What's Inside the X Archive? tweets.js Explained
After you unzip your X archive, the file that actually matters is tweets.js — structured data of every tweet you've ever posted. This post opens it up: what the format looks like, what each field means, and why a privacy check only needs this one file.
What tweets.js is
It's X's official export of your full tweet history as structured data. The format is a JavaScript assignment: window.YTD.tweets.part0 = [ ... ] — an array where each object is one tweet. A privacy-check tool parses this array.
What's inside each tweet
- created_at — posting time (UTC string, e.g. "Fri Jan 15 02:45:00 +0000 2010")
- full_text — the tweet body; phone numbers, emails and addresses mostly hide here
- entities — structured references to URLs, media, mentions
- id_str — unique tweet ID; deletions target it
- retweeted_status / in_reply_to_status_id — retweet and reply links
Why it powers a privacy check
The check is simple: scan full_text and entities tweet by tweet, match phones, emails, addresses, locations and sensitive topics, tag each tweet (phone/address/location/sensitive), then roll everything into a 0-100 health score. All of it runs on your device — tweets.js never leaves your computer.
What else is in the archive
- data/ folder — images, videos, profile media (irrelevant to text scanning)
- account.js — profile info (handle, creation date, masked email prefix)
- following.js / follower.js — follow lists
- direct-messages.js — DMs (equally sensitive)
FAQ
Can I open tweets.js directly?
You can, but a tool is better — the file can be several MB to tens of MB. Hand it to a digital footprint check and get results in minutes.
Does tweets.js include deleted tweets?
It includes anything that existed at export time. The archive is a snapshot — tweets deleted before export won't appear, but the old history beyond X's ~3,200-tweet delete limit is all there.
Is uploading just tweets.js enough?
Yes. The check is text-based; tweets.js has all the text and URLs, and media files don't affect the scan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is tweets.js in the X archive?
tweets.js is the data file inside the archive that records every tweet you ever posted as a JSON array — timestamp, text, ID and more. It is the core file for parsing your history.
Does tweets.js include deleted tweets?
No. The archive only contains tweets that still exist at the time it was generated; deleted content does not appear in tweets.js.
Can I read tweets.js myself?
Technically yes, but the file can be huge and awkward to parse. A footprint check tool is easier: it extracts text, timestamps and risk labels automatically into a filterable list.
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