Amazon Prime Video is one of the most popular streaming services on the planet for good reason. Along with delivering live streaming video and a gigantic VOD library, Amazon Prime Video also allows users to download their favorite movies and shows.
This means that you can easily download your favorite movie, or an entire season of a television show if you're going to be away from the Wi-Fi for a bit. Whether you're hoping to stock up enough content to watch through an entire camping trip or you just need an episode to get you through a long flight, we've got you covered.
Let's get started.
Amazon Prime Video makes downloading movies and shows fairly easy, but it is a bit different depending on what you're downloading (and where you're downloading it!). With that in mind we have the details for downloading movies, shows, and entire seasons, so that you can watch your favorite programs no matter where you roam.
How to download movies and shows from Amazon Prime Video
The Amazon Prime Video app is available on just about every streaming device out there, from phones and computers to tablets and streaming boxes. In order to download a show or movie, you'll need a device that has onboard storage where the program will be saved. If you're downloading onto a home computer, you may need to download additional programs like the Prime Video app for Windows before the download can begin.
If you open a program and don't see the option to download, then it may be one of the movies or shows that isn't available for watching offline.
Just remember that the time it will take to download a show will depend both on your download speed, and on how large the show or movie you're downloading is. An entire season of Vox Machina is going to take longer than simply downloading Five Night's at Freddy's.
Step 1: Open Amazon Prime Video and sign in to your account.
Step 2: Select the movie or show you'd like to watch, and open the details.
Step 3: Select download to download your program. Keep in mind with TV shows you can download the entire season at once, or scroll further down into individual episodes to download them one at a time.
Step 4: Select any additional languages you want to download this program with and then select start download. Remember, if you change your mind later you can change this in Settings, and you can also set a default for languages.
Step 5: Wait for your program to finish downloading. You'll be able to track the progress while watching the icon as it downloads.
How much space do I need?
The amount of storage needed for a file depends on its quality. We downloaded the film Moonfall at the Best quality setting and it took up 1GB of storage on an iPhone, while at Better quality (the second-lowest), it took up 535MB. Alternately, season 1 of Upload, 10 episodes in all, took up 2.6GB when downloaded on Best quality.
What's available?
According to Amazon, many titles are available for download. When we browsed the Prime Video selections, it looked like every title available to Prime subscribers was downloadable. Most likely, you can count on all Amazon Originals being available for download. Note that you can only download videos while in the U.S. and U.S. territories if you have a U.S. Amazon account.
The limitations of Amazon Prime Video downloads
While downloading content and media on Amazon Prime Video is incredibly convenient, there are some limitations. First, once you download a movie or show, you'll have 30 days to watch it before it "expires," aka gets deleted. And once you start watching a movie or episode, you'll have 48 hours to complete it before it expires, meaning you'll have to stream it or just download it again — if it's still available, that is.
You're also limited by the number of programs you can have downloaded at once. You'll only be able to download 25 items at once, even if they aren't all downloaded to the same device.
Travelers: If you're going abroad, like outside the U.S. or the country where your Amazon Prime membership is, keep in mind that your downloaded titles might not play if you connect to the internet at your destination if they're not also available in that region as well. Amazon Originals tend to be available everywhere, so those are probably safe, but the regionally distributed third-party titles might not play.
It's also worth noting that you lose access to your downloaded titles if you cancel your Amazon Prime subscription.
How do I delete movies?
If you've decided after downloading a program that you're not actually going to watch it, or that it's taking up precious storage space on your device, then it's time to delete it. Thankfully Amazon has made this easy, and it should only take a few moments to handle.
Step 1: Open the downloads section of the Amazon Prime Video app and select the program you want to delete.
Step 2: Swipe left on the title you want to delete. This will bring up a red trash can icon. If you swipe off screen to the left, or select the icon, the selected program will be deleted. You can also use this method to delete entire seasons of a show.
Step 3: Select the three vertical dots menu of the movie and then select Delete download from the pop-up menu.
How do I delete single TV shows?
Deleting a television program is slightly different than deleting a movie, specifically because there are multiple files that will need to be deleted. You can delete everything at once, or delete only specific episodes. We've got the details on how to do both.
Step 1: Open the Downloads page of the Amazon Prime Video app.
Step 2: Select the TV show you want to delete.
Step 3: Select the Edit button in the top right corner.
Step 4: Select the episode you want to delete, or choose select all to delete every episode in a season. Then select Delete at the bottom of the screen.
Step 5: You can also choose a specific episode to delete by tapping the three vertical dots icon, and then selecting Delete download from the menu.
Step 6: The third method of deleting a TV show is just swiping left on a program or season until the red trashcan icon appears. Select the icon to delete it from your device.
