How to analyze an Instagram DM export
A practical guide to downloading your message history, finding the JSON files, and turning them into conversation statistics.
Instagram’s data download gives you a copy of information associated with your account. Stats Insta can read message JSON files from that export and create charts for message activity, participants, emojis, and other conversation patterns.
1. Request a messages export
- Open Instagram and go to Accounts Center from the menu or settings.
- Open Your information and permissions, then choose the option to download your information.
- Select the Instagram profile and choose Some of your information if you only want messages.
- Choose a date range, select JSON as the format, and submit the request. Meta will notify you when the archive is ready.
2. Find the conversation JSON files
Download and extract the archive on your device. Open the messages/inbox folder, then open the folder for the conversation you want. Message files are commonly named message_1.json; larger conversations may be split across files such as message_2.json.
3. Analyze the files
Open the Instagram chat analyzer, select the JSON file or files, and wait for the charts to appear. The tool reads the files in your browser and combines the selected conversations for analysis.