How to Export a Telegram Chat as JSON

To make a Telegram recap you need one file: result.json, exported from Telegram Desktop. The mobile apps cannot export chats, so you need the desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux. It takes about two minutes.

Export your data

Open Telegram Desktop and go to Settings → Advanced → Export Telegram data.
Choose what to include. For a recap, personal chats (and any groups you want) are enough. Untick photos, videos, voice messages, stickers and files: the export stays small and fast.
Set the format to Machine-readable JSON. An HTML export will not work.
If you like, limit the date range, for example to this year only.
Press Export and wait. Telegram may ask you to confirm the request from another device you are logged in on.
Open the export folder and find result.json.

Export just one chat

Open the chat, press the menu (⋮) at the top right, and choose Export chat history. Use the same options: no media and Machine-readable JSON. Menu names can differ slightly between versions of Telegram Desktop.

Make your recap

Open TG Wrapped, drop result.json on the page, choose the chats and the year, and press generate. The file is analyzed in your browser and is not uploaded.

Tips

Leave media out: photos and videos make the file huge and are not used.
Very large exports can take a while to analyze, so keep the tab open.
If the site says the file is not a Telegram export, check that you chose JSON and not HTML, and that you picked result.json.

Make your Telegram Wrapped