Back up a Telegram channel or group and know what a backup can't restore.

Telegram lets you export a channel or group to your computer with Telegram Desktop. It is worth doing before a sale, a rebrand or a big change, as long as you know what the file can and can't do.

How to export a channel or group

1. Install and log in to Telegram Desktop.
2. Open the channel or group, open the … menu and choose Export chat history. To export everything in your account, use Settings → Advanced → Export Telegram data.
3. Choose what to include: photos, videos, files, and a size limit for large files.
4. Pick the format: HTML to read it in a browser, or JSON for tools and archives.
5. Store the folder somewhere safe, ideally in two places.

Exported as JSON? Open the result.json privately in the free Telegram export viewer to search it and see the creation record.

Source: Telegram's export announcement. Menu labels can differ slightly between versions.

What the export keeps

• The text of posts and messages, with their dates.
• Photos, videos and files you chose to include.
• A readable archive you can search or quote from later.

What a backup can't restore

• A working channel: Telegram's import feature is built for chats exported from WhatsApp, Line and KakaoTalk. There is no official button to rebuild a Telegram channel from its own export.
• Subscribers: members are not in the file and can't be re-added from it.
• The public link and username: they belong to the live channel, not to the archive.
• Ownership and admins: roles live only in Telegram.
• The creation date: a new channel filled with old content is still a new channel.

What to protect instead

• The owner account: two-step verification and a recovery email. See how to protect a channel from theft.
• Admins with minimal rights, so nobody can wipe posts by mistake; plan them with the admin permissions guide.
• A backup channel or website where you can reach your audience if something goes wrong.
• A list of every place your link is shared, so you can update it after a change.

For buyers and sellers

Sellers can export the channel before a handover to keep their own copy of the content. Buyers should remember the reverse: because imported messages from other apps keep their original dates, old-looking messages are not proof of a group's age; see old posts vs creation date. Agree in writing whether the content may be reused, and follow the handover checklist.

Frequently asked questions