How to Back Up Firefox Bookmarks

The most reliable way to back up Firefox bookmarks is to make two copies: a portable HTML export that any browser can read, and a full JSON backup that restores into Firefox with every folder and order intact. Both take under a minute from the same Library window, and Firefox is also quietly keeping automatic snapshots you can fall back on.

Here is how to do each, and when to use which.

Open the Library window

Every manual backup option lives in one place: the Library window.

1. Open Firefox.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+O (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+O (macOS) to open the Library directly. You can also click the menu button, choose Bookmarks, then Manage bookmarks at the bottom.
3. In the Library toolbar, click the Import and Backup button (the icon with up and down arrows).

The drop-down that appears holds both backup options.

Export to HTML for a portable copy

Use this when you want a file you can open, store anywhere, or import into another browser.

1. From the Import and Backup menu, choose Export Bookmarks to HTML.
2. In the window that opens, pick a location, such as a cloud-synced folder or an external drive.
3. Keep the default name bookmarks.html or rename it with the date, then click Save.

The result is a single HTML file. Any major browser can import it, which makes it equally good as a backup and a migration tool.

Create a JSON backup for a faithful restore

Use this when your goal is to restore the exact same bookmarks back into Firefox later.

1. From the Import and Backup menu, choose Backup.
2. Choose a location and click Save. Firefox writes a .json file (manual backups are uncompressed JSON).

This file captures your bookmark structure completely. The trade-off is that it is meant for Firefox, not for importing elsewhere.

Here is a quick way to decide which to make:

Know where the automatic backups are

Firefox already creates backups on its own. It writes periodic snapshots into a bookmarkbackups folder inside your profile and keeps roughly the last 15 as compressed .jsonlz4 files. To find that folder, type about:profiles in the address bar, click Open Folder next to your active profile, and open bookmarkbackups.

These automatic snapshots are genuinely useful, but they sit on the same computer as Firefox. A drive failure or a lost laptop takes them with it, so treat them as a convenience, not your only backup.

Store the copy somewhere off the machine

A backup that lives only on the same device is the one most likely to disappear when you need it. After you export, move the file somewhere independent:

• A cloud-synced folder such as your Documents folder backed by a sync service.
• An external drive or USB stick.
• A second computer or a personal email to yourself.

Make a habit of refreshing the export whenever you add a meaningful batch of bookmarks.

How to restore later

When the time comes, open the Library window, click Import and Backup, and pick the matching option: Restore to load a .json or .jsonlz4 backup, or Import Bookmarks from HTML for an HTML file. Restoring from a JSON backup replaces your current bookmarks entirely, so confirm you have the right file first.

A note for people who also use Chrome

The steps above are Firefox-specific. If you keep bookmarks in Chrome as well, the backup tools there are different, and the Chrome backup guide covers them. On the Chrome side, TrueBookmark is an extension that backs up your bookmarks when you install it, on demand in one click, and automatically before any risky change, so you are not relying on remembering to export by hand.