How to Export Your Trakt Data (2026 Guide)
How to export your Trakt data in 2026: where the export lives in settings, what the ZIP of JSON files includes, whether you need VIP, and where to import your history
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To export your Trakt data: sign in at trakt.tv in a browser, open Settings from your avatar menu, go to the Data section (trakt.tv/settings/data), and click Export now. Your browser downloads one ZIP holding JSON files of your watch history, ratings, watchlist, personal lists, collection, and comments. You do not need VIP. The whole thing takes a few minutes, and the files contain every play you ever logged.
That is the procedure. The rest of this guide covers what the files actually contain, what Trakt leaves out, the API route if you want a scheduled backup, and where to take your history once it is in your hands.
Plenty of people are running this export for the same reason. In 2025 Trakt doubled VIP to $60 a year and clamped down on free lists, which turned a lot of comfortable free users into people reading the best Trakt alternatives. The list caps have since eased, free accounts now get five personal lists of 250 items each, but the price is still $60. Whatever you decide, the export comes first. Get the files while everything is still one click away.
What the export includes, and what it leaves behind
Trakt’s export arrives as one ZIP holding a set of JSON files, split by data type and paginated for big libraries, so a long history spans several numbered files with names like ratings-seasons-1.json. Between them they cover:
- Watch history: one entry per play, with the date and time. Episodes carry show, season, and episode numbers, and movies are listed individually.
- Rewatches survive intact. If you watched Breaking Bad twice through, every play of every episode is its own entry with its own date. This is better than most trackers manage; Goodreads, for comparison, collapses rereads to a single count.
- Ratings: everything you rated, shows, seasons, episodes, and films alike.
- Watchlist: what you queued up and when you added it.
- Personal lists and collection: your curated lists and anything you marked as owned.
- Comments: reviews and shouts you posted.
Now the gaps, because there are real ones:
- Your social graph stays behind. Followers, likes on your comments, and the accounts you follow are all tied to Trakt itself.
- Connected apps do not travel. Your Plex, Kodi, or streaming scrobble connections are settings, and no destination can inherit them. You will reconnect whatever your next app supports.
- VIP stats pages are views over your data, so the Year in Review and monthly breakdowns are gone as pages, though everything they were computed from is in your history file.
For most people the ZIP holds everything that matters: the full history with dates, the ratings, the lists. Decide whether any of the rest is worth a screenshot before you close anything.
The export, step by step
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Sign in at trakt.tv in a browser. The export lives on the website, so use a computer or a mobile browser rather than an app.
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Open Settings from your avatar menu in the top right.
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Go to the Data section, or head directly to trakt.tv/settings/data.
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Click Export now and wait for the ZIP. The export runs on Trakt’s side and your browser downloads a single compressed file when it finishes. A long history takes longer to build; you do not need to sit and watch it.
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Unzip and open the files before you trust them. Inside are JSON files split by data type, several per type for a big library. A partial export looks fine until you notice a numbered file missing from a sequence.
The other door: the API
Trakt has something Goodreads users would have killed for during their exodus. The API is open, free, and actively maintained, so your data has a second exit that does not depend on any button in settings.
Open-source backup scripts on GitHub can pull your complete account as JSON, which is the route to take if you want a scheduled backup instead of a one-time file. The same API is why the best import tools feel effortless: Simkl syncs your Trakt history after a single authorization, and Achriom pulls your history in from just your username.
One caveat arrived in July 2026: a free Trakt account can keep only one community app connected at a time, with official Trakt apps exempt. Trakt has not spelled out whether a backup script you register yourself counts toward that limit, so if Kodi or a Plex sync already holds your slot, check your connected apps after authorizing the script rather than assuming both survived. VIP lifts the cap either way. For a one-time backup, the settings export above needs none of this.
Check the files before you trust them
JSON opens in any text editor or browser tab, and three checks are worth two minutes:
Count the plays on a show you know. Pick something you binged, say Severance, open the watch-history files, and search for the title. Two seasons of episodes should all be there, each with a date. If you rewatched before season two, those plays should appear twice.
Spot-check a rating. Find a film you rated recently, something like Dune: Part Two, and confirm the ratings file carries the score you remember.
Scan the date range. Check the earliest dates in the first history file against roughly when you joined. A history that starts in 2023 when you have been scrobbling since 2016 means a stalled export, and running it again usually fixes it.
Then store copies somewhere that is not your Downloads folder. These files are a decade of viewing history in portable form; treat them like the backup they are.
Where to take your Trakt export
Four destinations cover most people leaving. The right one depends on what you actually track, and the best Trakt alternatives breakdown goes deeper on each.
Simkl
The most direct replacement. Simkl has a built-in Trakt import: authorize your Trakt account from Simkl’s import settings and it syncs your history over, no file required. You keep combined movie and TV tracking, and scrobbling from Plex, Kodi, Netflix, and other services works the way Trakt’s does. Free, with no meaningful caps on the core experience. We compare them head to head in Simkl vs Trakt.
Serializd
The TV specialist. Serializd’s importer reads your Trakt account directly, no file needed, and brings your shows over with episode-level tracking intact. Movies do not transfer, because Serializd does not track them; if your history is heavy on film you will need a second home for that half. Free, with a strong review culture. We wrote a separate walkthrough: how to import Trakt into Serializd.
Letterboxd
The opposite trade. Letterboxd can rebuild your film diary, ratings included, but it will not read Trakt’s export files: its importer takes its own CSV format and IMDb exports. The bridge is a community converter (Export_Trakt_4_Letterboxd and the trakt-to-letterboxd script both exist for exactly this), and both pull from the Trakt API with an API app you register rather than reading the settings export. Your TV history has no place to land, because Letterboxd logs films only. If Trakt was mostly a film log with a social itch, this is where the community is. Free, with Pro at $19 a year. The full head to head is in Letterboxd vs Trakt.
Achriom
Achriom imports your Trakt history by username, and your shows and films land in a library that also holds your books, albums, anime, and games. From there the AI librarian can read across the whole collection: what your five-star seasons share, which novels rhyme with the shows you finish fastest, what to watch next based on everything you track rather than your viewing alone. Private by default, with no followers and no feed, and a full export back out whenever you want one. Free to start, with Pro at $9.99 a month for heavier AI use.
You are exporting because a tracker changed the deal, and single-format trackers will hand you this same afternoon again. Your shows can land somewhere that also holds your films, books, albums, and anime, with an AI librarian that connects them and a full export back out any time. One migration instead of one per format. Free to start, no card.
Import your Trakt history →Quick comparison
| App | Trakt import | Scope | Scrobbling | AI features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simkl | Direct (authorize account) | Films + TV + anime | Yes | No | Free |
| Serializd | Direct (reads your account) | TV | No | No | Free |
| Letterboxd | Via API converter (films only) | Films | No | No | Free / $19 yr |
| Achriom | By username | Films, TV, books, albums, anime, games | No | Yes (AI librarian) | Free / $9.99 mo |
Which should you use?
Use Simkl if: you want Trakt without the new price. The direct import, scrobbling, and combined movie and TV tracking make it the closest like-for-like swap.
Use Serializd if: TV is the point and you want episode-level ratings with a real review culture. Plan a separate home for your films.
Use Letterboxd if: your Trakt history was mostly movies and you want the community that comes with logging them. Our guide to the best TV tracking apps covers what to pair it with for shows.
Use Achriom if: your viewing sits next to a reading habit and a shelf of albums. Importing everything into one library means this is the last migration you run, and the librarian gets more interesting the more of your taste it can see.
Nothing stops you from trying two. The export files do not expire, and the username import into Achriom leaves your Trakt account untouched.
If you are canceling VIP or deleting your account
Order matters here, because deletion is permanent and downgrading has its own trap.
- Run the export, unzip it, and confirm the JSON files hold your history.
- If you use the API route, run the backup and check its output too.
- Screenshot anything social you want to remember, including your VIP stats pages if you have them.
- Import into your new app and spot-check that a few shows landed with the right episode counts.
- Then downgrade or delete, from the same settings area.
The downgrade trap is the list cap. When VIP lapses, the free tier allows five personal lists of 250 items each, so a big collection of carefully built lists stops being fully usable even though the data still exists. Export before you downgrade, and the caps cost you nothing.
There is no rush on step five. A dormant free account keeps your history alive as a fallback while the new library beds in.
The honest answer
Exporting from Trakt is genuinely painless: one button in settings produces a ZIP with every play and its date, and the open API means your data has a second exit that most trackers never offer. The real losses are social, your followers and comment likes, and those were never yours to take.
Where to go depends on scope. Simkl is the faithful replacement, Serializd and Letterboxd are the specialists, and Achriom is the option if you want your viewing history to live alongside your books and music, understood as one taste instead of three separate apps. Whichever you pick, keep the files. A tracker that hands your history back this easily has earned some goodwill, and any app that will not do the same is a place you are renting. The Letterboxd export guide and the Goodreads export guide exist for the same reason.
Common questions
Do I need Trakt VIP to export my data?
No. The data export in settings works on free accounts. The 2025 changes capped free lists and doubled the VIP price, but access to your own data stayed open, and the free API provides a second route regardless of tier.
Does the Trakt export include every rewatch?
Yes. History exports one row per play, so every rewatch of every episode appears with its own date. This is one of the best-preserved watch histories any tracker offers, which is a good reason to back it up properly.
Can I export only my movies from Trakt?
The export button produces everything at once, but the ZIP splits your data into separate JSON files by type, so your movie history is already sitting apart from your episodes. If Letterboxd is the destination, the community converters pull your films from the API and format them for its importer, and Serializd only takes the shows.
How do I move my Trakt history to Simkl?
You do not need the export file at all. Simkl’s import settings include a Trakt option: authorize your account and it syncs your history directly through the API. Keep the settings export anyway as your own copy.
What happens to my lists if I stop paying for VIP?
The data survives, but the free tier caps personal lists at five with 250 items each, so anything beyond that stops being fully usable. Run the export before downgrading and your lists are safe whatever the caps do.
Can Achriom import my Trakt history?
Yes, by username. Achriom pulls in your watched shows and films and places them in a library alongside your books, albums, anime, and games, where the AI librarian can reason across all of it. Your Trakt account is untouched by the import, so there is no need to delete anything until you are ready.