, that is the largest version anywhere.

### What about a whole board?

The [Pinterest board downloader](/pinterest-board-downloader) downloads every pin on the board at that same size, in one ZIP, with sections as folders.

### Which browsers does Unpinned run in?

Chrome, Firefox and Edge, on desktop.