Letterboxd import: your history, tonight’s pick

Export your Letterboxd data, import it into Lights Down for free, and get tonight’s pick from the films you’ve already seen and rated.

Keep Letterboxd. Add tonight’s pick.

Letterboxd is where you log what you’ve watched. Lights Down picks what to watch tonight, on your own or with someone, from the streaming services you have. They do different jobs, so keep both.

Import your Letterboxd history and Lights Down doesn’t start from zero. Your films land in Watched, the log that makes Lights Down a movie tracker app as well as a picker. Here’s how, and what happens to your films.

How to export your Letterboxd data

• Sign in at letterboxd.com in a web browser.
• Open Settings, then Data.
• Tap Export Your Data. Letterboxd gives you one zip file.

Don’t unzip it. Lights Down reads the zip as it is. It’s easiest on a computer: export there, then open lightsdown.app on the same computer.

How to import it into Lights Down

• Take the 60-second quiz first. Your films only shape your taste once you have one. Import before the quiz and they still land in Watched, but your taste won’t learn from them.
• Sign in and open the import. On your Profile, tap "Bring in what you’ve watched," or go straight to the import page.
• Choose Letterboxd, then your zip.
• Check what Lights Down found. Before anything is saved, you see how many films are ready to add, how many need a year, and how many aren’t in our catalog yet, with every title listed.
• Tap Add. Your films join your Watched list.

What happens to your films

• Your stars come across unchanged. Each film keeps the rating you gave it.
• Films you’ve seen stay out of your picks when you pick on your own.
• Your top ratings teach your taste. Films you rated above your own average nudge your taste toward them. It happens once for the whole import, so your quiz still counts.
• Your watchlist gets its own shelf in Saved. Sort it when you like: Keep, Seen it, or Leave it out.
• Your reviews and lists stay on Letterboxd. Lights Down reads your watched films, ratings and watchlist, nothing else.
• Import again any time. Lights Down skips what you already have, so nothing doubles.

Your file stays with you

Lights Down reads the zip on your own phone or computer. The file is never uploaded. The films it matches save to your account, like anything you log. Titles our catalog doesn’t carry yet are sent without your name, so we know what to add.

Still logging on Letterboxd?

After your import, add your Letterboxd username and Lights Down keeps up. Each time you open the app, it reads your public Letterboxd feed, which holds the 50 or so films you logged most recently, and adds the new ones to Watched.

It needs a public profile, and it sees only films you log, not ones you just mark as watched. A new entry can take up to an hour to show. Disconnect any time from your Profile.

About this page

Lights Down is not affiliated with or endorsed by Letterboxd. The Letterboxd steps above were checked on October 26, 2026. If Letterboxd moves a button, tell us at the address on our about page.

Know your taste in 60 seconds

Lights Down turns 60 seconds of swiping into the movie you're watching tonight. It's already matched to the streaming services you have.

Lights Down is free. It will stay that way. Works on your own or with someone else watching.

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