Supported Instagram Export Formats

UnfollowerSpy supports Instagram exports that include follower and following lists in JSON format. It does not need your entire Instagram archive, and it does not need media, messages, stories, saved posts, ads information, or login history.

Choosing the right export matters because the tool runs locally in your browser. A small, focused export is faster, safer, and easier to troubleshoot than a multi-gigabyte account archive.

Supported

• ZIP files downloaded from Instagram's export flow.
• JSON format exports.
• Files named `followers_1.json`, `followers.json`, or other follower JSON files.
• A file named `following.json`.
• Exports where follower files are inside `connections/followers_and_following/`.

Not supported

• HTML exports.
• Archives that only contain photos, videos, reels, stories, or message attachments.
• ZIP files with no JSON files.
• Manually edited folders where the follower files were renamed or removed.
• Live Instagram account connections, passwords, or session cookies.

Best export settings

When requesting your file, choose JSON as the format and select only Followers and Following if Instagram offers category selection. Use the full date range or all time option, because the following list should represent your current account relationship data as completely as possible.

If Instagram sends multiple ZIP files, upload the ZIP that contains the `connections` folder and follower JSON files. Media-only ZIPs are usually not useful for this tool.

How to identify the right ZIP

A useful ZIP usually contains folder names such as `connections` or `followers_and_following`. A media archive usually contains many files under folders like `media`, `stories`, `messages`, `photos`, or `videos`. If the archive is several gigabytes and mostly contains images or videos, it is probably not the focused follower export.

You do not need to unzip the archive to use UnfollowerSpy, but understanding the difference can help if Instagram sends more than one file. Choose the ZIP that contains JSON account data rather than the one that contains only media files.

Why smaller exports are better

A smaller follower-only export is easier on your browser and better for privacy. The comparison does not need messages, media, contacts, ad topics, login records, or saved content. Keeping those categories out of the ZIP reduces the amount of personal data you handle and lowers the chance of upload errors.

Why HTML exports are not supported

HTML exports are meant for a person to open and read. JSON exports are structured for software to parse consistently. Supporting JSON keeps the comparison more reliable and avoids fragile scraping of human-readable HTML pages.

How this page was tested

The current parser was checked against Instagram archives containing `connections/followers_and_following/followers_1.json` and `connections/followers_and_following/following.json`. It also detects when a ZIP contains no JSON files and explains the problem to the user.

These notes will be updated if Instagram changes the export structure. If your export has a different follower file path, contact us with a redacted file listing rather than sending the full archive.